THE TWO GREAT TAUSUG HEROES
BY: HADJI ALI USMAN JILAH This story has long been stucked with me. I am revealing it as remembrance for the vital contributions to the struggle by the two patriots Kalingalan Caluang and Tuan Hadji Mohammad Nur Omar who shared the same time. It started 83 years ago in 1942 during World War Two when the Tausug put up stiff resistance against Japanese accupation. Impressed by the Tapikan a.k.a. Fighting 21 the two Bornean leaders and a Chinese doctor came to Sulu to ask help to form a creditable military resistance movement in Sabah. Captain Kalingalan sent Tausug combantants to Sabah headed by Datu Mustafa using the sea facility of Tuan Hadji Mohammad Nur. They established organization, training, and arsenal. Their camp bombed wipping out everything. Datu Mustapha survived until the British Liberation Forces arrived in Sabah in 1945 and installed him Chief Minister as a reward. Kalingalan and Hj. Mohammad Nur did not ask anything from a beholden Chief Minister...