On this day 75 years ago, Singapore was invaded by the Japanese 25th Army.
Over the next 8 days, we’ll be recapturing the key moments from the Battle of Singapore.
It is from history that we learn about who we were then, who we are now, and who we want to be in the future.
We remember the sacrifices made and lessons learned – Our SAF exists and is strengthened by National Service to make sure history never repeats itself again.
Source: The Singapore Army
In Mr Ishwar Lall Singh’s Yishun home, the fragments of his military past have lost their shine. A faded peak cap sits on a worn coffee table, sharing the space with long service medals, epaulettes and an old sword caked in rust. But while parts of his uniform have faded, the 87-year-old’s memories of Singapore’s fall to the Japanese remain fresh.
(Photo: Kenneth Lim)
“I was a young 12-, 13-year-old boy,” Mr Ishwar said. “There was a lot of shelling and bombing, a lot of destruction of property, a lot of people being killed – I saw some dead people, with worms crawling in them. I saw that myself.”
Mr Ishwar is a survivor of World War II and part of a group of 61 former veterans and national servicemen who share their experiences regularly with students and active servicemen, as part of a Ministry of Defence programme. Since the programme began in early 2015, the group has reached more than 12,000 individuals, including students from more than 80 schools as well as more than 8,000 people in the Singapore Armed Forces.
“We had to queue up for a few rations of corn bread (which was) difficult to eat, rice and some vegetables,” said Mr Ishwar. “This was given on a whim and fancy – it was not a regular thing. Sometimes we queued up and waited for the ration truck to come, and it never came.”
But for him, the Japanese Occupation was about more than going without food.
“We lost our independence; we were not able to do what we wanted when we wanted. We lost that,” Mr Ishwar said. “The Japanese restricted us from doing quite a lot of things. For example, if you wanted to go to a cinema, there was a fear that if you went to a cinema, you may not come back.”
According to Mr Ishwar, Japanese soldiers would pack cinema audiences into trucks at the end of the shows, driving them to Bahar in Johor.
Mr Ishwar showing old photos from his collection. (Photo: Kenneth Lim)
“We were under British rule, who were not actually looking after us at that time,” he said. “The Japanese were able to force themselves into Singapore because we were not willing fighters. We did not have Singaporeans who were fighting to defend their own country.”
But Mr Ishwar was not one of them. He joined the Indian National Army in 1943. Years later, after working as a trishaw rider, storeman and laundry clerk, he joined the Singapore Volunteer Corps, known today as the People’s Defence Force.
“We kept growing,” he said of the Singapore Armed Forces’ predecessor. “We kept getting better, we started to build camps, we had our National Day Parades, which were very obvious to show that the people were united. We realised the importance of being a free people.”
This year marks the 75th anniversary of Singapore’s fall. And today, the father of three and grandfather of seven said his fight is against complacency, or making sure Singaporeans do not forget “the price of freedom”.
“I am afraid that people in Singapore are not yet aware of this – partly I blame the Government,” he said wryly. “Because we have been at peace for 50 years – that’s the Government’s efficiency, the Government’s effectiveness, but this has made people (assume) that nothing is going to happen.”
“WE WILL HAVE TO UNITE”
While Mr Ishwar regularly shares his story as part of the engagement programme, this is only the beginning for the retired major.
“My hope for Singapore is that it will grow, (that) it will grow peacefully, it will be allowed to grow,” he said. “We will not be bullied, we will not accept bullying – we will have to unite.”
He said one way to do so is to ensure racial harmony truly exists in Singapore.
“The word ‘Singaporean’ must be understood by everybody,” he said, citing weddings or festivals as one way people of different races could get to know each other better.
“We should look at each other as that – not as Chinese, Malay or Indian. This is something we need to understand, to raise our children to think along those lines. If we can begin to understand these things, we will begin to respect each other’s religion. We will begin to respect each other’s race; we will begin to respect each other’s doings.”
“We must always remember that a little spark in the wrong time at the wrong place can cause a lot of problems for Singaporeans,” he added. “And we don’t want that peaceful time that we’ve had for 50 years to be shattered.”
Source: CNA
Arkib Negara menerima derma lebih 400 artifak sejarah bagi menambah koleksi ‘Kenangan di Kilang Ford Lama’.
Bangunan bersejarah itu sedang menjalani kerja ubah suai dan ditutup sehingga Februari tahun depan.
Artifak-artifak dari derma 25 orang awam itu termasuk dokumen pentadbiran, duit syiling dan duit pokok pisang zaman penjajahan Jepun.
Semuanya akan diteliti oleh sebuah panel pakar untuk memastikan kesahihannya.
Arkib Negara mahukan barang-barang antara tahun 1937 hingga 1954.
Artifak-artifak yang dipilih akan dipamerkan di bangunan ‘Kenangan di Kilang Ford Lama’ apabila dibuka semula sempena ulang tahun ke-75 Singapura jatuh ke tangan tentera Jepun.
Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg
The Malay Regiment was established in 1933 as “a body of Malay
troops who would share the responsibility of military defence and protection of their homeland”.
The British were initially hesitant to train the Malays since they were known to be warlike and were fighters.
They felt the problem was “not to get the Malays to fight (at which they had shown themselves only too ready) but to prevent them from fighting.”
