NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
NATIONAL INSTITUE OF EDUCATION
ETL201
SELECTED HISTORY TOPICS FOR PRIMARY SOCIAL STUDIES
THE EXPERIENCES WHICH MY GRANDMOTHER HAD ENCOUNTERED DURING THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION
(AN ORAL HISTORY ASSIGNMENT)
NAME: TAN SU MEI LINDA
(020407D24)
Tutor: Dr ANG CHENG GUAN
DAY/TIME: FRIDAY/1030-1220
Date submitted: 18/10/2003
An oral history interview from my grandmother who lived through Japanese occupation by Linda Tan
For the purpose of doing this oral history project, it gives me an opportunity to interview my grandmother who had survived the Japanese Occupation phase. My grandmother was born in the year 1935 and she is now sixty-nine years old.
The occupation of Singapore lasted for a short period but its scars remain deeply etched in my grandmother’s mind and those who had lived through it as well.
The Japanese occupation was considered as the darkest period in the lives of Singaporean people. [1]‘The old order ended on February 15, 1942 when British surrendered to the Japanese Imperial Army. A new life had begun. Singapore was renamed Syonan-to, meaning “Light of the South”. To many local Hokkiens it sounded like “Birdcage Island”.’
First experience
With my grandmother’s painful experience she had, she recalls the events and most of her recounts are similar to that of established history. In the 1940s, my grandmother was still a young little girl who lived in kallang street 29. At that time, it was still a kampong with many attap houses. In her first experience, she accompanied her father to go to the [2]‘Pagoda Street’ to sell cigarettes. After the invasion, many white-collared workers lost their jobs and could not find other work. They were forced to switch professions and become stallholders at ‘Pagoda street’. At that time, it was just pick a suitable spot on the street and could start doing business without having to pay rent or get a permit. As usual, my grandmother had to use a big cardboard to place her cigarettes on it. She sat on the stool and asked people to buy her cigarettes. Then later, her father told her that he needs to go to toilet and wanted my grandmother to take care of the cigarettes. That time, my grandmother only seven years old, she obeyed her father and stayed there. Suddenly, she saw a troops of Japanese soldiers marched along the street. This was her first time met the Japanese soldiers with their long sharp guns. My grandmother was very scared as she did not know what to do. She saw people closing their stalls hurriedly and ran home so as to avoid the Japanese solders. She even heard people calling her: “Ah moi, (in Cantonese), run quickly and hide yourself.” However, my grandmother dared not run away as she wanted to wait for her father. Then at that particular moment, her father appeared. He carried my grandmother and ran away without taking the cigarettes with them.
From that day onwards, my grandmother’s father warned his wife and children to stay indoors. My grandmother had 1 eldest brother, 1 younger sister and 1 baby brother. They came from a very poor family and life was very hard at that period of time. Historical records have showed that [3]‘for 123 years, the people of Singapore led rather peaceful lives under the British. After the surrender, silence fell on Singapore. People stayed indoors. Shops were closed. Buildings, houses, roads and water pipes were destroyed.’
Second experience
Due to shortage of food, my grandmother’s family had to find their ways to search for food. One day, my grandmother and her siblings sneaked out of their house to find food. As they walked, they knocked on people’s doors to beg for food. However, my grandmother’s neighbours faced the same problem as them. Although every one faced the same situation, my grandmother managed to get some sweet potatoes and tapiocas from a kind middle-aged lady who was a [4]‘majie’. This ‘majie’ stayed alone as she remained unmarried for the rest of her lives. On their way back home, my grandmother and her siblings saw the Japanese soldiers not far away. They were very panic and quickly ran back to hide at the ‘majie’s home.’ Through that small window, my grandmother saw the Japanese soldiers snatched most of the food from her neighbours to feed themselves. This was her second time met the Japanese soldiers and she was in fear at that time.
Food Shortage
Many historical books shows that [5]‘food shortages were salient feature of life during Japanese Occupation.’ Trade with other countries had also stopped and food could not be imported. The Japanese controlled the amount of basic food items such as rice, sugar and salt that each family could buy. There was little food for the people and they suffered from hunger. The Japanese encouraged the people to grow their own food.
Moreover after fifty years, my grandmother still could recall that they also followed their neighbours to grow some food so that they would not be suffered from hunger too. However, growing of food still not enough, many people died of hunger due to lack of nutrition or disease. In fact my grandmother had heard from her neighbours that there were beggars fallen along the main roads, side alleys or the bottom of the steps due to starvation or sickness. Once, she went with her father to buy rice with the ration card. [6]‘Ration cards’ was a method to get food during Japanese Occupation. ‘In Singapore, there were some 210,000 ration cards that relied on the distribution of rice by the government. One ration card was issued to at least two persons.’ My grandmother even mentioned that they had to pay in Japanese currency and it was ten cents but the quality of rice was very poor. She even witnessed that there was this little boy and his father were picking up every grain from the ground. Rice was definitely very precious to them but as compared now, my grandmother shaking her head saying in hokkien that,” children are too fortunate and they do not know how to cherish the food or water.”
‘Sugar’ was an expensive commodity too. My grandmother also mentioned that “when customers asked for extra sugar to be added in to their beverages, we could not oblige even when they were willing to pay for it. ‘Sugar’ was very scare then. At that time, it was unusual for a customer to ask for more sugar. Unlike nowadays, when we could hear customers saying: ‘Not enough, could you please add more sugar.’ During the Japanese Occupation days, there were no such things of adding extra sugar in their coffee or tea.”
