A resistence group of Chinese youth leaders, together with former members of the North Borneo Constabulary (police force) on the West coast of Sabah, led by Lieutenant Albert Kwok Yek Nam, raised a guerrilla force to try to over throw the Japanese occupying force.

A revolt was launched on 9 October 1943 (the eve of the Chinese Double Ten Revolt in China), killing 50 Japanese and taking control of Jesselton (modern day Kota Kinabalu). The revolt was a success. However, due to a shortage of weapons, ammo and communication issues with the resistence force from the Philippines that was supposed to send additional weapons and ammo and subsequently, the non-arrival of the promised military help from the Philippines, the group was forced to disperse into the jungles of Inanam once Japanese forces were able to re-organize and re-take Jesselton.

After capture, and torture, the leadership of the resistence force were beheaded at Petagas (site of the Petagas War Memorial opposite Kota Kinabalu International Airport) and their bodies dumped in a mass grave. The remaining members of the resistence force were imprisoned in Jesselton and Labuan, with most perishing due to torture, illness and poor conditions in the prisons.