KANCHANABURI (Thailand), After years of tireless efforts, a memorial honouring the countless lives lost by Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and Asian forced labourers during the construction of the infamous "Death Railway" is unveiled today in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. This Hero Stone serves not only as a tribute to those who perished, but also offers a long-awaited sense of closure for the families who have carried their loss for generations. Malaysian Ambassador to Thailand, Datuk Jojie Samuel, said his dream has been fulfilled with the installation of the Hero Stone in honouring those who perished. Since 2018, he said Dr. Silva Kumar and his team of Malaysians and Indians in Bangkok (MIB) have been working very hard to ensure that the long-forgotten plight of Asian forced labourers, who endured harsh conditions constructing the railway under the Japanese Occupation during World War II, is acknowledged with their own Hero Stone. "This project aims to bring a sense of closure to the families who lost their loved ones during this dark chapter in history. Their (Asian forced labourers) contributions and sacrifices should never be forgotten," he told Bernama here on Wednesday. According to Jojie, the immense suffering endured by the POWs and Asian forced labourers, also known as 'Romusha' in Japanese, during the construction of the 415-km Thailand-Burma Railway, as it was called then, remains largely unseen. No one knows the exact number of people who died building the Death Railway, but estimates suggest some 100,000 perished, including roughly 12,000 Allied POWs and tens of thousands of Romushas, who were recruited by force to work under the same horrific and deadly conditions. He added that the Hero Stone - which stands at 2.5-metre tall, 1.5-metre wide, and weighs nearly three tonnes - was quarried in Namakkal and crafted in Madurai, India. Earlier, in conjunction with Labour Day, Jojie and the Governor of Kanchanaburi province lt Thotsapon Chaikomin unveiled the Hero Stone at Chedi Niranam within Wat Thaw orn Wararam here. Meanwhile, retired school lab assistant K. Muniappan, 80, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said his father was taken away to be a forced labourer in the early 1940s while his mother was pregnant. He said his father, Muniapan, was forced to work at the infamous 'Death Railway' between Thailand and Myanmar at the age of around 16 years old. "My mother was five months pregnant with me when the authorities broke the news about my father's passing in the early 1940s. And I grew up without knowing how my father looked like, (and) we don't even have a picture of him," he said when met here. Muniappan, who was seen fighting tears, said his name Muniappan was chosen in remembrance of his late father and he really felt bad as his father was taken away forcefully from Selama Estate in Kedah then. However, Muniappan, who currently lives with his daughter in Kuala Lumpur, expressed his happiness that those who had died during the construction of the Thailand-Burma Railway now have their own memorial sto ne. "After so many years, I can now proudly explain to my grandchildren that his great grandfather was part of history in constructing the infamous Death Railway which has now become a tourist attraction here," he said. Source: BERNAMA News Agency