Locals find Japanese fort

The Jakarta Post

BANGGAI, Central Sulawesi: Residents in Kampangar village, Balantak district in Banggai regency have found a fort and ammunition believed to be remnants from the Japanese occupation period.

The site is 650 km from the provincial capital of Palu and contains several furnaces, a water tank and a large 20-meter deep pit at the foot of the hill.

Residents discovered thousands of rounds of ammunition and explosives.

Banggai community figure Supardi Ibrahim said he assumed the pit was a place locals were tortured during the period.

"The fort was built by Banggai residents during the Romusha Japanese forced-labor system, in which local residents were gathered to build the fort," said Supardi.

The fort is six meters wide and two kilometers long and is in the shape of a tunnel which housed supplies of food and ammunition as well as sleeping quarters for Japanese troops.

Banggai Regent Ma'mun Amir said he could not talk too openly about the finding yet but said Banggai was one of the major kingdoms in Central Sulawesi once occupied by foreign forces. -- JP