Organizer: E. Bruce Reynolds, San Jose State University
Chair: Grant K. Goodman, University of Kansas
Discussant: Ken'ichi Goto, Waseda University
Anti-Japanese resistance movements developed in various parts of occupied Southeast Asia. These were notable from the very beginning of the war in the Philippines, where the Filipinos had fought side by side with the Americans, and in Malaya, where the British had trained Overseas Chinese, including released Communists, to resist the invaders. In contrast, the Free Thai underground emerged only late in the war and did not actually launch a campaign of guerrilla warfare, but merely prepared for it in the late stages of the war. Other anti-Japanese activities developed as reactions to particular local circumstances.
Much new material has become available in recent years on resistance movements through the publication of memoirs by participants and former Japanese soldiers, systematic efforts to accumulate oral histories and to gain access to privately held materials, and the declassification of documents, particularly the extensive files of the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The papers in this panel draw on a variety of such sources to shed light on this topic.
The first two papers in the panel are overviews of the resistance movements in the Philippines (by Ricardo T. Jose) and peninsular Malaya (by Yoji Akashi). The second two focus in on specific incidents in anti-Japanese movements in Sabah (by Fuji Hara) and Thailand (by E. Bruce Reynolds). The conflicts of political and/or ethnic interests within resistance movements provide a common theme.
Anti-Japanese Movements in the Philippines, 1941-1945: Opposing One Invader,
Advancing Various Aims
Ricardo T. Jose, University of the Philippines
Filipino resistance against the Japanese began as soon as the war in the Pacific broke out. The end of organized military resistance in May 1942 did not diminish the number of resistance groups-involving both remnants of regular military forces and civilian recruits-which flourished throughout the islands.
Although the groups were vigorously anti-Japanese, they tended to differ in motives, personnel and activities. The majority were unsurrendered elements of the regular defense forces, led by military officers and loyal to MacArthur's command. These groups flourished in various parts of Luzon, in all the major islands in the Visayas area, and in Mindanao. A major force in Central Luzon was the Communist Hukbalahap (short for Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon, or People's Army Against the Japanese), which was built on a peasant base, and had plans for social realignment after the war. Other groups were led by charismatic pre-war politicians, students or professionals. Still others were formed by opportunistic individuals seeking power.
With this multitude of groups, conflicts arose, differences with grave consequences for the civil population caught in between. While the battle against the Japanese was a common line, ideological, personal, political and economic differences resulted in much infighting, preventing a united front against the Japanese. While most groups eventually fell under MacArthur's control, the Hukbalahap and some others did not, thus setting the stage for discontent and post-war conflict within the islands.
MPAJA/Force 136 Resistance Against the Japanese in Malaya, 1941-1945
Yoji Akashi, Nanzan University
The Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) originated from four battalions of Overseas Chinese-including Communists recently released from Changi Prison-trained by the British before the fall of Singapore. Though MPAJA and its parent organization, the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), suffered initial setbacks in 1942, they were able to regroup their forces with new recruits and reinforcements from British Force 136. By the end of the war another four battalions had been mobilized for a total of some 3-4,000 soldiers, who were supported by tens of thousands of sympathizers.
Beginning in 1943, Force 136 sent agents and supplies, first by submarine and later by air drops. These agents were largely KMT soldiers trained in India and Sri Lanka. They waged anti-Japanese activities while laying groundwork for a planned Allied invasion of Malaya. The MPAJA operated in every Malay state, harassing the Japanese with hit-and-run guerrilla warfare, but the Third and Fourth Battalions, in Johore, and the Fifth Battalion, in Perak, were most active. Accordingly, these two states were described as "security risk" areas.
Though the Japanese military were kept busy maintaining peace and order, the enemy resistance posed little serious threat to security. Nonetheless, the skill in mobilization and guerrilla warfare tactics MPAJA acquired during the resistance served them in good stead in fighting against the British during the postwar period of emergency from 1948-1960.
The paper incorporates Chinese-language materials recently published in China and Hong Kong.
The 1943 Kinabalu Uprising in Sabah
Fujio Hara, Insitute of Developing Economies
On October 10, 1943 a rebellion against the Japanese military administration took place in Api (presently Kota Kinabalu), Sabah. The rebels, who called themselves Kinabalu Guerrillas, consisted of about 200 Chinese and 100 natives, including Dusuns, Bajaus, Meranaus and Sulus, a mixture that stands in remarkable contrast to the composition of the predominantly Chinese Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army. However, it does not seem that the Chinese group and the native group were completely unified.
The Japanese army responded promptly, arresting and massacring thousands of residents in the region. The leader of the rebellion, Albert Kwok, was captured in December 1943 and executed in January 1944. Thus the revolt was quelled.
Based on Japanese military files, books issued in Malaysia and interviews with former Japanese soldiers, this paper analyzes: (1) the social, economic and political circumstances in Sabah that compelled people to rebel despite knowing their inability to confront successfully the Japanese army, (2) how the Sabah Chinese regarded Sabah and China at that time, (3) relations between the Sabah natives and the Chinese, (4) what the Japanese army did, and (5) how the people and government of Sabah view the rebellion now.
The OSS Mission to Ruth: Establishing Contact with the Free Thai Underground
E. Bruce Reynolds, San Jose State University
In late August of 1944 a prolonged China-based effort by OSS to establish contact with Regent Pridi Phanomyong (codenamed "Ruth"), the known leader of the Free Thai movement in Thailand had produced no results. Concerned that the British would attempt to claim Thailand as its exclusive territory because of Force 136 success in reaching Pridi, frustrated OSS officials in Kandy, Ceylon made hurried plans to drop two Thai agents into northern Thailand while keeping this mission secret from the British. After two abortive attempts, the two parachuted in. Although separated from each other and their equipment in the forest, both eventually reached Bangkok.
The first to arrive, Wimon Wiriyawit, gained transport to Bangkok by claiming he was a policeman on a secret mission. He discovered that several OSS Thai agents from China were being held incommunicado as a result of Pridi's mistrust of Police General Adun Adundetcharat. Wimon's appeal that the two men work together led to the agents being allowed to utilize their captured radios, eventually paving the way for the dispatch of two American officers to Bangkok in January 1945.
This paper examines this key mission, based on OSS records, memoirs, and interviews with participants. Its circumstances reveal much about the rivalries between Allied and intelligence agencies and the divisions within the Free Thai movement inside the country.