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Memories of the Japanese Occupation

CTL 201 : Selected Topics for Primary Social Studies

Oral History Assignment

Memories of the Japanese Occupation

Name: Neo Jia Hwee

Tutorial Group:Group 7: Tuesday (1430 – 1630)

Tutor: A/P Karl Hack

Submitted on:22 October 2004

Contents
Assignment / : / …………………………………… / 1-7
References / : / …………………………………… / 8
Profile of Interviewee / : / …………………………………… / 9
Transcript of Interview / : / …………………………………… / 10-13

Introduction: The Interviewee

The interviewee is Mdm. Sze Ai Di. Born in Singapore in 1931, she was about ten during the Japanese Occupation. She is the only child of a mistress. Her father and his first wife left Singapore to seek refuge in Malaysia from the Occupation for about a year before returning to Singapore. According to Mdm. Sze, due to relationship problems between her father’s first wife and her mother, her mother had decided that they stay on in Singapore. Her mother’s family owned a small provision shop in the kampong, “Long Chuan” at Yio Chu Kang. They sold rice, flour, cigarettes, Chinese snacks and dried goods in her provision shop. The shop was however closed down eventually.

Japanese words

Although it has been about 59 years since the end of the war, Mdm. Sze recalls two Japanese words she vividly remembers, as “sho nan to” and “a li – a – to”. Unfortunately, she can’t remember the meanings of these words. She pronounced them with a Hokkien tone, however, one is able to decipher that they refer to Singapore’s new name during the Japanese Occupation, which is “Syonan” and “Arigatoo (ありがとう)”. For the former, Singapore was renamed as Syonan to mean “light of the South”; the year 1942, was changed to 2602 to follow the Showa calendar and even the local time was moved forward by one and a half hours to follow Tokyo time[1]. The latter refers to “thank you” in the Japanese language. Although Mdm. Sze couldn’t recall its meaning but it is highly possible that that they were uttered when bowing to the Japanese army or when having dealings with the Japanese army1.

Bombings, Air Raid Shelters and Sirens

Mdm Sze said that when the Japanese Soldiers first air raid Singapore. She said that she was awakened by thundering sounds; she couldn’t remember the time and date but remembered that it was at night and she was already sleeping. Subsequently after that it was a common sight to see airplanes flying in the sky and sirens were being heard. The sirens would drive everyone into air raid shelters. The shelters were made through digging holes in the ground and covering the top with sand bags. At times, somebody in the kampong would cycle down the road and warned everyone that bombs are going to be dropped and everyone would immediately go into hiding. The raids were unpredictable and could take place anytime. They would stay in the shelters until the bombings ceased and it was common for them to go in and out of he bomb shelters. The shelters were made of all kinds of materials as materials were scare and the peple were not prepared for war.[2]

At first Mdm. Sze, thought that the whole episode was like a game which they play, hiding in underground holes. She finally realize the gravity of the situation as the frequency to go into hiding became irregular and when the elders in the family became tense.

Making a living

Life was hard and the people lived in fear of the Japanese Imperial Army who would conduct checks on the families[3].

Mdm. Sze’s grandfather was forced to close his provision shop after the Japanese Army ransacked his shop and destroyed everything. He was beaten up. They took away everything that was edible in the shop and destroyed everything they were suspicious of. Mdm. Sze also said that her grandfather had hidden several of their inventories in bomb shelters and in the forest.

Although she can’t recall the exact time, she said that eventually her grandfather and uncle had to sell vegetables which they grew in their backyard on a pushcart. They also sold a type of grass known as “Centipede grass” (literal translation from Hokkien) which had medicinal value. The pushcart was made of wood; the Japanese soldiers would crash their push-carts at times. They had to re-make the push-cart. The use of pushcart was confirmed in that it was mentioned by Tan, Ah Seng[4] that there were push-cart hawkers which sold snacks and wood used for cooking in the streets. In addition, the British Administration tabulated that there was an increase in the number of hawkers during the Japanese Occupation, “from 6000 in 1941 to between 20,000 and 30,000 at the end of the war”[5].

In addition to vegetables, they also sold “dried rice” in tins. She couldn’t recall much details about how the “dried rice” was prepared; fortunately in his oral history tape, Soon, Kim Seng[6] claimed that he had lost dry cooked rice from his store. This confirms that there were “dried rice”, a type of dried preserved food which contemporary Singaporeans would have no clue of.

Food shortages

Food shortage was a constant problem for the family. Although the family had inventories of food due to their provision shop business, they soon ran out of food as the Japanese Occupation dragged on for months and years. Mdm. Sze claimed that they used to rear pigs, chickens and ducks. When the Japanese soldiers raided their homes, they would shoot all the pigs and have the owners clean and cut up the meat and they would bring back to their camp. They would also take away the hens. There was never enough food and her mother would always go hungry to give her more. Their diet consisted mostly of tapioca. During the Japanese Occupation, tapioca was the people’s main diet[7]. She mentioned that there was rationing and it seemed that her grandfather, being the head of the household would collect them.

