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THE
FUNK BROTHERS
THE HEROES OF SANDAKAN
Among the Heroes of Sandakan were the three Funk Brothers, Johnny, Alexander and Paddy.
They were members of the North Borneo Volunteer Force in pre-war Sandakan. The Funks'
Family home was at Mile 7, which was near to the site of the Agriculture Experimental
Station where the Allied Prisoners of War (POWs) were interned since July 1942.
The proximity of the two places allowed the brothers to establish secret contacts with the
POWs which saw them providing help to the POWs and served as conduits between the POWs and
the civilian hospital in Sandakan.
When their activities were betrayed to the Japanese in September 1943, the brothers were
arrested and were severely punished by the Japanese Army, resulting in Alex being executed
while Johnny and Paddy suffered great physical and psychological torture. This is their
story.
The Funks were a well-known family in pre-War Sandakan. The family had been loyal servants
of the Chartered Company Administration since their arrival in Sabah in the late 19th
century.
The patriarch of the family, John S. Funk, was believed to have been a direct descendant
of Hong Xiuquan (Hung Hsiu Chuan or Fung Siew Chuan) of the Taiping Rebellion in China,
1850-1864.
John S. Funk's father, Thomas Paul Funk had arrived in Kudat as a political fugitive.
However, the family was able to make do and prospered. John S. Funk, the son, was educated
in both Chinese and English.
He later joined the Chartered Company as a clerk before rising to the rank of a Deputy
Assistant District Officer in the administration in 1924.
He was only the second Chinese to be appointed to the position which at that time, was
considered the pinnacle of career for any non-European personnel.
Johnny and his brothers received their education from St. Mary's school in Sandakan. Upon
the completion of his studies, Johnny went to work in the Public Works Department (PWD) as
a supervisor. Paddy later also joined the Public Works Department as an overseer.
Although of Chinese origins, the younger Funks were very westernized. Being government
servants, the brothers were also members of Sandakan's social circle.
Like many government servants of the day, they were also members of the North Borneo
Volunteer Force.
The force was set up in 1938, and there was a unit of Company strength stationed in the
Sandakan and responsible for the defense of east Coast.
According to Johnny Funk, the brothers first came into contact with the POWs in September
1942. Alex, who was the youngest of the three was the one who had made the initial contact
with Captain Lionel Matthews, the POWs officer who was also the intelligence officer in
the camp.
Matthews has requested assistance in the way of food, medicine and radio parts. With radio
parts supplied by Johnny and others, a radio was constructed by the Australian POWs and
was put into operation.
Apart from supplying radio parts, the Funk Brothers were also instrumental in establishing
links between the POWs and Dr. V. Stookes.
Stookes was a World War I pilot who worked as an estate doctor on the Kinabatangan River.
Stookes was also an accomplished flyer.
With Stookes' help, more medicine were made available to the POWs. It was Alex who took on
the task of collecting the medicine from Stookes before passing over to the POWs.
Among those who were involved in helping the POWs was Wong Joo Ming.
Wong as an overseer at the airstrip which the POWs were building alongside the locals. One
day in 1942, Wong Joo Ming came to Johnny confiding with him that he was harbouring a POWs
escapee.
The POW was Sergeant W. Wallace. Johnny Fund decided to help and provided Wallace with
food and money. Wallace later managed to escape to Tawi Tawi where he joined the Filipino
guerrillas.
In January 1943, Johnny was approached by Ernesto Lagan, who was a police detective then
working under the Japanese.
Lagan wanted to obtain a plan of the former quarters of the Europeans now in Japanese
hands. Apparently, this was required in connection with a general escape was attempted.
On another occasion, Johnny and Alex went to the POWs Camp and met up with Corporal Abin
of the North Borneo Constabulary. They were trying to smuggle a Lee Enfield .303 rifle
into the camp. The rifle was earlier issued to Alex Funk by the Volunteer Force but Alex
did not surrender it to the armoury after the Japanese had landed. Alex also supplied
Captain Matthews with a .38 revolver. This was the main offence which eventually later
resulted in Alex being executed by the Japanese.
Even as the contacts between the POWs and the locals (who were known in most literature as
Underground) had increased, so was the Japanese surveillance.
For some time since early 1943 the Japanese had suspected the existence of a radio in the
POWs camp.
They began to investigate. In April 1943, the Japanese arrested Dr. Snooke's wife for
allegedly helping to spread news obtained from her husband. After undergoing interrogation
and torture, she was released as they could find no evidence against her.
Johnny Funk was later arrested, accused for the same offence and for providing radio parts
to the POWs. Johnny was tortured and interrogated for a week before being released.
After his release, Johnny Funk and his brothers, along with others decided to be more
careful as they were clearly under suspicion.
In July 1943, Johnny, Alex and a friend, Felix Aczona went to work in a timber camp under
Japanese command at Kemansi (near Beluran).
In August, they were all arrested and taken to the Kempeitai Headquarters to be
interrogated.
Various methods were used to extract information from them, including torture. In his
postwar statement, Johnny Funk recounted all the torturing he received which had severe
effect upon him.
Among the torture methods was an effort to make him kneel on a plank specially carved like
spikes, they then placed a heavy plank behind the knees and two Japanese got on each end
of it and worked it like a 'see saw'. Johnny was subjected to this treatment for an hour
which had badly lacerated his knees.
Together with Johnny and his brothers were 102 person being arrested by the Japanese over
the issue of locals assisting the POWs. There were 55 civilians and 47 POWs. They were
transferred to Kuching on 25 October 1943.
Even during imprisonment, locals like Johnny Funk were still risking their lives to help
the POWs who were also being brought to Kuching.
They began to slip food and rinks to the POWs who were not getting anything.
After four months of continued interrogations and torturing, the trials finally took place
and sentences were passed. Both Johnny and Paddy received four years of prison sentence
while Alex was condemned to death along with eight others.
After being imprisoned for nine months, Johnny and Paddy were put to work outside the
prison and this remained so until the War had ended.
Both returned to Sandakan after recuperating in Labuan. Both however, had suffered
terribly in the hands of the Japanese interrogators. Johnny suffered a damaged jaw. Paddy
also suffered physically and both were in need of long term treatment.
Since their departure from Sandakan in October 1943, the Funk brothers' parents and family
members were not informed of their whereabouts or fate.
It was only after Johnny and Paddy Funk had returned to Sandakan that the family was
informed of Alex's death.
When the Australian Government decided to reward the locals for their assistance to the
POWs, Johnny and Paddy Funk turned down the financial reward.
Instead, they requested to be given proper medical treatment to correct the physical
disability and damage caused by the tortures.
Both were sent to Singapore where they received treatment and returned to Sandakan.
After the war, Johnny and Alex returned to their old jobs. Both also played important
roles in the Ex-Volunteer Force Association, with Paddy serving as the Secretary for
several years.
Johnny was also active in getting a memorial erected at Kuching for those who were
executed by the Japanese, which included his brother, Alex. In 1952, Johnny Funk and his
family moved to Australia where he worked for the Australian Army. He passed away in 1997.
It is fortunate that the story of Johnny Funk and his brothers, Paddy and Alex are better
known compared to many others who were involved with the Underground movement in assisting
the POWs.
It is from their stories as well as from the accounts of the Australian POWs that bits and
pieces of information relating to others are found.
It has been more than sixty years since the Funk Brothers were first involved with the
POWs. It is important for their stories and that of their Underground colleagues to be
retold so that the present generation will know that there were heroes who lived among us.
By : Dr. Danny Wong
Sabahan Associate Professor
Deparment of History, University of Malaya.
Taken from : Daily Express. 20th September 2004, pg 6. |
