SOOK CHING OPERATION...
The Sook Ching massacre was a systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the
Chinese in Singapore by the Japanese military during the Japanese occupation of Singapore, after the British colony surrendered on 15 February 1942 following the Battle of Singapore. The Sook Ching operation was later extended to include the Chinese in Malaya as well. The massacre took place from 18 February to 4 March 1942 at various places in the region.The term Sook Ching means "a purge through cleansing" in Chinese and it was referred to as the Kakyōshukusei (華僑粛清), or "purging of Chinese") by the Japanese.
The Japanese also referred to it as the Shingapōru Daikenshō (シンガポール大検証), literally "great inspection of Singapore". Singapore's National Heritage Board uses the term "Sook Ching" in its publications.The memories of those who lived through that period have been captured at exhibition galleries in the Old Ford Motor Factory at Bukit Timah, the site of the former factory where the British surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February 1942.
Chinese in Singapore by the Japanese military during the Japanese occupation of Singapore, after the British colony surrendered on 15 February 1942 following the Battle of Singapore. The Sook Ching operation was later extended to include the Chinese in Malaya as well. The massacre took place from 18 February to 4 March 1942 at various places in the region.The term Sook Ching means "a purge through cleansing" in Chinese and it was referred to as the Kakyōshukusei (華僑粛清), or "purging of Chinese") by the Japanese.
The Japanese also referred to it as the Shingapōru Daikenshō (シンガポール大検証), literally "great inspection of Singapore". Singapore's National Heritage Board uses the term "Sook Ching" in its publications.The memories of those who lived through that period have been captured at exhibition galleries in the Old Ford Motor Factory at Bukit Timah, the site of the former factory where the British surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February 1942.
There is no dispute in scholarly circles that the massacre took place, but Japanese and Singaporean sources disagree about the death toll. According to Hirofumi Hayashi (see next section), the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs "accepted that the Japanese military had carried out mass killings in Singapore ... During negotiations with Singapore, the Japanese government rejected demands for reparations but agreed to make a “gesture of atonement” by providing funds in other ways http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sook_Ching_massacre- 17 feb 2013
SOOK CHING MASSACRE
SOOK CHING MASSACRE
OPINION:After reading what it means,i was really shocked because Singapore was not able to defend themselves in any way from the Japanese People.In my opinion,Sook Ching mean to clean up an area to take over that part of area,example,in order for the Japanese people,if they want to take over Singapore,they have to get rid of all the people in Singapore but some of the Singaporean not just got killed but some were made into slaves,workers,and they have to live like the Japanese and obey to all their rules.I could imagine how dreadful it would be like if you they start to suffer you like sexual abuse for young women and a lot of beating up for the guys.
KEY BATTLES IN SINGAPORE AND MALAYA...
The Battle for Singapore
Defences in Singapore
The British had built a Naval Base in northern Singapore. In addition, the British built underground bunkers in secret places all over the island. These bunkers were used as stores or air-raid shelters for defence purposes.
The defence plans for Singapore were designed to prevent an attack from the sea. The big guns that were placed in Singapore were to be used for firing at big ships. These guns could also be turned landwards to fire at enemies on land. However, they were not equipped with the right ammunition to shoot at such enemies.
The British did not think that Singapore could be attacked from the land because the jungles of Johor were difficult territory for enemy soldiers to move in. Thus little was done to defend northern Singapore. The naval base, underground bunkers, big guns and the natural protection of the Johor jungles led the British to believe that Singapore was as strong as a fortress.
The Situation Worsened for Singapore
The Japanese soldiers, however, were well-trained in jungle warfare, and so the jungles of Malaya were not a problem to them. While the Japanese were invading Malaya, they also dropped bombs on Singapore. The British fighter planes were outnumbered by the Japanese "Zero" fighters. Soon, the British moved their planes from the airfields in Singapore to Sumatra. The airfields in Singapore were abandoned before the Japanese soldiers landed on the island. The British air defence failed to protect Singapore. In addition, the Singapore Naval Base was destroyed by the British themselves to prevent the Japanese from making use of it. The air and sea defences of the British had thus been crippled. By 31 January 1942, the Japanese were already in Johor Bahru - the doorstep of Singapore. Only a damaged Causeway separated Johor Bahru from Singapore.
The Japanese Commander, General Yamashita, set up his headquarters at the Sultan of Johor's palace. The choice was a clever one because the palace had a five-storey high tower. From this tower, General Yamashita could see every key target in northern Singapore. Although the tower was an easy target for the British, Yamashita was confident that the British would not fire at the home of their old friend, Sultan Ibrahim. He was right.
