War, Memory &

Commemoration
Week 4 HY5412 Presentation by Pearl Wee
Flow of Presentation
-01- -02-
Overview Key Points
What is war memory and Book by Kevin Blackburn and
commemoration? In Singapore Karl Hack
and beyond?

-03- -04-
Analysis Conclusion
In relation to the topic / Afterthoughts and limitations
historical theme of war and
memory
 “[People] commemorate certain dates so as to
understand where they have been, and are, and to
relate themselves to a historical phenomena.”

Akira Iriye
(Memory, Identity, and
Commemoration of World War II)
 Broader Context

2012 2015
50th year anniversary of
Rise of Nationalism independence &
WWII Nation- Building in SG Passing of LKY

Cold War End of Cold War 70th year anniversary

No time to reflect Increased study of of WWII
collective memory
Authors + Context
Kevin Blackburn (Associate Professor in NIE, NTU)
● Specialise in study of heritage and oral history, war
and memory and history of education in SEA and
Australian history

Karl Hack (Historian)

● Specialise in the history of SEA, and imperial
history

Context
● Series of Heritage Projects (university students)
● Joint Publication: Did Singapore have to fall (2004)
● Book is an expansion, to give a voice that isn’t
reflective of the wider “collective memory”
 Key Points
-Individual- -Community- -State-
Memory is Memory is subject Memory serves
malleable to contestation present needs
“not just thinking about the “not one “collective” The way a nation frames its
past, but a process of memory” for each past or remembers it must
shaping, and giving community, but rather be through consideration
meaning to what had contestation of memory” of the present conditions
happened in the past” (Chapter 3-8) and political climate
(Chapter 2) (Chapter 9-10)
 Analysis: Methodology
Use of Oral History (other than newspapers, archives, films,
published works)
● Through public forums to gather personal stories of people's experience of war.
● Alessandro Portelli: Oral history interviews tell us not just what people did, but
what they wanted to do, what they believed they were doing, and what they
now think they did.
● Gives a voice to the individuals whose stories have been neglected
● “Stories from the ground”

What is the role of Oral History in Public

History? Or social memory?
 Analysis: War Memory
1. Memory has different layers
● Personal memories are shaped by wartime experiences,
background, and current context, even community
○ Different understanding of the same event
○ 5 individuals with different motivations and aims,
like suffering as a POW, fighting for greater Indian
independence, or witness to war atrocities.

What are the complexities of memory in

understanding history/historical narrative?
 Analysis: War Memory
2. Memory has different purposes in different community
● Selective, to shape their identity and values
○ British: it was to “restore their battered prestige”
○ Chinese: it was to “celebrate heroes and martyrs” or
“unite their experiences”
○ Indians: it was to create “mythology and nationalism”
○ Malays: it was about “martialism as an expression of
nationalism”

To what extent does collective

memory shape history?
 Analysis: War Memory
3. Choice of people chosen to be remembered
● Is selective, and can’t run contradictory to their purpose
○ British: European POWs
○ Chinese: Lim Bo Seng vs MPAJA
○ Indians: INA fighters vs Indian Labourers
○ Malays: The Malay Regiment
● Must be “untainted”

Are there tensions involved in such

choices?
 Analysis: War Memory
4. Victimhood and its implications/tensions
● Blood debt
○ Government’s pragmatism to “downplay” Japanese war
crimes.
○ State: refusal to let the past be an obstacle to Singapore’s
present and future.
○ “Silence implied resentment still simmered.” pg 297

What is the relationship between community

and state(s) in the issue of war responsibility?
Break
Time!
 Analysis: State Narrative
1. Impact on War Memory/Commemoration
● Two different trajectories of memory politics
○ Malaysia: Ketuanan Melayu, focus on Malay, the rest are
left to their own devices
○ Singapore: focus on national unity and collective suffering

How have other countries used memory

politics in the shaping of their nations?
 Analysis: State Narrative/Memory
2. Impact on Public Monuments
● Civilian War Memorial in Singapore
○ Tension between community
vs state
○ Commemoration to be in line
with state narrative

What’s the value of

commemoration for future
generations?
 Analysis: State Narrative/Memory
3. Impact on Education
● SG: Textbooks and nation-building
○ Influenced by political climate, to suit present needs
■ 1960s- 1970s: Neglect and “amnesia” for two decades,
claims too divisive to be useful for unity and common
purpose
■ 1980s: JO to suit the narrative of
Nation-Building/identity
● Local communities coming together to help each
other survive (commonality)
● Reconcile with the past aka Japan.
 Analysis: State Narrative/Memory
4. Impact on significance of dates
● 15th February
○ Fall of SG -> Total Defence Day
○ LJs, programs
○ Frame state sanctioned heritage
○ Sites becoming “transnational
deathscapes”
How is war turned into a narrative?
Agency of state sanctioned ethnic sites?
If we do not remember our heroes, we will
produce no heroes. If we do not record their
sacrifices, their sacrifices would have been
in vain ...
The greatest strength we have as a people is
our common memories of the past and our
common hopes for the future ... For without
those memories the next generation will not
have the fighting spirit to carry on.
 Limitations
Focus on state
CMIO agency
classification What about community
centered museums?
Many other ways to
look at war memory:
1. Age
2. Gender
3. Ideology
4. Locality Lack of Japanese
5. Social status Perspective
6. resistance Not a monolithic
experience too