LEE Vui Leong’s relationship with the guerrillas was clarified by his wife Kong, “My husband never joined them as an active member, but he helped them whenever he could, including passing information in early 1943. I knew of my husband’s connection with the guerrillas.”
The Japanese, however, maintained that Lee Vui Leong was involved. Sergeant Major Tsuji Toyoji, who was later tried for the death of Lee Vui Leong, testified that he was ordered by his commanding officer Lieutenant Onishi.
Lee Vui Leong’s death was one of two tragedies suffered by the Li family following the uprising. His father, Li Tet Phui, was later executed by the Japanese at Petagas. Other members of the family, including Vincent Lee Vui Min, were also tortured. Vincent Lee was given water treatment at Menggatal twice. After being transferred to Jesselton, he was interrogated, beaten, and interned for two and half months.” Chin Shen Kee, the uncle of the two younger
ON HIS side Kwok had about one hundred of his Kinabalu band and could count on nearly twice that number of islanders. Very few of his men had any military training. Peter and Dewa Singh were ex-policemen and Li Tet Phui and Jules Stephens had some part-time experience as soldiers.
The rest were new to the business. No written orders of the force have survived. Very likely there were none. People have taken different views of what Kwok’s plan really was.
Some think he intended to knock out the Japanese in Jesselton, hold the town and rally supporters to his banner, then, with help from the Allies, throw the Japanese out of Sabah
Albert Kwok, a young Chinese, had come to Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu) in 1940. He was a Sarawak man, born in Kuching, where his father was a dentist. He was trained in the arts of Chinese healing and had been a very successful Chinese doctor in Nanking, Hankow and Canton.
He returned to Borneo in 1940 and made his home with his sister and her husband in Jesselton. Here he carried on his work as a Chinese doctor until his stock of medicines ran out. Kwok was a busy man, full of energy. He always tried to look on the bright side of things and hoped for the best.
He had seen something of the Japanese in China and hated them for their cruelty to his people. Right from the start he made up his mind to oppose the invaders. Kwok heard that in Dutch Borneo (Kalimantan) there was a party of Dutch, British and Americans still holding out in a place called Long Nawan. In February 1942 he tried to make his way there through Pensiangan but found when he got to the Sabah border it wa