The Fake Attack
To mislead the British, the Japanese in Johor made intense bombings at Changi. To make it even more convincing, the Japanese attacked Pulau Ubin on 7 February 1942. Thinking that the Japanese intended to invade Singapore from the northeast, the British moved precious stocks of defence supplies like petrol and explosives from the northwest to the northeast. This was exactly what the Japanes had wanted the British to do.
Since the narrowest point of the Johor Strait was at the northwest of Singapore, it was easy for the Japanese to cross the Strait there. But the British had not stationed a large number of troops there. The Japanese found it easy to send divisions of soldiers across from Johor to Singapore in rubber boats and on rafts. Some of their tanks were also floated across the Johor Strait. The Allied soldiers, who had too large an area to defend, opened fire at the Japanese but could not stop them.
The British Blunder
The Japanese quickly repaired the Causeway so that both men and equipment could move easily into Singapore. To prepare for the worst, the British Commander, General A.E. Percival, made plans for the British soldiers to withdraw to protect the town centre if the situation called for it. When Percival issued the secret plans in the midst of the battle, they were interpreted as a command to withdraw immediately. Thus, many of the British soldiers on the western part of the island withdrew even before the Japanese soldiers moved into the area. When the mistake was discovered, orders were given to counter-attack, but these were carried out half-heartedly. By then, the Japanese had gained control of Bukit Timah.
The Battle of Bukit Timah
On 11 February, the Japanese reached the Bukit Timah area. It was an important place as the British had stocked up food and ammunition as well as vehicle and machine parts there. The north-eastern slope of the hill faced a reservoir, which was vital source of water supply. It was here that the fiercest fighting took place. Armed only with swords, grenades, rifles and guns that they used for hunting birds and animals, the Chinese Volunteers fought bravely, side by side with the Allied soldiers. Many on both sides were killed. The Japanese later took revenge on the Chinese by killing all the Chinese men, women and children found in the village.
The Battle of Pasir Panjang
By 13 February 1942, the Japanese had already reached Pasir Panjang Ridge (Kent Ridge Park). It was close to the Alexandra area where the main ammunition stores and British military hospital were located.
There, some men of the Malay Regiment, led by Lieutenant (Lt.) Adnan bin Saidi fought bravely. Many of the Japanese soldiers were killed or wounded. The next day, some Japanese soldiers tried to disguise themselves as Indian soldiers in the British army. It was Lt. Adnan who was sharp enough to noticed that those familiar turbaned figures were marching in fours instead of the usual threes in the British army. He ordered his solders to open fire, killing several of them. This cause the rest of the Japanese to flee down the hill.
But, the Japanese were soon able to surround the hill. The Malays were heavily outnumbered. Fierce hand-to-hand bayonet fighting took place. Many soldiers on both sides were killed. Lt. Adnan was also hit by the enemy's fire. In spite of his wounds, he kept on fighting. He was later captured by the Japanese and stabbed to death.
The Massacre at Alexandra Hospital
The Japanese then marched into Alexandra Hospital (then a British military hospital). There the Japanese killed the doctors, hospital staff, patients and even a British corporal who was lying on the operating table.
OPINION:After reading some information,i now understand that the Japanese planned to occupy Malaya to take their resources.This task was actually given to General Yamashita and his army,soldiers.The British relied on the virgin jungle of Malaya as a defense for Singapore from the North but they were proved wrong by the preparation of Colonel Masanobu Tsuji.The Japanese campaign was actually launched in December 1941 and finished during the fall of Singapore on February 1942.
On 15 February 1942, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival surrendered Singapore to the Japanese. More than 60,000 British and other Commonwealth and Empire troops surrendered to an Imperial Army force of around 35,000. Winston Churchill, when he heard the news, called it ‘the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history.’ And as Sir Max Hastings says: ‘Singapore, as Churchill recognized at the time, was not merely a defeat, it was a humiliation; the notion of this very large and not that badly equipped British army up against a smaller Japanese army being simply being wiped off the floor.’
How could this happen? How could the British be defeated in this way?
Well, the roots of this military disaster lie to a large extent in British complacency about the Japanese threat – a complacency that was born of racism. ‘The [attitude was that the] British were superior to everyone,’ says Anthony Hewitt, a British officer serving in South East Asia at the time, ‘and it was ridiculous for anyone to say that the Japanese were so good – some little nation like Japan couldn't possibly be better.’
But Hewitt learnt first hand the inaccuracy of this view when he visited Japan himself in the late 1930s. ‘I saw a Japanese force carrying out an exercise and I realized that, from a military point of view, they were very advanced… They had excellent weapons, their soldiers were very highly trained, and they were really outstanding.’ When he returned to Hong Kong, where he was stationed at the time, he reported this news to his superiors, but received the response that he was ‘probably exaggerating the problem.’