“Nowadays, our noodles are made of flour but during the Japanese Occupation, they were not.” My grandmother had eaten those ‘noodle’ before but she did not know how to describe it. From one of the book, it shows record that it is called ‘rubble noodles’ which looked like plastic and were transparent when made. ‘The oil they used was red in colour, it had a kind of smell and it was difficult to eat.’ My grandmother said that her mother had to use hot water to wash them until there was no more of that oil before she could cook them.
Shortage of fabric
At that time, there was shortage of [7]‘fabric’ too. My grandmother remembered that when her mother first heard that a certain shop near Elgin Bridge was selling rationed cloth. Her mother raced there with their rice ration card, but was too late because all the fabric had been snatched up, and she returned empty-handed. Then the second time, her mother was lucky to manage to buy a piece of white fabric and they were very happy.
Historical books have showed that ‘there was an extraordinary shortage of goods and amenities during the days under the iron hoof of the Japanese army. After the fall of Singapore, one of the first things the Japanese army did was to seize all the fabrics from textile stores and tailor shops.’ This meant people could not obtain any fabric on the market and over time, their clothes would naturally get torn. So people had to come up with various methods to solve the problem. They could eke out a living by selling their old clothes and things in the market to survive through the hard times.
Third experience
The last experience which my grandmother could recall was Japanese solders would come in the middle of the night and started knocking on every people’s home. The Japanese forced all of them to assemble outside and separated the males on one side and the females with children on the other side. At that time, my grandmother admitted that she was very scared and did not know what would happen next. She saw her father carrying her baby brother and he kept on crying due to hunger.
The males had to follow the Japanese soldiers to a big field and stayed there without food and water for two days and one night. My grandmother saw her father was taken away by the Japanese and her eyes filled with sadness and angry. During that time, her family was very worried of her father and her baby brother and prayed that they would return home safety. After two days, when her father carried her baby brother back home, my grandmother and her family was very glad to see their father again. Suddenly, her father fainted and his body was very weak. He told my grandmother to take good care of the family and he died at home. This was because my grandmother’s father did not eat anything for the past two days and he died of starvation. When she mentioned about her father’s death, I could see that my grandmother’s eyes full of fear and sadness.
In many historical records, they also mentioned ‘how people were ill-treated during the Japanese occupation. The impact of ‘sook ching’ [8]was one of an example similar to my grandmother’s experience. ‘A most terrifying feature of Sook Ching’ was the” identification parade “where people who were picked up for questioning were never seen again.”
In this dark period of history, my grandmother had encountered the lessons of sufferings and endurance learnt during those years. From her memories, she did not physically suffer, she had an emotional, psychological suffering of seeing others and her father suffer. Seeing her neighbours without clothing or even food. It is summed up when she says “It was her own personal experiences and hoped that only peace could last forever and not war again.”
(1764 words)
BIBOGRAPHY
1. Jonathan Griffiths . The Japanese Occupation 1942-1945. National
Archives of Singapore, (1996)
2. Si Jing. Down Memory Lane in Clogs. Asiaoac books Pte Ltd
3. N.I.LOW . When Singapore was Syonan-To. 1973. Times. Books.
International
4. Lee, Geok Boi. Syonan: Singapore under the Japanese 1942-1945
Singapore : Singapore Heritage Society, (1992)
5. Tan Beng Luan , Irene Quah.The Japanese Occupation 1942-1945:A
pictorial Record Of Singapore during the war, Singapore times
Edition,(1996)
6. Turnbull C.M. A History of Singapore(1819-1975) Singapore : Oxford
University Press, (1989).
TRANSCRIPT FOR THE ORAL INTERVIEW PROJECT
PROFILE OF THE INTERVIEWEE
Name of the interviewee : Madam Ong Geok Wan
Nationality : Singaporean
Pre/post War Occupation : a young girl helping her father sells cigarettes
Language Spoken : Hokkien (translated into English)
1) How old were you during the Japanese occupation?
7 years old.
2) How many people were there in your family?
There were my father, my mother, one eldest brother, one younger sister, one
baby brother and myself.
3) What was your education level?
I never go to school because my family was very poor.
4) Who in your family was working and what were they working as?
My father was the only person working. He sold cigarettes during Japanese
Japanese Occupation and sometimes I would go and help him set up stall.
5) Could you recall, what happened during the Japanese Occupation?
Yes, I could remember once that, I helped my father to sell cigarettes. My
father went to the toilet and left me alone. Suddenly, I saw a troop of
Japanese soldiers marched along the street. Everybody closed their stalls
hurriedly and ran home. Then my father appeared and carried me home. I
was really terrified at that time. This was my first time met the Japanese
soldiers with their long guns.
6) What happened next? Did you meet the Japanese soldiers again?
I still could recall that my father told us to stay indoors and forbid us to go
out. During that time, we ere trying to find ways to search for food as my
father dared not bring me to go outside to sell the cigarettes.
Then one day, my siblings and I sneaked out of the house to search for food.
As we walked, we knocked on people’s doors to beg for food. However, our
neighbours faced the same problem as them. Although every one faced the
same situation, I managed to get some sweet potatoes and tapiocas from a
kind middle-aged lady who was a ‘majie’. On our way back home, we saw
the Japanese soldiers not far away. we were very panic and quickly ran back
to hide at the ‘majie’s home.’ In that small window, I saw the Japanese.
soldiers snatched most of the food from my neighbours to feed themselves.
This was my second time met the Japanese soldiers and I was in fear at that
time.
7) What did yor family and you eat during that hard period of time?
Due to shortage of food, we mostly eat sweet potatoes, tapiocas or the
rubber noodles. We also grew food during that time so that we would not