Rosli Dhobi

Rosli Dhobi was born on 18 March 1932 in Kampung Pulo, Sibu, as the second child and elder son in a washerman's family. His father was an ethnic Sibu Malay with ancestral roots in Kalimantan, Indonesia and his mother was a Sambas Malay who had intermingled with the local Melanau population. Rosli was a quiet but approachable person who had an elder sister and a younger brother. He started his career as a teacher and left his job in 1947 to teach in Sibu People's School. He also worked for Utusan Sarawak, a local newspaper, where he published nationalist poems under the pen name Lidros. He joined the Sibu Malay Youth Movement under the leadership of Sirat Haji Yaman. Rosli was a passionate nationalist who admired Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia. He joined Rukun 13, a secret cell organisation that carried out anti-cession activities, in August 1948. He was introduced to the organisation by an old friend, Awang Rambli. One of Rukun 13's aims was to establish a union of Sarawak with newly independent Indonesia. Rosli was well known for his assassination of Duncan George Stewart, the second governor of colonial Sarawak, on 3 December 1949. He stabbed Stewart with a poisoned dagger during a public parade in Sibu. Stewart died of his wounds the next day in Singapore. Rosli was arrested and tried for murder. He was sentenced to death by hanging and executed on 2 March 1950 in Kuching Central Prison. He was 17 years old. His body was buried in the prison cemetery until 1996, when it was exhumed and reburied near the Islamic Heritage Museum in Kuching. In 2011, his remains were moved again to Masjid An-Nur in Sibu, where he was given a hero's burial. Rosli Dhobi is regarded as a martyr and a symbol of Sarawak's nationalism. He is honoured with a statue and a road named after him in Sibu. His life story has been adapted into books, films, and songs.