Uproar over looming demolition of historic WWII jail

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Plans to demolish Malaysia's historic Pudu jail, where allied prisoners were imprisoned and executed during the brutal Japanese occupation, have Second World War veterans up in arms.

The site of prisoner-of-war tortures, interrogations and modern-day infamous hangings is set to be torn down later this year, to be replaced by a commercial centre and condominium complex on the prime downtown location.

"Pudu jail should be preserved," said Charles Edwards, 89, who was a private in the Australian 8th Division, part of Commonwealth forces that defended Malaya, as it was then known, at the outset of the 1939-1945 war.

"So many Australians and allied soldiers died in places like Pudu, defending democracy and the lives of the people of Malaya,"...