Traitors

When she talked about traitors, Mdm Sze recalled an incident when a Malay man ran into the kampong and was looking for a place to hide. He told the people in the kampong made up of Chinese that he needed a place to hide. Many of the Chinese villagers claimed that he was a traitor and beat him up. Mdm Sze’s grandfather was one of the few men who didn’t beat up the man and even helped him escaped. However, the next day, the Malay man returned to the kampong with Japanese soldiers. All the men in the village were rounded up and the Malay man pointed to those Chinese man who had beaten him as being “bad people” (direct translation of Mdm. Sze’s words). Her grandfather together with those men who have saved him were spared their lives. The men taken away never returned.

This interpretation of Malays as the spies of the Japanese could have been due to the racial policies during the Japanese occupation. The Malays were treated differently in that they received special treatments like, cheaper taxes when crossing the causeway as compared to the Chinese and Indians, staples were distributed to the needy Malays for Hari Raya and Thio (1986) mentioned that the “Malay royalty were to receive stipends no less than what they had enjoyed under the British.”[8] There seems to be an inequality in the way the Malays are treated and Lee mentioned that there are contradictions in the racial policies of the Japanese[9]. On the one hand, claiming that they would treat all races equally, on the other, they “adopted a divide –and rule policy” where they used Malays to fight against the Chinese7.

War Crimes Committed Against Women

At one point in her interview, Mdm Sze was in tears as she talked about the women who were taken away by the Japanese troops. Whenever the Japanese soldiers raided the village, the women and children will go into hiding. The looting could take place any time and there were occasions when they would return few hours after their first raid. At times when there was no time for them to run to the hidden air raid shelters, they would hide in the house. She remembers hiding in the brick stove where cooking was done and there was also a wooden partition between walls where they would also hide. They would tremble and fear being discovered by the Japanese soldiers. She said that she would be so frightened that she had to cover her mouth for fear of screaming as she hear the loud crashing, thrashing and breaking of things when their house was ransacked. The Japanese soldiers would shout at the men in the house and spoke through interpreters asking the whereabouts of the women and at times her grandfather and uncles would be slapped / beaten as while. It is common for everything in the house to be in a mess after the raids. The Japanese even took about some of their precious heirlooms like her grandmother’s Jade comb which had been passed down in the family for many generations. Together with her nieces and her mother and aunties; they didn’t roam out of their house. Tan, Peck Seck also mentioned that in her oral interview that the “Japanese soldiers went looking around for girls.”[10]. According to Mdm Sze, girls who were being captured by the Japanese soldiers often returned with lots of injuries and in some cases they were driven back to the kampong and thrown along the streets. She sadly related the story that her step older sister was raped by the Japanese soldiers when they ransacked her father’s house in Lim Chu Kang. She was 19 then. If they had remained in Malaysia, things would have been different. To preserve the family honour, she was married to a widower.

It is unimaginable the constant fear a woman or girl had to live in during those dark years of the Japanese Occupation[11]. One is made to question about Yamashita’s management of his soldiers. He was reported to be strict on disciplining his soldiers and would punish his soldiers if for “immoral conducts” like looting or raping[12]. However, the people of Syonan-to lived in constant fear of the terror of the Japanese soldiers and stories about women being raped and of homes and shops being looted are common. Perhaps if he had been more focused on managing Syonan-to and not leaving her governing to his subordinates, life under the Japanese Occupation may have been better for the people. Mdm Sze remembers vividly that on the day when General Yamashita was to be hanged, there was great rejoice among her family. She calls him the “head” of the Japanese ghosts.

Conclusion

It has been almost 60 years since the end of the war but Mdm Sze is still filled with hatred towards the Japanese. During the interview, she never failed to call them “Ji ppon gui” (日本鬼) and never fails to stress that those days were a living hell for everyone in Syonan-to. Even though her memories of war may not be as vivid, her hatred towards the Japanese is deep rooted. For a child who had experienced the horrors of war, it is amazing that she is able to lead a normal life and not be tormented psychologically. As a pragmatic Singaporean, it is hard to imagine living through war. Looking at the state of the world around us, I do wonder how the civilians of Iraq are coping with atrocities of war.

References

Akashi, Yoji (2002) “Chapter 19: General Yamashita Tomoyuki: Commander of the Twenty-Fifth Army”, in Brian Farrell, Sandy Hunter, Sixty Years On: The Fall of Singapore Revisited. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 2002, p. 203.

Chou, Cindy (1995) “Chapter One: The Fall of Singapore”, in Beyond the Empires, Memories Retold. Singapore: National heritage Board / Armour Publishing Pte Ltd

Eunice Thio, (1996) “The Syonan Years, 1942 – 1945”, in Ernest C.T. Chew and Edwin Lee (eds), A History of Singapore Singapore: Oxford University Press.

