ling. Young man were being taken away to construct the Death Railway in
Thailand. Some of the Malays and Indians were also sent to construct the Death
Railway. The Japanese wanted the Indians to join the Indian National Army
(I.N.A) to fight against the British in India. But many of them refused and were
being killed on the spot. The Eurasians who were suspected of helping the
British were being shot.
The Chinese suffered the most in this period of time. The Japanese told all the
Chinese males aged between 18 to 50 to report at certain centres. They were
being "examined" by traitors (known as "han jian" in Chinese), who wore hoods or
masks to prevent people from identifying them. These traitors would point out
whether the Chinese were anti-Japanese. Those who were identified as
anti-Japanese were detained and those who were not were stamped with the word
"Examined" which acted like a pass. Some of the Chinese who were known to be
anti-Japanese were sent to beaches where they got shot by the Japanese. The rest
were sent to the Japanese Military Police, known as Kempeitai, where they were
tortured and beaten up to reveal information the Japanese
wanted. It was also the Kempeitai who caused dispute among the
people. They had spies everywhere who would supply them with
information of people who are unhappy with the Japanese rule.
It was a time when everybody did not know who to trust.
To satisfy the sexual lust of the Japanese Military as well,
many local women and girls as young as 6 to 7 years old were
caught and sent to comfort houses where they would serve as
comfort women. Each day they have to serve as much as 40 to 50
Japanese soldiers. Those who could not satisfy them or made
them happy were killed by shooting in their private parts.
Many women committed suicide because they could not withstand
the horror and shame they were going through.
The Japanese set up schools to teach people the Japanese language and every
morning, the people had to face the direction of Japan and sing the Japanese
National Anthem. The food was being controlled by the Japanese. The locals were
given ration cards which limited the amount of food for each person. The money
that the Japanese issued made the situation worse. The notes were known as
"banana notes", printed with pictured of banana and other fruit trees. The note was
printed on bad quality paper and had no serial number on it. When the
authorities needed money, they just have to print the notes. As a result, the
value of the banana notes dropped to the extent that it became
worthless paper.. Derived from this banana notes, the phrase
"banana money" means useless money. People could be seen going
shopping carrying bags of banana notes. I used towel could
cost as much as $300 worth of banana notes.
Soon an anti-Japanese group called the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army
(M.P.A.J.A.) was formed. This group attacked the Japanese officers and their men
when the opportunity comes. Another group called Force 136 was formed by a
secret British organisation. This group gathered information about the Japanese.
Some of the locals were recruited into the group and were trained in India. They
will then be secretly sent into Malaya by submarine to assist M.P.A.J.A. against
the Japanese. Lim Bo Seng, a Singapore businessman, led the Force 136 but he was
captured by the Japanese in March 1944. He was being tortured to reveal the
names of those who were in the group but he did not. In the end, he died in
prison in June 1944. Finally, the Japanese surrendered on the 14th of
August 1945 after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Allied forces led
by the Americans.
This part of the history taught us a lesson. We should be well-prepared to
defend the country against any enemy and not wait for people to save us.
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