Petagas War Memorial and the encompassing patio nursery were worked to respect nearby legends who relinquished their life to guard Sabah amid the Japanese occupation in World War II. The Memorial is based on the area where individuals and sympathizers from ‘The Kinabalu Guerrillas’ were executed ruthlessly on January 21st, 1944. The Kinabalu Guerrillas is a gathering of neighborhood saints who dispatch an amazement assault on the Japanese Police Station and Military Police Headquarters in Jesselton(now Kota Kinabalu) in September 1943 to keep the constrained recruit of around 2000 North Borneo young people into the Japanese armed force bleeding edge guard. The amazement assault by the, for the most part, blade outfitted men was driven by its Commander-in-Chief, Albert Kwok. In this assault, they figured out how to slaughter around 60 Japanese fighters and all the more essentially, the assault figured out how to wreck the Japanese enrollment arrangement.

The Japanese armed force later dispatches an operation called ‘suci-piring’ subsequent to accepting fortification from Kuching, Sarawak with the intend to catch every one of the individuals who were included in the assault against them in Jesselton. Individuals from the Kinabalu Guerillas were compelled to withdraw to Menggatal town in the wake of agony overwhelming setback because of the absence of supplies and bolster and inside of two months, they are compelled to surrender to the Japanese armed force debilitate to kill pure neighborhood ladies and offspring of the encompassing towns. Of the 300 caught, 176 detainees were either tormented and slaughtered while still at the ‘Batu Tiga’ jail or were later executed severely in Petagas on the 21st January 1944. The rest of guerillas were sentenced to jail in Labuan and of this, 117 died because of torment and starvation.

The Petagas War Memorial and the encompassing greenery enclosure has been made into a typical graveyard for the individuals who have been executed in Petagas and incorporate the remaining parts of the individuals who are killed in Labuan which has been taken back to this spot. Toward the end of the patio nursery, there is a remembrance square containing the names of each one of the individuals who have battled and kicked the bucket in the uprising against the Japanese Imperial Army. Consistently on the 21st January, an official dedication function to respect and regard the penance by the individuals and sympathizers of the Kinabalu Guerillas who lost their life while battling the Japanese Army will be held here.

Getting There
Petagas War Memorial Garden is located at the opposite of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport about 8 km from the city center. The journey to the memorial park by taxi or bus from the city center of Kota Kinabalu will take about 15-20 minutes.