Mandor killing fields

Mandor killing fields - darkometer rating : 6 - The site of large-scale massacres committed by Japan during WWII in this remote West Kalimantan location during their occupation of much of what today is Indonesia . This is commemorated through a big memorial with graphic depictions of Japanese brutality; there is also an underdeveloped exhibition pavilion, and along a forest drive you can find several mass graves of the victims. It's quite an off-the-beaten-track and very special dark site that may perhaps hardly be worth the journey on its own, but it combines extremely well with some of Borneo's other prime attractions. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: When the Japanese forces arrived in Kalimantan in 1942, Dutch rule in the East Indies (as they used to call what is now Indonesia ) had already faltered, as the colonial forces were withdrawn within the turmoil of WWII (or taken POW by the Japanese). The local population thought that independence was thus on the horizon … but the Japanese put a brutal stop to any such ideas. Repression was ruthless. And, as elsewhere (e.g. in Singapore ), mass execution of the local elites followed soon. Especially targeted was also the Chinese minority, who were collectively accused of being anti-Japanese by nature (in the wake of the Sino-Japanese war of the 1930s – cf. Nanjing ) and thus were targeted for almost complete elimination. The Malay leadership ranks of the local sultanates were wiped out too, as were intellectuals (who military rulers are always suspicious of) as well as affluent traders.