This belief that the Japanese were a third rate military power was also expressed by the commander-in-chief of British forces in the Far East, Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham. ‘I had a good close up, across the barbed wire [of the border],’ he wrote in 1940 to the Chief of the Imperial Defense Staff, ‘of various sub-human specimens dressed in dirty grey uniform, which I was informed were Japanese soldiers. If these represent the average of the Japanese army, the problems of their food and accommodation would be simple, but I cannot believe they would form an intelligent fighting force.’i
It was to prove a devastating misjudgment of Japanese capability. The reality was, as Professor Geoffrey Wawro says: ‘The Japanese military had defeated the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War, defeated the Chinese in the first Sino-Japanese War and they’d performed credibly in the First World War when they evicted the Germans from a lot of their colonial concessions and archipelagos. They also invested heavily in the army and the navy during the inter-war period, modeling themselves very much on the old Prussians, having a War Minister who was responsible only to the Emperor with no parliamentary oversight. So they built this heavily funded, efficient, motivated army and navy and it had no shortage of funds and equipment.
‘The army and the navy that they took into action in 1941-42 were quite strong. 51 divisions, 1.7 million troops, well armed, well equipped, there was some element of mechanization, there with a decent air force And what happens is that they overwhelm these US or Dutch or French or British contingents wherever they find them as they are relatively demoralized and distracted by events in Europe and have had their numbers and equipment drawn down because of the demands of the war in Europe.’
It is easy to understand why the British military and political leaders underestimated the threat from Japan. The direct threat to immediate British interests – and, indeed, to the territory of Great Britain – came from Nazi Germany. And Japan, after all, was on the other side of the world. As a result, British defenses in South East Asia had not received priority during the build up to war. The British plan had always been that a strong naval force would act as the prime deterrent to Japanese aggression, rather than extensive land forces. But here too, British arrogance would prove costly.
The tragic symbol of this refusal of the British to take the Japanese seriously as a military power was the sinking on 10 December of two major battleships - HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse. These two ships had been dispatched to Singapore in the autumn of 1941 in order to deter the Japanese. But allowing them to sail in hostile waters without adequate air support was a catastrophic error of military judgement, and they were both destroyed by Japanese warplanes. Typically, one Royal Navy officer on HMS Repulse had said the day before the fatal attack, after being told that the Japanese were in the area, ‘Oh, but they’re Japanese. There’s nothing to worry about.’ii
‘They [the Japanese] had been preparing for war in South East Asia since about 1936,’ says Professor Akira Iriye, ‘and so my understanding is that the naval strategic thinking, even before they thought about going against the United States, had been preparing for a war against the British. They must have further refined that when the European war came, and must have planned for an assault on Singapore and prepared for the attack against the British warships if they should come that way.’
On 8 December 1941 – which, because of the time difference with Hawaii, was actually the same day the Imperial Navy attacked Pearl Harbour – Japanese troops under the command of Lt General Yamashita attacked Malaya. Japanese forces – including units battle-hardened by years of campaigning in China – managed to push the British army back down the Malay Peninsula, with Penang falling to the Japanese on 11 January. By the end of the month the British had retreated across the narrow stretch of water separating Singapore Island from the Malayan mainland.But the problem now was that Singapore lacked adequate land defences on the northern shore, opposite Malaya. The British assumption had always been that any attack would most likely come from the south or west, against the sea-facing coast of Singapore.
Japanese capture of Singapore
Faced with this unpleasant new military reality, the British commander, Lt-General Arthur Percival, spread his available defence forces across the whole coastline of Singapore. This meant that though Percival’s soldiers outnumbered the attacking Japanese nearly two to one, the Japanese were stronger at their chosen point of attack. And so it proved, with units of Yamashita’s 25th Japanese Imperial Army landing on the north-west coast of Singapore on the night of 8 February 1941.
Just seven days later, on 15 February, Percival surrendered the island of Singapore, and all the inhabitants, to the Japanese invaders. ‘At Singapore the Japanese had a brilliant general and a terrific army up against one of the most incompetent range of commanders that the British army has ever put in the field,’ says Sir Max Hastings. ‘The truth is, I’ve written somewhere rather brutally, that I think if the British, Indian and Australian soldiers who fought in Malaya had had any inkling of the treatment they would receive in Japanese captivity they might have fought a good deal harder. That sounds a rather brutal thing to say but I think it’s true.’
Hastings also believes that that attitude of British forces in Singapore was not unique in the context of the Second World War: ‘The other thing that seems to me pivotal all through the war is that the British in particular convinced themselves that if the other side had air superiority then they were entitled to expect to lose the ground battle.
