BOOK LAUNCH: Wan Junaidi (right) unveils the book. Others from left are Dayak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) advisor Tan Sri Datuk Amar Leonard Linggi, Dr Chanin, Wan Junaidi’s wife Datin Feona Junaidi and Morris.
KUCHING: A book entitled ‘Limbang Rebellion: 7 Days in December 1962’ by Australian historian Dr Eileen Chanin was launched yesterday.
According to her the rebellion in Limbang, which was part of the Brunei Revolt, was an important impetus for the people of Sarawak to accept the formation of Malaysia.
“The events in Limbang drew remarkable qualities of bravery, devotion to duty, friendship and loyalty and saw acts of both individual and collective courage and heroism,” said Chanin, who is an honorary senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales.
The book highlights true heroes such as police personnel and ordinary people who did extraordinary things to protect and save others in great danger.
Chanin first travelled to Sarawak in the 1970s with her husband Adrian Morris, who grew up in the state.
She has won the History Prize of the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards and been shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards Nettie Palmer Prize for non-fiction, the 2011 CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature and the 2012 Australian Historical Association Magarey Medal for Biography.
Meanwhile, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who launched the book, also concurred that the historical impact of the rebellion changed the mindset of Sarawakians.
“The account of the rebellion is vividly detailed and brought to life in this book,” he said.
He thanked Chanin for centring the book on the attack of the Limbang police station, which saw four police personnel killed including his uncle Wan Jamaluddin.
“There are talks with the Prime Minister to award heroes with medals called Pingat Jasa Pahlawan Negara (PJPN) regardless if they are police officers or civilians who showed heroism during the confrontation and communist insurgency between 1962 and 1990,” said Wan Junaidi, who is Santubong Member of Parliament.
‘The Limbang Rebellion: 7 Days in December 1962’ is published in Australia by the New South Wales University Press, in Singapore by the National University of Singapore Press and in the United Kingdom by Pen and Sword Books.