Report of Riggs

Report of Riggs

The Jakarta Post published a short report on June 4, 1994,
regarding a hand-over by the Indonesian Military to the British
government of the remains of Sub-Lt. J. Gregor Riggs, who was
killed on Merapas Island, Riau, on Nov. 5, 1944.

In your report I think you incorrectly quoted Col. Brian
Nicholson of the British embassy as having said that Riggs was
"shot down by Japanese anti-aircraft fire from Merapas on Nov. 5,
1944." You also reported that Riggs "was found and buried by
Achap, now 72, shortly after his plane crashed."

Riggs was one of the 23 members of Operation Rimau, a combined
Australian-British seaborne commando attack on Japanese shipping
in Singapore harbor secretly launched by canoe from the Riau
archipelago in September 1944. The attack was led by an
Englishman, Lt. Col. Ivan Lyon, and the attack group and their
equipment was transported to Riau by the British submarine HMS
Porpoise from Western Australia.

Despite numerous setbacks the attack was successfully
completed. However in attempting to escape all members of the
group were eventually killed by the Japanese or died of wounds.
Included were 10 captured by the Japanese and later executed at
Bukit Timah, Singapore on July 7, 1945 after a sham "military
trial"; two died from Japanese maltreatment as prisoners of the
Japanese in Dili; one died in captivity as a result of a Japanese
"medical experiment" in Surabaya; and the rest died during the
months of October-November 1944 during skirmishes with Japanese
forces on islands in the Riau archipelago, including Lt. Col.
Lyon.

Gregor Riggs was shot dead in one of these skirmishes on
Merapas Island on Nov. 5, 1944. He was buried by local resident
Abdul Achap, who was in 1981 able to locate the gravesite for an
Australian army officer investigating the case.

To avoid repetition of tragedy, it is important that history
is told accurately and honestly.

RADEN DUNBAR

Bandung, W. Java