Lee, Ting Hui (1956) “Singapore Under the Japanese, 1942-1945”, originally written 1956:http: EJV1ART03.htm

Low, Ngiong Ing (2004) When Singapore was Syonan-to Singapore: Singapore: Times Book International,p.3.

Ministry of Community Development, Oral history Department. (1986) “Syonan, Singapore Under the Japanese: A Catalogue of Oral History Interviews”: Photoplates Press Limited

Ministry of Education, Curriculum Planning and Development,(1999) “Chapter 6: The Syonan Years: Surviving the Horrors of War”, in Understanding our Past. Singapore:Federal Publications

Profile of Interviewee

Name / : / Mdm. Sze Ai Di
Age / : / 73
Dialect / : / Hokkien
Place of Birth / : / Singapore
Address during Japanese Occupation / : / Long Chuan Kampong at Yio Chu Kang
Occupation before marriage / : / Seamstress

Transcript of Interview

The questions in the interview were asked in Mandarin, the interviewee (Mdm. Sze) answered in Hokkien.

Her daughter was our interpreter when she used difficult Hokkien words.

The interviewee tends to repeat herself during the interview.

  1. Mdm Sze., how old were you during the war?

I was only a child, I was born in 1921. (Her daughter clarified that she was born in 1931). I remember the “Japanese ghost” ((日本鬼) when they beat us. They bombed us at night, I remember because I was already sleeping. I was awakened by a loud thunderous sound, like thunder. Soon everyday there were sirens.

  1. There were already sirens in Singapore? Was it very loud?

Yes it was very loud. The airplanes would fly and the bombings would be anytime. The worst is when the sirens would sound of when we are in the toilet, and we have to run quickly to the bomb shelters. We dig holes in the ground and on top we put sand bags. Trees would fall during the bombings and lucky for us at Long Chuan, we are alight. At first I thought that we were playing a game, hiding under the ground. I soon found out that a war was going to happen when we had to move in and out of the shelter many times. The elders in the family were also very tense and scolded us when we made too much noise or laughed. We had to cover the shelters, there was once when the sand bags exploded too. The “Japanese ghost” have no mercy, they tortured us for 3 years and 8 months. You know a girl your age can be easily captured and taken away by them. There are girls in our kampong who were taken away and they never returned. One returned but she could not walk properly. The “Japanese ghost” should all be well dead. We had to close down our provision shop; they crashed everything they see in the shop. We sold rice, flour, dried mangos, preserved ones, ikan bilis, cigarettes, peanuts, mushrooms, sugar, salt. We sold many things. They took away things that they like. Nothing remained but because my grandfather was smart, we hide our things in parts of the forest (“suan ba”) and also in the bomb shelters. They are very fierce, all our bottles of “Kiam Sng Tin” (Chinese preserved fruits) were crashed. They are inhuman.

  1. What happened then? What do you eat?

No food, no, we didn’t have enough food, there was never enough, my grandfather sold dried rice in tins. We lost the shop, every time they come, they crash everything and destroy everything. We decided not to open the shop. My grandfather and uncle sold vegetables we grow in our backyard on pushcart. You know the kind which is made of wood and wheels. The “animals” would also crash them and we have to remake again. You know it is so difficult to find anything to make a cart. We must always say “a-li-a-to” and “sho-nan-to” and bow. We have nothing, even chickens and our pigs, they would shoot them. They would ask us to cut up the meat and let them take away. The part where the pig was shot, the black part, they leave behind for us. My mother would always give me her food. My grandfather also sold the “centipede grass” (Direct Hokkien translation), it grows wild in our forest, we sell them to those who need to held their wounds.

  1. Centipede grass? How does it look like? What is dried rice?

Rice that is dried in the sun, centipede grass is about this size (about 10cm), you have to cook it to use it. We didn’t really eat dried rice, we ate tapioca, war where got rice? We need to also queue up for rice. The “Japanese ghost” who want to kill us give us rice. Luckily we have tapioca, we were all very thin not like people nowadays.

  1. Did you know of anyone who suffered greatly during the war?

Everyone suffered, there was no day, no night. My grandfather was beaten up several times. My step-sister was raped by the “Japanese Ghost”. They shouldn’t have come back to Singapore from Malaysia. They came back and stayed at Lim Chu Kang. She died many years ago. She died of something that has to do with woman’s problem. (Confirmed that she died of womb cancer with Mdm Sze’s daughter). They took her away, I heard that she was too slow, all the women ran away but she was too slow and was caught one “Japanese Ghost”. They are inhuman. They went to ransack the house. They couldn’t find anything. After that my father arranged for her to be married to a man older than her, a widower much older than her. They have two children. The two children have their families now. Even before she died, my step-sister would tell me what happened to her. They dishonour our women.