‘Well, the Germans and the Japanese didn't think like that in 1944 and 45. When the Allies had overwhelming air superiority the Germans and the Japanese still fought brilliantly, but to this day you still hear people saying, well, how can you possible expect the British army in Malaya to put up much of a show when the Japanese had all those aeroplanes? Well, what’s changed of course is that it’s not very nice being dive bombed by Japanese Zero, but the fact remained that the British army just put up an unbelievably poor performance against a vastly more determined and skillful Japanese enemy. One fundamental problem all through the war, and even British training manuals dwelt on this by '43-'44, was that British forces had this frightful habit that if they found their flanks turned, whether this was in Italy or in North Africa or in Burma, their instinct was, ‘oh well chaps, we’re surrounded, it’s all over and we’d better surrender’. And its not me making this up, Ian Jacobs of the war cabinet secretariat writing in August 1942 from the desert, said that after talking at length to senior officers in Cairo one has to face the fact that again and again British forces were surrendering to inferior numbers of the enemy who, in Jacob’s words, in the First World War ‘would have stuck it out’ and ‘fought it out’.
‘The British Army was just not very good. I was talking the other day to a very distinguished military historian, who also fought with distinction in Italy, and he said to me ‘when I came back from the war I always promised myself that I would never tell anybody just how bad the British army was.’’
As for the Japanese, they reveled in their victory. A Japanese newsreel shows the humiliation of the British forces captured at Singapore, ordered to pay homage to their conqueror – and in the process, reveals the rampant racism that the Japanese possessed themselves: ‘60,000 prisoners were lined up along the road so they could have the honour of seeing the great commander General Yamashita. The prisoners consisted of soldiers from the British mainland, Malaya, Australia, Scotland and India. A parade of mongrel troops.’iii
Altogether the Japanese would capture around 350,000 Allied prisoners during this war. One in four of them would die in Japanese captivity.
Adapted from-17 feb 2013
OPINION:I now know that the Japanese army is stronger than the British.Even thought they have smaller groups,they still have stronger men, equipment's,abilities, and their men were trained harder than the British. Another reason was because since it is called'World War',the other group of British army was busy handling another war in Europe.So they had a shortage of weapons and men.Also the Japanese people was more intelligent than the British The Japanese soldiers were also better trained in jungles warfare. Besides using tanks,they also used bicycles as their means of transport to move swiftly down Malaya.Compare to British,the Japanese had a large modern air force and naval fleet and was planning to destroyed half of the British planes which was old and outdated.
HOW DID THE JAPANESE TREATED YOU?
15 February was Chinese New Year's day. A meeting was held in the underground bunker of Fort Canning. Percival wanted to discuss ways to counter-attack but his commanders were against the idea. There were too many problems. The soldiers were tired. The prospect of street fighting meant more would be killed. Their supplies of food and water were running out. To prevent further bloodshed, they decided to surrender.
The Bluff That Worked
The British surrendered to the Japanese at the Ford Motor Factory in Bukit Timah. It was a cheerless New Year's day for the Chinese. Unknown to Percival, Yamashita had also used up most of his ammunition. Whatever weapons he had were those which the British had left behind in their hasty retreat. Yamashita's soldiers were outnumbered by more than three to one.
The occupation of Singapore by the Japanese was like a long nightmare that lasted for three and a half years. During this period known as the Japanese Occupation, the people suffered and lived in constant fear of the Japanese - the price that a country has to pay when it is occupied by another country.
Life was hard for the P.O.W.s. Some were sent to Thailand where they were made to construct a railroad. It was difficult working on the railroad as the men were given simple tools to fell huge trees and cut through rocks. They were made to work long hours and were not given enough food to eat. The Japanese engineers had estimated that it would take five years to build the railroad. But, the P.O.W.s were forced to work so hard that it was completed in 16 months. The whole project cost the lives of thousands of people who worked on it and the railway became known as the Death Railway.
The Malays suffered under the Japanese. Some Malays were arrested from the streets by Japanese soldiers and sent to Thailand to build the Death Railway. They were not spared if they did something wrong as the Japanese did not hesitate to beat them or chop off their heads.
To remove Western influence, the Japanese set up schools to teach the people the Japanese language. Textbooks were printed in Japanese. Every morning, the children had to stand facing the direction of Japan and sing the Japanese national anthem.
In the cinemas, only Japanese movies and propaganda films were shown. These films showed the virtues of the Japanese and made fun of the British. Going to the cinemas had its dangers too since the Japanese might suddenly appear and take away young men to work on the Death Railway. Sometimes, the Japanese would plant themselves in the cinemas and would listen secretly to conversations, hoping to overhear anti-Japanese remarks.
Many people experienced hunger during the Occupation because there was a shortage of food. Essential foodstuffs like rice, salt and sugar were controlled. Ration cards which limited the amount of food for each person were given out. If a person wanted milk powder from a shop, the shopkeeper would say that he had none. But if one was prepared to pay a very high price, the shopkeeper would know where to get it. This was known as the "blackmarket". If a person was not able to pay the price, he or she had to go without it. The people were also encouraged to grow more food. Even in schools, pupils had to look after vegetable plots.