Johor established a Malay Regiment in 1885 and its success was used as proof of the efficacy of the project.
The first batch of 25 soldiers from Malaya were selected from 1,000 applicants. This ensured a very high standard of recruits.
During the Japanese invasion of Singapura, the Malay Regiment fought with their heart and their blood to defend the island.
In the words of General Percival, the Malay Regiment “acquitted themselves in a way which bore comparison with the very best troops in Malaya.
In particular, by their stubborn defence of the Pasir Panjang Ridge at the height of the Battle of Singapore, they set an example of steadfastness and endurance which will become a great tradition in the Regiment and an inspiration for future generations.”
On “the morning of the 14th again saw enemy shells falling steadily on the Malay Regiment area and casualties mounted.”
After heavy fighting, including some hand to hand combat, the Japanese army tried to trick the Malay Regiment by dressing like Punjabi soldiers.
But the Malays quickly realised the trick and gunned down the enemy “at close range (which) left about 22 (Japanese) lying on the ground dead or wounded.
The ruse having failed, the Japanese staged a determined attack about two hours later in overwhelming strength. Although the defenders fought bitterly with grenades and automatic weapons they were unable to hold the hill.”
“Lt. Adnan, commander of Platoon No. 7,… encouraged his men. Mortally wounded he ordered his men to fight on to the last man.”
Many of the men and all the officers (except Second-Lieutenant Abbas) died in the close and at times hand-to-hand fighting which developed. A number of the captured survivors were massacred by the Japanese.
Lt. Adnan who, along with his brother officers, fought gallantly in this action was shot down and bayoneted by the enemy.
His body was then hung upside down from a nearby tree; no one was allowed to cut it down for burial.”
British “surrender did not mean the end of casualties to the Regiment.
Within a fortnight five Malay officer-internees of the Regiment were summarily executed for refusing to serve under the Japanese or, alternatively, to put on civilian clothes and accept release.
Most officers and men who escaped internment at Singapore were arrested on their return home during the year and imprisoned for a while.
A number of the other ranks were pressed into forced labour gangs and sent to work as far afield as Siam and Indonesia.
The majority were released from prison camps in Singapore at different dates in March when all up-country evacuees in Singapore were ordered to return home.
Several of them in a party of 98 Malay personnel serving with the Imperial forces were removed by the Japanese military police and machine-gunned near the Gap.”
Reference:
Ramli, Dol. “History of the Malay Regiment 1933-1942.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (1965): 199-243.
Picture: NCOs and Men of The Malay Regiment 27th May 1941.
Source: Zulfikar Shariff
The last few days, the PAP Internet Brigade had been trying to promote their party and the “late great LKY”. The way they speak of him is almost Messianic.
Let us understand who Lee Kuan Yew was. Let us understand his values..
He is someone who will do anything for his own benefit.
During the Japanese occupation, Lee Kuan Yew was a collaborator.
He worked with the Japanese Propaganda service (the Hodobu). At the Hodobu, Lee Kuan Yew translated English language news for the Japanese propaganda department.
He admitted to being well informed about the progress of the war “because for a year and a half….(he) was working in the propaganda department…” (Han, Fernandez, Tan 28)
And yet, this hypocritical self-interested collaborator criticised the locals who collaborated with the Japanese during occupation. He said:
“Young locals learnt enough Japanese to be employable, but beyond that most people were decent. They did not want to cooperate or collaborate with the enemy…”
Further, he referred to those who worked closely with the Japanese as
opportunistic.
The luckiest of the opportunists according to Lee Kuan Yew were “contractors whom the Japanese needed to obtain basic supplies, or who were in building construction.”
However, he admitted to being one of this “lucky” opportunists. He was in construction and did work and supplies for the Japanese military.
With his partner, “a Shanghainese called Low You Ling… a small contractor in the construction business…we got odd jobs from Japanese companies and from the butai, the regiments that garrisoned Singapore.”
He also teamed up with a Japanese civilian Mr Kageyama to supply the Japanese military and companies.
When the Japanese started to lose the war, Lee Kuan Yew became worried.
“I decided it would be better to get out of Singapore while things were still calm, I could resign from Hodobu without arousing suspicion over my motives. I applied for leave and went up to Malaya to reconnoitre Penang and the Cameron Highlands, to find out which was the safer place.”
When he came back from Cameron Highlands, he found out that the Japanese Secret Police had become suspicious of him. He decided to stay put.
According to Lee Kuan Yew, after the Japanese surrender, “anti-Japanese groups took the law into their own hands. They lynched, murdered, tortured or beat up informers, torturers, tormentors and accomplices- or suspected accomplices- of the Japanese… But in the last days, many collaborators managed to melt away, going into hiding or fleeing upcountry to Malaya or to the Riau islands in the south.
The liberation did not bring what everybody wanted: punishment for the wicked and reward for the virtuous. There could be no complete squaring of accounts…”
If all the collaborators were arrested and punished, we probably would not have the PAP today.
References:
Han, Fook Kwang, Sumiko Tan, and Warren Fernandez. Lee Kuan Yew: The man and his ideas. Singapore Press Holdings, 1997.
Yew, Lee Kuan. The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew. Vol. 1. Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd, 2012.
Source: Zulfikar Shariff