It took four or five years for the economy to return to pre-war levels. The experience of Japanese rule continues to be commemorated with Total Defence Day, which is marked annually in Singapore on 15 February, the day of the surrender of the British to the Japanese in 1942. Schools were either shut down or became tools of propaganda for the Japanese. All authors agree that the failed policies pursued during the occupation period, which were meant primarily to serve the needs of the war effort, set back Philippine economic development. The Padang is not the only landmark with a revised name. Most Singaporeans, however, welcomed the raids as they were seen as heralding Singapore's liberation from Japanese rule. Lyon led another operation, codenamed "Rimau", with the same objective almost a year later and sank three ships. This battle marked the official start of the Pacific War and the For those who were spared, the Sook Ching screening remains one of their worst memories of the Japanese Occupation.— National Heritage Board.[14]. The Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) was a group of resistance fighters in Malaya, organised by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) to fight against the Japanese in Japanese-occupied Malaya. They instituted elements of a command economy in which there were restrictions on the demand and supply of resources, thus creating a popular black market from which the locals could obtain key scarce resources such as rice, meat, and medicine. On 26 September 1943, an Allied commando unit known as Z Force led by Major Ivan Lyon infiltrated Singapore Harbour and sank or damaged seven Japanese ships comprising over 39,000 long tons (40,000 metric tons). Under the Memorial Committee’s perseverance, it was finally constructed and unveiled on 29 June 1954, a decade after Lim’s passing. The Japanese issued "Banana Money" (so referred to due to the image of a banana tree printed on most of such notes of the currency) as their main currency during the occupation period since British Straits currency became rarer and was subsequently phased out when the Japanese took over in 1942. Operation Gustavus was aimed at establishing an espionage network in Malaya and Singapore to gather intelligence about Japanese activities, and thereby aid the British in Operation Zipper – the code name for their plan to take back Singapore from the Japanese. The Ipoh Royal Club lies adjacent to the field, which welcomed white men only back in the day. They were then turned into a variety of dishes, as both desserts and all three meals of the day. Today, although pews have long since replaced the beds at St Andrew’s Cathedral, history is memorialised in the plaques dedicated to servicemen who perished in the Second World War, as well as the First. September 12, 1945, 11.45am. During air raids, the building’s large size and thick walls could provide people with adequate protection from the blasts. Moreover, the Kempeitai established an island-wide network of local informants to help them identify those they suspected as anti-Japanese. Sook Ching Operation The Sook Ching massacre was a systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore by the Japanese military during the Japanese occupation of Singapore, after the British colony surrendered on 15 February 1942 following the Battle of Singapore.The Sook Ching operation was later extended to include the Chinese in Malaya as well. Others, not so fortunate, were taken to outlying parts of Singapore and executed for alleged anti-Japanese activities. Located in Upper Bukit Timah Road, the factory was Ford’s first motorcar assembly plant in Southeast Asia, completed just the year before. Unlike the first dedication, the second did not have any names because the number of war dead was overwhelming. The Surrender Chamber in the Municipal Building. I went down to Bras Basah Road, next to Hotel Rendezvous now. Lim Bo Seng of Force 136 led another operation, code-named Gustavus, he recruited and trained hundreds of secret agents through intensive military intelligence missions from China and India. In the 1830s, it was a recreational ground for Europeans. During the eight years of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45), China suffered continual crushing and humiliating defeats at the hands of Japan and was subject to a devastating, brutal occupation of much of the nation. The victims who perished along the foreshore were among 1,000 Chinese males rounded up following a house-to-house search of the Chinese community living along Upper Serangoon Road by Japanese soldiers.— National Heritage Board. They were among tens of thousands who lost their lives during the Japanese Sook Ching operation to purge suspected anti-Japanese civilians among Singapore's Chinese population between 18 February and 4 March 1942. In Syonan, they focused on teaching of the Japanese language and cultures. Even poor soil was tilled, to grow the hardy ubi kayu (tapioca), a cheap but not very good source of starch and calorie. On 18 February 1942, three days after the surrender of Singapore, the Kempeitai launched a month-long purge of 'anti-Japanese elements' in an operation named Sook Ching. The memorial was built in memory of the civilians killed during the Japanese occupation of Singapore during World War II,was called the Civilian War Memorial In the midst of busy city traffic near Singapore's Padang and City Hall there had the Civilian War Memorial sits on serene parkland . In August 1945, two XE class midget submarines of the Royal Navy took part in Operation Struggle, a plan to infiltrate Singapore Harbour and sabotage the Japanese cruisers Takao and Myōkō using limpet mines. This was followed by a celebration at the Padang, which included a victory parade. National Museum of Singapore collection. The Municipal Building has thus witnessed Singapore’s transformation from colonial rule, to subjugation to the Japanese, to independence. [16], The Japanese occupation of Singapore has been depicted in media and popular culture, including films, television series and books, Japanese military rule over Singapore, including massacres of Chinese Singaporeans, States and territories in the sphere of influence of the. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in World War II, the city was the headquarters for the Japanese 25th Army, the force which occupied Sumatra. For example, the price of rice increased from $5 per 100 catties (about 60 kg or 130 lb) to $5,000 by the end of the occupation between August and September 1945. Force 136 was eventually disbanded after the war. The Kempeitai (the Japanese military police), which was the dominant occupation unit in Singapore, committed numerous atrocities towards the common people.They introduced the system of "Sook Ching", meaning "purging through purification" in Chinese, to get rid of those, especially so ethnic Chinese, deemed to be hostile to the Empire of Japan (anti-Japanese elements in the local population). He set up the Sino-British guerrilla task force Force 136 in 1942 with Captain John Davis of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). 