The situation was made worse by the money which the Japanese issued. These were called "banana notes" as many of them had pictures of banana trees or other fruit on them. The money was printed on poor quality paper and had no serial number. Whenever the authorities needed more money, they printed more notes. As a result, there were lots of banana notes and their value dropped.
Another group which aimed to recapture Malaya and Singapore from the Japanese was Force 136. This was a secret British organisation which was set up to gather information about the Japanese. Local men were also recruited into the Force. They were trained in India and sent secretly into Malaya by submarine to help the M.P.A.J.A. in its fight against the Japanese. Lim Bo Seng, a Singapore businessman, was one of the leaders in Force 136. Unfortunately, he was captured in March 1944. Although he was tortured severely, he refused to reveal the names of those who worked with him. He finally died in prison in June 1944.
OPINION:Singaporeans,some were also known as Prisoners of war,were captured by the Japanese in 1942.They had to do hard labor and not have enough to eat.Some of them were forced to sent to construct the Death Railway in Thailand.The Locals were ill treated by the Japanese and many of the Chinese were forced to donate a 'gift'of 50 million to the Japanese.they were massacre and tortures and the Locals were also sent to build Death Railways.They also ha to live a tortures life in Syonan-To.Everyone was forced to learn and understand the Japanese language,only Japanese radio, TV commercial was shown and all were made to sing the Japanese anthem while facing the direction of Japan.
HOW AND WHEN DID THE JAPANESE SURRENDERED?
The invasion of Japan promised to be the bloodiest seaborne attack of all time, conceivably 10 times as costly as the Normandy invasion in terms of Allied casualties. On July 16, a new option became available when the United States secretly detonated the world's first atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert. Ten days later, the Allies issued the Potsdam Declaration, demanding the "unconditional surrender of all the Japanese armed forces." Failure to comply would mean "the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitable the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland." On July 28, Japanese Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki responded by telling the press that his government was "paying no attention" to the Allied ultimatum. U.S. President Harry Truman ordered the devastation to proceed, and on August 6, the U.S. B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing an estimated 80,000 people and fatally wounding thousands more.
Shortage of housing and poor public health
Shortage of water and electricity
There was a shortage of water and electricity in Singapore. Most of the machinery used to filter and pump water was damaged during the war. Moreover, water pipes in building brust. As a result, there was not enough water for the people. People had to be careful about how they handle water. Machinery for generating electricity was also damaged. With little electricity, the streets were unsafe at night as they were not lit.
Food was rationed. Each family was allowed to buy only a small amount of food so that every family would have food. Children were given free food at some food distribution centers The British made agreements with other countries to supply rice and other foodstuffs to Singapore in exchange for rubber.
The government loaned money to businessmen to help them start businesses. It promised to buy what these businesses imported, like food and clothing. the government also started trading with neighbouring countries again. When trade took place, there were more jobs for people.
DONE BY: Ruslezah Roslee(15)-2D
OPINION:I now know that the Japanese army is stronger than the British.Even thought they have smaller groups,they still have stronger men, equipment's,abilities, and their men were trained harder than the British. Another reason was because since it is called'World War',the other group of British army was busy handling another war in Europe.So they had a shortage of weapons and men.Also the Japanese people was more intelligent than the British The Japanese soldiers were also better trained in jungles warfare. Besides using tanks,they also used bicycles as their means of transport to move swiftly down Malaya.Compare to British,the Japanese had a large modern air force and naval fleet and was planning to destroyed half of the British planes which was old and outdated.
HOW DID THE JAPANESE TREATED YOU?
On February 15, 1942, the British surrendered to the Japanese Imperial Army due to the shortage of food and ammunition.Thus began the horrifying Japanese Occupation which lasted three years and eight months. In February 1962 - twenty years after the war has ended, remains belonging to civilian victims of the Japanese occupation were unearthed. The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce& Industry undertook the responsibility of gathering the remains and creating a memorial.In February 15, 1967, the Civilian War Memorial was built and the remains were buried under it.This monument is composed of four similar pillars, symbolizing Singapore's four major races.On this day every year (also known as "Total Defence Day"), the Government would hold a memorial service to remember the thousands of people killed during the occupation.
Decision at Fort Canning
15 February was Chinese New Year's day. A meeting was held in the underground bunker of Fort Canning. Percival wanted to discuss ways to counter-attack but his commanders were against the idea. There were too many problems. The soldiers were tired. The prospect of street fighting meant more would be killed. Their supplies of food and water were running out. To prevent further bloodshed, they decided to surrender.The British surrendered to the Japanese at the Ford Motor Factory in Bukit Timah. It was a cheerless New Year's day for the Chinese. Unknown to Percival, Yamashita had also used up most of his ammunition. Whatever weapons he had were those which the British had left behind in their hasty retreat. Yamashita's soldiers were outnumbered by more than three to one.The Beginning of A Nightmare
The occupation of Singapore by the Japanese was like a long nightmare that lasted for three and a half years. During this period known as the Japanese Occupation, the people suffered and lived in constant fear of the Japanese - the price that a country has to pay when it is occupied by another country.
