Page 253 - Malaysia Baharu 2018

B Tuan Haji Mohamad bin Sabu, Minister of Defence Malaysia and Itsunori Onodera, Minister of Defence Japan 7 | SUMMARY OF MINISTRIES
during the MoU signing ceremony

Op Te Auraki In Malaysia
Malaysia officially handed over 27 New Zealand troops to be repatriated after
being buried for 63 years in the country under a project called Op Te Auraki on
20 August 2018. Also transported back was the skeleton of a baby, the son of a
Kiwi soldier who was killed.
A special ceremony by the Malaysian Armed Forces in honour of the sacrifice of
the soldiers was held to send off the remains of the New Zealand servicemen at
the Bunga Raya Complex, Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The ceremony also
marked the end of New Zealand's Te Auraki operation, which means The Return
in Maori.
The New Zealand soldiers perished between 1955 and 1971 while serving under
the 28th Commonwealth Brigade. The soldiers helped Malaysia to deal with
various threats including the Malayan Emergency, the Malaysia-Indonesia
Convention and the patrolling of Malaysia-Thailand border.
The 48-day excavation process began on 3 July at three places namely the
Terendak Commonwealth Cemetery, Taiping Christian Cemetery and Cheras
Commonwealth Cemetery.

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