SIBU: The Rajang Area Security Command (Rascom) Museum has been proposed to be relocated outside Rascom Camp so that it will be more accessible to the public.
First Division Infantry Commander Major-General Datuk Stephen Mundaw expressed the hope that the museum could be relocated to a strategic location near the town and be turned into a ‘live museum’ to enable visitors to experience life during the Rascom era.
Currently, Rascom Museum is located at the Rascom Camp at Mile 10, Ulu Oya Road.
According to Mundaw, the proposal to relocate Rascom Museum is to enable the public to visit the museum compared to at its current location at Rascom Camp.
He said the objective of establishing Rascom Museum was to commemorate the struggle against Communist insurgency, besides the sweet and bitter history of Rascom.
“If we do not have such a museum, it will be very hard for the younger generation to know the segment of history that the country had undergone when it was threatened by Communist insurgengy.”
“The younger generations would not know what their forefathers had gone through if the history was not written to record this. Besides that, the establishment of Rascom Museum is to display all the moments that had occurred during the insurgency so that they would not disappear from history,” said Mundaw at a ‘One Day Programme’ with heads of department and the community at Rascom Camp, yesterday.
Also present were Assistant Minister for Science Research and Biotechnology Dr Annuar Rapaee, Ninth Infantry Brigade Commander, Brigadier-General Dato Subari Tomo, 31st Infantry Brigade Commander Brigadier-General Dato’ Fadzil Tajuddin, Sibu police chief ACP Saiful Bahri, Sibu Resident Hii Chang Kee, Tamin State Assemblyman Christopher Gira and Ngemah State Assemblyman Alexander Vincent.
Dr Annuar, who also spoke at the event, supported the proposal to relocate the Rascom Museum to a strategic location near the town.
“We will discuss the matter with Tamin and Ngemah State Assemblymen and Sibu Resident as it is very important to find a suitable location for the Rascom Museum to be more accessible to the public,” he said.
He said with the establishment of many museums in Sibu, this would not only provide knowledge of history to the public but also as tourist attractions for Sibu.
Rascom was formed in Sibu in March, 1972 to protect the people in the then Third Division, which encompassed Sarikei, Sibu, Kanowit and Kapit, against Communist threats.
Its formation components consisted of military units, police and civilians, and it succeeded in ending the communist insurgency in the area. Rascom was dissolved in 1995.
Temenggong Datuk Wan Hamid Edruce and Temenggong Stanley Geramong were among those present at the one-day programme.