"Syonan-to" was the new name that Japanese gave Singapore. It was a Japanese name which meant "the Light of the South". However, this light did not shine brightly as the people of Singapore spent the darkest days of their lives under the rule of the Japanese.
The Allied Prisoners-of-War
One of the first things that the Japanese did was to imprison all the Europeans found in Singapore. They became prisoners-of-war (P.O.W.s). The P.O.W.s were kept in various prison camps such as Changi Prison, Selarang Barracks, Sime Road Camp and other camps.
Life was hard for the P.O.W.s. Some were sent to Thailand where they were made to construct a railroad. It was difficult working on the railroad as the men were given simple tools to fell huge trees and cut through rocks. They were made to work long hours and were not given enough food to eat. The Japanese engineers had estimated that it would take five years to build the railroad. But, the P.O.W.s were forced to work so hard that it was completed in 16 months. The whole project cost the lives of thousands of people who worked on it and the railway became known as the Death Railway.
Those who remained in Singapore in the prison camps also suffered a great deal. They were made to clean up the city, bury the dead bodies, and restore water and electricity supplies. There was a great shortage of food. The P.O.W.s had to plant their own vegetables as they often did not have enough to eat. At the Sime Road Camp, some of the men discovered that if they added talcum powder to their rice porridge, they would have a fuller meal! Due to the poor health conditions in the prisons, many P.O.W.s fell ill and died.
The Local Civilians
The Japanese had told the people of Singapore that they had come to set them free from British rule. However, the people of all races found that they were not freed. Instead, they had new masters. In fact, they lived in fear of their new Japanese rulers.
Barbed wire was put across the roads to form roadblocks. Japanese guards then bullied the people passing by, sometimes making them kneel on the roadside for hours. Once, a cyclist who tried to ride away when the Japanese guard was not looking was caught. He was made to kneel down and was then hit on the head until he fainted. The Japanese soldiers wanted everyone to obey them and to show them respect. Whenever anyone passed a Japanese soldier on guard duty, he had to bow to him. If he did not do so, he would be slapped, kicked or punished in some other way.
The Malays suffered under the Japanese. Some Malays were arrested from the streets by Japanese soldiers and sent to Thailand to build the Death Railway. They were not spared if they did something wrong as the Japanese did not hesitate to beat them or chop off their heads.
The Japanese wanted the Indians to join the Indian National Army (I.N.A.) to fight against the British in India. However, many Indian soldiers (mainly Sikhs) and the Gurkhas in the British Army refused to join the I.N.A.. Some of those who refused were killed. The Indians, too, were not spared from the Death Railway.
The Eurasians also suffered under the Japanese because they looked like Europeans. Many were put in prison camps. Several of the Eurasians were members of the Singapore Volunteer Corps and had fought against the Japanese. Those suspected of helping the British were shot.
It was the Chinese who suffered the most. They had actively helped China in its fight against Japan. To punish them, the Japanese told all Chinese men between 18 and 50 years of age (sometimes women and children too) to report at certain centres. There, they were "examined" by the Japanese. There was no proper way for deciding who was anti-Japanese. At some centres, men wearing hoods or masks would simply point out certain people as enemies of the Japanese.
Those who were identified as anti-Japanese were not allowed to go home. Some were given a small piece of paper stamped with the word "Examined". The word could be stamped onto their shirts or arms and became an important pass which allowed them to avoid further questioning by the Japanese.
However, there were thousands who were identified as being anti-Japanese. These were taken in lorries to Changi Beach and other beaches on the east coast.
The Chinese in Singapore and Malaya were also forced to form the Overseas Chinese Association and were made to contribute $50 million towards Japan's war efforts. The Chinese leaders found it hard to raise the money. Though they were prepared to sell their houses, no one could afford to buy them. The Chinese in Singapore and Malaya could collect only $28 million altogether and had to borrow the rest from a Japanese bank.
When Singapore was Syonan-to
Law and Order
Before the Japanese took full control of Singapore, there were many looters who stole whatever they could lay their hands on. To stop further looting, the Japanese shot those who were caught, beheaded them, and had their heads displayed at Dhoby Ghaut (near Cathay Cinema), Anderson Bridge and Kallang Bridge. The looting stopped at once.
