UNIT 3:

Singapore’s
Struggle for
Independence
1942 - 1965
 6
What did the people in Singapore
experience during the Japanese
Occupation?

CHAPTER INQUIRY
Lesson Objectives
Students will be able to describe on:

• What the people in Singapore experienced

during the Japanese (Concept of Diversity)
• The problems faced by the people
immediately after the Japanese Surrender
 People in Singapore experience
during the Japanese Occupation?
UNIT INQUIRY

How did the Japanese establish

control in Singapore?
Learning Task

Analyze Source A to K
___________________________________________________________________________________

How did the Japanese establish

control in Singapore?
 Learning Activity

§ Ensure that you have the activity worksheet and also

the Deck Toys link
§ Have to complete the inference for Source G to start
the Deck Toys
§ Access Deck Toys and have fun while learning
§ You may use your textbook (Chapter 6) for help.

9
CONSOLIDATION

What did the people in Singapore

experience during the Japanese
Occupation?

How did the Japanese establish

control in Singapore?
 Provenance
Source A: Extract of an article published in a biography of a Prisoner-of-war
in 2001

The prisons were filled to the brim with prisoners. The rooms were bare and
there was only a single mat for the POWs to sleep on. The POWs were skin and
bones. Their rib cages were fully exposed in their tattered clothes. These were
hardly enough to keep them warm in the chilly nights. Though they had to do
hard labour, they were given only wooden poles to help them.

12
 Provenance
Source B: Adapted from an account by Gay Wan Guay, who witnessed the
march of the British to the internment camps

We remembered seeing the British march to Changi Jail. Some of us saw our
bosses marching haltingly, and asking for water along the way. We felt that
the British were just human, with human weaknesses, like us.
 • The Japanese confined the British as prisoners and they

FORCE
were treated badly/harshly. They were also known as
the Prisoners of War (POWs).
• The POWs had to endured the sufferings from tortures,
poor standard of living and the lacked of food and
clothes.
• This resulted in the POWs being thin/malnourished.
• By humiliating the British, the Japanese wanted to show
the people in Singapore (Asians) that the British were
purely ordinary individuals or could be seen as inferior.
• This will eliminate the people respect/admiration they
have for the British where the British were no longer
seen as superior.
• Therefore, dispelling the myth of the ‘white man’s’
superiority.
Source C:
A sketch by
Singaporean Artist
Liu Kang showing
a Japanese soldier
pulling out the nails
of a detainee to get
a confession
Source D: Persecution by Singaporean Artist
Koeh Sia Yong. 1963, showing Chinese men
being taken to the execution ground during
operation Sook Ching
Source E: Adapted from an account by Chan Kum Chee, who worked in the
Overseas Chinese Association (OCA) during the Japanese Occupation

The OCA was made up of Chinese Businessmen who were regarded as

Leaders of the country. There was also some opposition when the Japanese
made them pass instructions down. If they refused to follow instructions, all
the Japanese would say is “You want to listen or not? You want your heads
chopped off and your heads [hung] over the bridge?” It’s the same for the 50
million. The Japanese said, “You give the 50 million. If you don’t give, okay.
What happened to you, I don’t know.”
FORCE
• The Japanese meted out harsh punishments to maintain law
and order. In addition, it was also used to deal with the
people deemed as enemies to the Japanese.
• The Sook Ching Operation was carried out by the Japanese to
purge people who were identified as anti-Japanese. Most
members of the Chinese community was targeted.
• The Kempeitai (Japanese Military Police) was feared widely by
the people as they were in charge of the above.
• The Japanese demanded large sums of money from the local
Chinese businessman as they supported anti-Japanese war
activities in China (China Relief funds) as well as the British
war efforts in Malaya and Singapore.
Source F: An article about the history of Straits Times Singapore

The Japanese took over several newspapers. These appeared under

different names. The Straits Times was renamed The Shonan Times and later,
Syonan Shimbun. The Shonan Times was the official newspaper in Singapore
during the Japanese Occupation. The Shonan Times was run by Japanese
officers who checked every content in it before approving for printing. All
content had to be in favour of their leadership. Its staff had to come to work
in the dark, working through to sundown. The officers threatened to behead
anyone who spelt the Emperor's name or title incorrectly.
Source G:
Japanese postcard given
to the people in the
Japanese occupied nations
c.1943. Those who
received the postcard is
supposed to draw in the
facial expression of the
Japanese soldier.
Source H: Adapted from an extract by Byunkuk Soh on the Malay Society
under Japanese Occupation.

