Transcript Chp 6 Part 2 notes

THE FALL
OF
SINGAPORE
 Major areas of attack : Tengah
Airfield, Kranji, Bukit Timah, City
areas
 Surrender of the British
 15 Feb 1942 – "Black Sunday"
1
NAVAL BASE
3
4
SEMBAWANG
SELETAR
MANDAI/NEE SOON
BUKIT TIMAH
TENGAH
SURRENDER
PERIMETER
PASIR PANJANG
15 FEB 1942
2
15 FEB 1942
THE SYONAN YEARS
SINGAPORE DURING THE JAPANESE
OCCUPATION
•
•
•
•
•
Coming under New Masters
Meeting Their Fates
Living the Days of Darkness
Fighting against the Japanese
Lessons from the Japanese Occupation
COMING UNDER NEW MASTERS
• Singapore – Renamed ‘Syonan-To’
• Syonan = Light of the South
• People suffered great hardships
• Lived in constant fear of the Japanese
MEETING THEIR FATES
• The Allied POWs
• The Local Civilians
MEETING THEIR FATES
• The Allied POWs
– British, Australian and Allied Europeans,
including women and children, were
imprisoned
– became POWs
– Changi Prison, Selarang Barracks
– numbered more than 50,000
MEETING THEIR FATES
• The Allied POWs
– Indians soldiers and Gurkhas
– asked to pledge loyalty to Japan
– asked to join the Indian National Army
(INA)
– set up by CPT Mohan Singh, a surrendered
officer from the British Indian Army
– those who refused were tortured,
imprisoned or killed
MEETING THEIR FATES
• The Local Civilians
– Japanese took action to place locals under
control
– determined to wipe out those who might
threaten their rule
– The Chinese became the main target
– Wipe out all those considered to be antiJapanese
– Operation Sook Ching
Singapore Under Japanese Rule
Singapore Under Japanese Rule
Japanese soldiers using a
prisoner as a live target to
practise bayonet fighting
A Japanese soldier torturing a prisoner
THE PRICE OF PEACE
THE WATER TREATMENT
“…..our captors beat us up, subject us to
electric shocks and pumped us up with
water as part of the interrogation routine.
The feeling of having one’s belly pumped full
of water and then seeing the water gushing
out of the body was hardly bearable.”
ELECTRIC SHOCKS
“…..when my interrogators could not get
information out of me, they dragged my
husband from Outram Prison, tied him up
and made him kneel beside me. Then, in his
full view, they stripped me to the waist and
applied electric currents to me.”
ELECTRIC SHOCKS
“…..the electric shocks sent my whole body into
spasms; my tears and mucus flowed
uncontrollably. The pain was indescribable, but
it must have been thousands of times worse for
my husband who had to see me being
tortured.”
“A Shameful Past in Human Memory : A Verbal Account by Elizabeth Choy”
by Jane Thum Soon Kun in The Price of Peace
MEETING THEIR FATES
The Japanese regarded the Chinese as
their arch enemies. Why?
1. Strong Chinese resistance during Japanese
invasion of China
2. Chinese in S’pore actively helped China in its
fight against Japan’s attack
3. In the Battle of Bukit Timah, the Chinese
volunteers put up a fierce resistance against the
invading Japanese troops
MEETING THEIR FATES
Mass Screening
• All Chinese men 18-50 years old
• report to Mass screening centres
• Questioned by Japanese or singled out by hooded
local informers
• More fortunate ones allowed to go home
– “EXAMINED” stamped on a small piece of paper
– sometimes stamped onto shirts or arms
• Those accused of being anti-Japanese were brought
to remote areas of Singapore and killed
MEETING THEIR FATES
Eurasians
• suffered - related to Europeans
• Japanese thought the Eurasians saw themselves as
superior to the Asians
• Many belonged to the Singapore Volunteer Corps and
fought against the Japanese
• Those suspected of helping the British were shot
• Others were imprisoned
MEETING THEIR FATES
Malays and Indians
• Japanese did not see them as a threat
• Tried to win the support of the Malays and convince
them that Japan would free them from Japanese rule
• Persuaded Indians that Japan would free India from
Britain
• Both races not entirely spared though, esp if they did
not obey Japanese orders
LIVING THE DAYS OF DARKNESS
FEAR
• Harsh action taken to establish control
• Looters were shot and beheaded, public display of
heads
• Barbed wires to form road blocks
• Bowing as a sign of respect
LIVING THE DAYS OF DARKNESS
FEAR
•
•
•
•
Close watch over the people
Documents - work badges, vehicle and radio passes
Families had to be registered
Surprise checks
THE KEMPEITAI
• Most feared of all Japanese
• Spies all over the island
• encouraged people to supply them with info by giving
rewards and privileges
• Anti-Jap suspects beaten and tortured until they
reveal the info the Japs wanted
• Nobody knew whom to trust
• Anti-Japanese suspects were tortured to make them
confess or to extract information from them
• Often people were punished for crimes they did not
commit
LIVING THE DAYS OF DARKNESS
Hardship and Suffering
• Life of POWs in prison camps
• Death Railway
DEATH RAILWAY
LIVING THE DAYS OF DARKNESS
Hardship and Suffering
• Local civilians - serious shortage of food and other
goods
• Essential foodstuffs like rice, salt and sugar were
controlled
• Ration cards : Limit amount of food for each person
• Coping with shortages : Simple diets; substitutes;
improvise
• Malnutrition and diseases
• Shortage of medicine
LIVING THE DAYS OF DARKNESS
Black Market
• Not only basic necessities but all sorts of goods
• Because of shortages
• Banana notes - worthless
BANANA NOTES
LIVING THE DAYS OF DARKNESS
Propaganda
• To influence the minds of the people to show loyalty
to Japan
1. Learn the Japanese language
2. Influence school children
3. Controlled radio stations and radio sets
4. Only Japanese movies and propaganda shown in
cinemas
5. Chinese and English newspapers controlled strictly
by Japanese
ANTI-JAPANESE GROUPS
• MPAJA : Malayan People’s AntiJapanese Army
–
–
–
–
sudden attacks on Japanese troops
Hid in the Malayan jungles
Life was hard there
tried to stir up anti-Japanese feelings
among the people by distributing
newspapers
ANTI-JAPANESE GROUPS
• Force 136
– Secret British organisation to organise
sabotage activities
– locals were also recruited
– trained secretly in India and sent to Malaya
to help MPAJA
– Lim Bo Seng was one of the leaders
– Captured in Mar 1944 and tortured to death
LESSONS
• Defeat of the British
– poor preparations for war
– underestimation of enemy
– always be prepared to defend one’s country
• Respect for British dipped after the war
• People’s suffering
– need to rid Singapore of foreign masters
LEE KUAN YEW
“My colleagues and I are of that generation
of young men who went through the
Second World War and the Japanese
Occupation and became determined that
no one - neither the Japanese nor the
British - had the right to push and kick us
around. We were determined that we
could govern ourselves and bring up our
children in a country where we can be a
self-respecting people.”
CHANGI PRISON CHAPEL
CHANGI MURALS