The Japanese Military Police, known as the Kempeitai, were probably the most feared of all the Japanese. They had spies all over the island and encouraged people to supply them with information by giving rewards and privileges. As a result, nobody knew who to trust. A cloud of suspicion and fear hung over Singapore.
Anti-Japanese suspects would be arrested and taken to a Kempeitai building, such as the YMCA building at Orchard Road, or the Central Police Station at South Bridge Road. There, the suspects were beaten and tortured until they revealed the information that the Japanese wanted.
Other Changes in Syonan-to
To remove Western influence, the Japanese set up schools to teach the people the Japanese language. Textbooks were printed in Japanese. Every morning, the children had to stand facing the direction of Japan and sing the Japanese national anthem.In the cinemas, only Japanese movies and propaganda films were shown. These films showed the virtues of the Japanese and made fun of the British. Going to the cinemas had its dangers too since the Japanese might suddenly appear and take away young men to work on the Death Railway. Sometimes, the Japanese would plant themselves in the cinemas and would listen secretly to conversations, hoping to overhear anti-Japanese remarks.
The local Chinese and English newspapers had very little local news. Most of what was reported was the Japanese version of the war and pro-Japanese speeches. Radio stations were controlled by the Japanese and radio owners could listen only to local broadcasts. Tuning in to foreign broadcasting stations was done at great risk. Those caught doing so were severely punished or even killed.
Food and the Black Market
Many people experienced hunger during the Occupation because there was a shortage of food. Essential foodstuffs like rice, salt and sugar were controlled. Ration cards which limited the amount of food for each person were given out. If a person wanted milk powder from a shop, the shopkeeper would say that he had none. But if one was prepared to pay a very high price, the shopkeeper would know where to get it. This was known as the "blackmarket". If a person was not able to pay the price, he or she had to go without it. The people were also encouraged to grow more food. Even in schools, pupils had to look after vegetable plots.
But the food shortage did not affect the Japanese. They had the best of everything: rice, sugar, meat, fish, whisky and cigarettes.
The situation was made worse by the money which the Japanese issued. These were called "banana notes" as many of them had pictures of banana trees or other fruit on them. The money was printed on poor quality paper and had no serial number. Whenever the authorities needed more money, they printed more notes. As a result, there were lots of banana notes and their value dropped.
The money was worth so little that the phrase "banana money" came to mean useless money. Some people even went shopping with bags of banana notes. In fact, a used towel could fetch as much as $300 worth of banana notes!
Anti-Japanese Groups
An anti-Japanese group, called the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (M.P.A.J.A.) was secretly formed to fight against the Japanese. Members of this group would carry out sudden attacks on the Japanese officers and their men whenever they had the chance. They hid in the Malayan jungles to escape from the Japanese. To ensure a regular supply of food, M.P.A.J.A. members grew crops deep in the jungles. They also tried to arouse anti-Japanese feeling among the people by distributing newspapers to them.
Another group which aimed to recapture Malaya and Singapore from the Japanese was Force 136. This was a secret British organisation which was set up to gather information about the Japanese. Local men were also recruited into the Force. They were trained in India and sent secretly into Malaya by submarine to help the M.P.A.J.A. in its fight against the Japanese. Lim Bo Seng, a Singapore businessman, was one of the leaders in Force 136. Unfortunately, he was captured in March 1944. Although he was tortured severely, he refused to reveal the names of those who worked with him. He finally died in prison in June 1944.
Adapted from-17 feb 2013
Life Story During the WW2
HOW AND WHEN DID THE JAPANESE SURRENDERED?
Aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan formally surrenders to the Allies, bringing an end to World War II.
By the summer of 1945, the defeat of Japan was a foregone conclusion. The Japanese navy and air force were destroyed. The Allied naval blockade of Japan and intensive bombing of Japanese cities had left the country and its economy devastated. At the end of June, the Americans captured Okinawa, a Japanese island from which the Allies could launch an invasion of the main Japanese home islands. U.S. General Douglas MacArthur was put in charge of the invasion, which was code-named "Operation Olympic" and set for November 1945.
The invasion of Japan promised to be the bloodiest seaborne attack of all time, conceivably 10 times as costly as the Normandy invasion in terms of Allied casualties. On July 16, a new option became available when the United States secretly detonated the world's first atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert. Ten days later, the Allies issued the Potsdam Declaration, demanding the "unconditional surrender of all the Japanese armed forces." Failure to comply would mean "the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitable the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland." On July 28, Japanese Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki responded by telling the press that his government was "paying no attention" to the Allied ultimatum. U.S. President Harry Truman ordered the devastation to proceed, and on August 6, the U.S. B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing an estimated 80,000 people and fatally wounding thousands more.