8 August 1945, the Soviet Union declared war and on 9 August 1945, the Soviet Union invaded the Imperial Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Spectators planted themselves at vantage points – including the base of the dome of the former Supreme Court and the roof of the Municipal Building – to witness this historic moment. Basic resources, ranging from food to medication, were scarce during the occupation. Students of the St Joseph's Institution (then known as Bras Basah Boys' School) growing crops on the green space before the school. St Joseph’s Institution reopened as the Bras Basah Boys’ School after serving as the Red Cross Hospital. Today (Feb 15) is the 75th anniversary of the fall of Singapore. While people in Singapore created new purposes for existing buildings to protect lives, the Japanese occupied some of the country’s key buildings and converted them into spaces that evoked public fear. English schools such as St Joseph’s Institution, on the other hand, were more fortunate. 5. These informers worked at Kempeitai screening centres where the Japanese attempted to single out anti-Japanese elements for execution. The Sook Ching Massacre claimed the lives of between 25,000 and 55,000 ethnic Chinese in Singapore as well as in neighboring Malaya. Consumed too much and you would get beri-beri from Vitamin B deficiency. The site of this monument lies within the Hong Lim Complex in Chinatown. The men stayed imprisoned until 1945, when Japan finally surrendered the country. Be Muse Volume 5 Issue 1 – Jan to Mar 2012. The Surrender Chamber in the Municipal Building. The occupation commenced with Imperial Japanese Army landings at Padang Pak Amat beach Kota Bharu just after midnight on 8 December 1941, triggering a ferocious battle with the British Indian Army an hour before the attack on Pearl Harbor. We will focus on the area around Beach Road and the Civic District, especially the Padang, which was also very central to the pre-invasion war effort and the early days of the Occupation. Foo Min Li is Manager, Preservation of Monuments Board, © 2021 National Heritage Board. During the Japanese Occupation, the statue was moved to Syonan Museum (the former Raffles Museum, now National Museum Singapore ), and it was widely believed that the Japanese had intended for it to be melted for its bronze. Lyon and 13 of his men were killed fighting the Japanese. The Japanese plane threw out thousands of pamphlets to tell the Chinese people to surrender and come out from their hiding place. Its exterior walls facing the street were thickened and reinforced to prevent shrapnel from penetrating the church, providing protection to the wounded and others hiding there. The prices of basic necessities increased drastically over the three and a half years due to hyperinflation. As the building was designed to house offices and apartments, it was a suitable venue for the Japanese Propaganda Department, which was also the media centre for all newspapers in Singapore and Malaya. Naval facilities and docks in Singapore were also bombed on eleven occasions by American air units between November 1944 and May 1945. The excitement was palpable and the crowd was growing restless with … People were encouraged to strive for self-sufficiency by growing their own food. It was often used by the Japanese during the Occupation—when it was known as Syonan Ryokan, incorporating ‘syonan’ (“Light of the South”), the Japanese name for occupied Singapore, and ‘ryokan,’ the name for a traditional Japanese inn … On 15 February every year, memorial services (opened to the public) are held at the memorial. Later in the day, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb, this time on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. General Yamashita took over the premise and turned it into a Japanese headquarters, where he awaited Lieutenant-General Percival’s arrival on the morning of 15 February 1942. It is said that more than 50,000 people were killed during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, from 15 February 1942 to 12 September 1945. Raffles Hotel was often used by the Japanese during the Occupation—when it was known as Syonan Ryokan, incorporating ‘syonan’ - “Light of the South”. These victims, mainly males between the ages of 18 to 50, were rounded up and taken to deserted spots and remote locations around the island, such as Changi Beach, Punggol Point, and Siglap and killed systematically using machine-guns and rifles. WW2 survivor, Mr Tan Hwee Hock, 87, recalls the life under the Japanese Occupation. On 12 September 1945, a surrender instrument was signed at the Singapore Municipal Building. Just two months before the fall of Singapore, the Japanese struck seven locations in the Asia-Pacific region during the wee hours of 8 December 1941, including Singapore. This joyous occasion was widely reported in The Straits Times, marking the paper’s revival after it stopped operating on 15 February 1942. In a matter of nine minutes, the Japanese officially surrendered, and the surrender was publicly declared by Lord Louis Mountbatten on the steps of the Municipal Building. National Museum of Singapore Collection. Much of the infrastructure had been wrecked, including the harbour facilities and electricity, water supply and telephone services. Faye Yuan Kleeman, the author of Under an Imperial Sun: Japanese Colonial Literature of Taiwan and the South wrote that it was the most successful of such schools in Southeast Asia. To discourage Western influence, which Japan sought to eliminate from the very start of their invasion, the Japanese set up schools and education institutions and pressured the local people to learn their language (Japanese). National Museum of Singapore collection. Last Updated 31 October 2020, Reminder of the past: thickened walls to prevent shrapnel from cutting through the walls of the Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church. A British military administration, using surrendered Japanese troops as security forces, was formed to govern the island until March 1946. Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, "Explore Japan National Flag and National Anthem", "PEACE LIVING CERTIFICATE ISSUED DURING JAPANESE OCCUPATION", Sarawak, Brunei, Labuan and British North Borneo, History of World War II by region and country, Sarawak, Brunei, Labuan, and British North Borneo, Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office, Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors, Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, German pre–World War II industrial co-operation, International Military Tribunal for the Far East, Japanese dissidence in 20th-century Imperial Japan, British Military Administration (1945–1946), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Japanese_occupation_of_Singapore&oldid=998499376, States and territories established in 1942, States and territories disestablished in 1945, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in Singapore English, Articles containing Japanese-language text, Pages using infobox country or infobox former country with the flag caption or type parameters, Pages using infobox country or infobox former country with the symbol caption or type parameters, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 5 January 2021, at 17:24. 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