The Japanese primarily recruited and trained the Malays into the police
force and other volunteer armies. In addition, in the recruitment into the
Heibo (Regular Army Auziliary) and the Giyu-gun (Volunteer Army), the
number of Malays was predominant. The Japanese also made repeated
assurances that they would respect the Islamic religion. Muslims could pray
freely at the mosque and festive celebrations to take place regularly.
Source I:An account of the interactions between the Japanese and an Indian
during the initial period of the Japanese Occupation.
The Japanese had camps in Farrer Park. My brother-in-law and I used to visit
those camps. And we were welcomed, that’s the funny thing. And they were
very friendly with us, not Chinese you know, with Indians. And I used to go
there practically every two, three days, mixed with them. We used to sit and
chat with them. They showed us photographs of the Campaign. They used to
show us secret photographs and all. And sometimes they used to give us
Japanese food… And that was because they were trying to get the Indians to
form a co-operative group to side them. So naturally they had to be nice with
us. And they even came to our house to check with things we had. But they
never touched the thing. We were not bothered about the Japanese
because they didn’t bully us.
Winning • The Japanese was trying to win the locals over in order

Loyalty
to establish control of Singapore.
• Propaganda (information/ideas spread by a group or
government through posters, radio broadcasts, etc) was
used to influence people’s opinions by not giving all facts
and by emphasizing one point of view.
• The Japanese wanted to portray themselves as
liberators who had come to free Asians from colonial rule
(Asia for Asians) and for a united Asia who will benefit
from sharing resources together (Greater East Asia Co-
Prosperity Sphere).
• The Japanese were also in favour of the Malays and
Indians than the Chinese.
Source J: Adapted from an account by Victor Tan, who was about seven years
old at the beginning of the Japanese Occupation

Sometimes the teachers gave us comic books to read …(These

books highlighted the kindness of the Japanese) through
cartoons…for example, I think they showed us a Japanese soldier
giving things to people… A lot of these comics were very cheap… I
used to buy them with Japanese money, in booklet form.
Source K: Adapted from an account by Mrs Hwang Chun Yun, a teacher teaching
in Christian Schools during the Japanese Occupation.

The Japanese gave us free textbooks [in Japanese language]. We

used them to teach the children who received them as well. They knew
that they are the conquerors and wanted us to learn their language.
If you are able to speak Japanese, you were with them. If not, they
are not. The Japanese National Anthem was sung in the morning
and all of us have to bow towards the picture of the [Japanese]
Emperor before the day started.
 • The Japanese was trying to win loyalty by imposing
Imposing
Japanese
Japanese language and culture on the people.

Culture
• The teaching of the Japanese language [Nippon-go]
replaced English. Teachers had to attend Japanese
language classes. There were many rewards for the
people to learn the language.
• The Japanese spirit (Nippon seishin) was promoted by
the following ways:
• Having students to sing the Japanese National Anthem
(Kimigayo)
• Bowing to the Emperor’s picture before th day starts
• Mass exercises to instil discipline and promote fitness
• Selecting youths to learn Japanese martial arts like
sendo and judo
"The dark ages had descended on us. It
was brutal, cruel. I understood how people
trapped responded because they had to
live.“
Mr Lee Kuan Yew
Founding Prime Minister,
Singapore

”Life had to go on. Everyone just tried their

best to survive and hope for better times.”

Kah Leong Kuan

Chinese man who
survived the Japanese
Occupation
UNIT INQUIRY

What was daily life like under the

Japanese?
WHAT WAS DAILY LIFE LIKE
UNDER THE JAPANESE?