After the Hiroshima attack, a faction of Japan's supreme war council favored acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration, but the majority resisted unconditional surrender. On August 8, Japan's desperate situation took another turn for the worse when the USSR declared war against Japan. The next day, Soviet forces attacked in Manchuria, rapidly overwhelming Japanese positions there, and a second U.S. atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese coastal city of Nagasaki.
Just before midnight on August 9, Japanese Emperor Hirohito convened the supreme war council. After a long, emotional debate, he backed a proposal by Prime Minister Suzuki in which Japan would accept the Potsdam Declaration "with the understanding that said Declaration does not compromise any demand that prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as the sovereign ruler." The council obeyed Hirohito's acceptance of peace, and on August 10 the message was relayed to the United States.
Early on August 12, the United States answered that "the authority of the emperor and the Japanese government to rule the state shall be subject to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers." After two days of debate about what this statement implied, Emperor Hirohito brushed the nuances in the text aside and declared that peace was preferable to destruction. He ordered the Japanese government to prepare a text accepting surrender.
In the early hours of August 15, a military coup was attempted by a faction led by Major Kenji Hatanaka. The rebels seized control of the imperial palace and burned Prime Minister Suzuki's residence, but shortly after dawn the coup was crushed. At noon that day, Emperor Hirohito went on national radio for the first time to announce the Japanese surrender. In his unfamiliar court language, he told his subjects, "we have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable." The United States immediately
accepted Japan's surrender.
accepted Japan's surrender.
President Truman appointed MacArthur to head the Allied occupation of Japan as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers. For the site of Japan's formal surrender, Truman chose the USS Missouri, a battleship that had seen considerable action in the Pacific and was named after Truman's native state. MacArthur, instructed to preside over the surrender, held off the ceremony until September 2 in order to allow time for representatives of all the major Allied powers to arrive.
On Sunday, September 2, more than 250 Allied warships lay at anchor in Tokyo Bay. The flags of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and China fluttered above the deck of the Missouri. Just after 9 a.m. Tokyo time, Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed on behalf of the Japanese government. General Yoshijiro Umezu then signed for the Japanese armed forces, and his aides wept as he made his signature.
JAPANESE SURRENDERED
Supreme Commander MacArthur next signed on behalf of the United Nations, declaring, "It is my earnest hope and indeed the hope of all mankind that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past." Ten more signatures were made, by the United States, China, Britain, the USSR, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, respectively. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz signed for the United States. As the 20-minute ceremony ended, the sun burst through low-hanging clouds. The most devastating war in human history was over.
OPINION:The United States actually made a atomic bomb and had already testified it by bombing different parts of Japan such as the raids of Tokyo and other cities and Hiroshima.Then they drop the atomic bomb in Nagasaki and the Japanese finally surrendered.Now the atomic bomb is not just an ordinary kind of bomb.It is a Nuclear bomb which releases by a reaction involving chemical,gases which used one to dropped at the Japanese people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Adapted from-17 feb 2013
SINGAPORE AFTER WORLD WAR 2...
Problems after the war
The people of Singapore were relieved when they heard about the surrender of the Japanese in 1945. They thought that life would improve after the return of the British. However, they continued to suffer even after the war.......
Prices of food items increased to ten times the prices before the war.
Many people were hungry and unhappy. Some even searched through the rubbish heaps in the hope of finding something edible or usable.
Many people were poor and life was hard for them.
Some people did odd jobs while others became hawkers, selling anything they could get their hands on
Shortage of housing and poor public health
The bombed of Singapore by the Japanese caused many houses to collapse. Others were damaged. There was a shortage of houses, so rents increased. Many people could not afford the high rents. Often, as many as ten people crammed into a small room. Living conditions were unhealthy and diseases such as tuberculosis spread easily.
The poor public health was also a result of the war. Bombs created pot-holes in the roads which bred mosquitoes and flies. These insects reproduced rapidly and spread diseases among the people.
Shortage of water and electricity
There was a shortage of water and electricity in Singapore. Most of the machinery used to filter and pump water was damaged during the war. Moreover, water pipes in building brust. As a result, there was not enough water for the people. People had to be careful about how they handle water. Machinery for generating electricity was also damaged. With little electricity, the streets were unsafe at night as they were not lit.
What the British Government did
Food was rationed. Each family was allowed to buy only a small amount of food so that every family would have food. Children were given free food at some food distribution centers The British made agreements with other countries to supply rice and other foodstuffs to Singapore in exchange for rubber.
The government loaned money to businessmen to help them start businesses. It promised to buy what these businesses imported, like food and clothing. the government also started trading with neighbouring countries again. When trade took place, there were more jobs for people.
The British government repaired the machinery needed to generate electricity and pump water so as to restore the supply of electricity and water. Water pipes that had burst were also fixed. Gas pipes that were leaking were located and repaired.
Adapted from-17 feb 2013
SINGAPORE AFTER WW2
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