Tragedy for

Southeast Asia

Introduction

The Japanese conquests in Southeast Asia began from 8 December 1941 with the bombing of the Pearl Harbour which distracted the American fleets in the Philippines. The SEA was left in a heap of chaos as their colonial masters left frantically, and they were left to fend for themselves. As it was Japan's intention to conquer SEA for its raw / war materials, SEA could not escape from exploitation. Her social sufferings were similar to the Chinese, perhaps because of the presence of Chinese community in SEA. Holistically, the Second World War was a trauma to them.

Political

The Japanese rule under the umbrella of the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" was but a sham. Though the Japanese advocated liberation from colonial rule, there was no freedom, it was merely exchanging one form of colonialism for another. Moreover, the Japanese occupation was worse than the Western imperialism for the prosperity enjoyed was gone, and a series of exploitation and brutality reigned. The misrule of the Japanese left behind an important legacy - the growth of Communism. This gave birth to the Communist parties which caused a great amount of conflicts and anarchy after the war.

More unfortunately, the SE-Asian states were abandoned by their colonial masters after being exploited for more than a century. The colonial masters had the least regards for their colonies as they were more concerned about war in Europe. Much resources were channeled to Europe, and the administers and merchants abandoned the states. The defence plan was half-hearted. Evidences were the defeat of Malaya within a short span of 55 days and the fall of Singapore, the supposedly impregnable fortress, in 8 days. The contributions of the colonies seemed to have been totally forgotten by their colonial masters who ditched them in times of crisis. SEA was left to fend helplessly against the Japanese who had more advanced equipment and better army than the poor states.

Economic

British Destruction

The colonial masters, particularly the British, was callous towards her colonies not merely by abandoning them, but also by bombing their land in order to sabotage the Japanese. Before the British left Malaya, they conducted widespread destruction of buildings and machinery on rubber estates, bombed tin mines and dredges, and destroyed oil-wells and river transports so that they rendered useless to the Japanese. During the war, Allied air raids were performed, keeping railways out of action. Apparently, the British had no concerns for the welfare of Malayans. Their aim being outwitting the Japanese, their cost was lives and economy of Malaya.

Japanese Misrule

Besides, SEA was also exploited by the Japanese, who seized away food (rice), medicine, machinery, scientific apparatus, furniture and whatever was useful to them. The Japanese, too, had little considerations for their welfare. Their aimed was to squeeze SEA dry so as to provide for Japan's war efforts. There was a negligence of health measures as the Japanese looted hospitals of their modern equipment. This resulted in an increase in malaria fever and other diseases, which eventually increased the death toll. The Japanese were oblivious to their subject's economic plight as estates and factories were left idle and broken communication left unrepaired. The food problem was also carelessly dealt with. Kumiai set up supposedly to improve market situation but it monopolised market, causing more shortages. Profound shortages of food and necessities caused the prices to soar. As a result black market surfaced. The inflation problem worsened as the Japanese attempted to fix the economy by printing more banana money, which was already in abundance then. The Japanese occupation also had detrimental effects on the rubber plantation. Initially, they wanted more latex quickly but due to ignorance, they slashed the trees, rendering them barren. Later, the Japanese uprooted the rubber trees to provide land for food production when food shortage plagued SEA. The misrule of the Japanese caused malnutrition, famine, lack of clothes, unemployment and general poor standard of living for the SEA. Furthermore, the Japanese demanded a "Voluntary Gift" of $50 million donation from Overseas Chinese Association in 1942. It was a large scale open blackmail to worsen the plight of the Chinese in SEA. Economy of SEA plunged under Japanese occupation.

The Japanese encouragement of self-sufficiency added to the hardships. Self-sufficiency was needed because trade was cut off. Singapore lost her free port status under Japan rule, thus, sources of resources cut off by the cessation of Singapore's entrepot trade. Since no free country was willing to trade with Japan, there were no imported goods to supplement Japan's war efforts. This in turned increased Japanese exploitation on SEA, thus increasing their sufferings.

The country which suffered most was probably Burma. Due to the ceasing of trade, the lucrative rice export was terminated. The loss of external market resulted in a loss of great revenue. Not only that, the faults of poor transportation led to poor distribution of necessities in Burma. There was a surplus of rice in the South while Northern Burma was starving; there was a shortage of cooking oil in the South when the North could supply. Moreover, there was a destruction of sacred buildings in Burma, aggravating the resentment of the religious Burmese.

Social

The people of SEA suffered as much tortures as the Chinese. SEA was ruled under the much dreaded and hatred military terrorists - the Kempeitai. They conducted forced labour, rapes as well as massacres. One significant event was the Operation Clean-up whereby Chinese males in Syonanto (age 18-50) were ordered to assemble on 21 February 1942. It was for the 25th Army to clean up anti-Japanese elements (including Chinese volunteers who fought tenaciously against the Japanese, all members of the China Relief Fund, Chinese Volunteer Force, and other anti-Japanese organizations). 6000 Chinese were massacred. Accounts from survivors included the following: (1) The victims were told to wade out to sea. When water reached chest-high, the Japanese soldiers would shoot. (2) A few hundred victims were towed out to sea in boats. As they were off the island, they were thrown into sea and machine-gunned to death. Such were savageness targeted at the Chinese as the Japanese sought revenge for the Sino-Japanese War.

On the other hand, the Japanese were ruthless in carrying out disciplinary actions. One example was the punishment for looters in Syonanto where the criminals were beheaded, and their heads put on spikes at eight different road junctions (Tanjong Pagar, Stamford Road, Fullerton Square, etc.) Another example was the Double Tenth Massacre in 1943. As the Japanese suspected the natives of leaking information through shortwave radio, many Europeans and Chinese arrested. The Sime Road Internment Camp was searched for shortwave radio sets, and men were arrested and tortured.

The Japanese occupation also placed Asian females in peril. Illegal outrage of modesty was called rape (which was a common crime then, and the soldiers were not punished), legal ones were called visiting of comfort women. Comfort women were mostly Koreans but SE-Asian women constitute part of it, they were subjected to brutal sexual servitude. The dead ones had succumbed to venereal diseases, tuberculosis, violence and suicide, while those who survived were despised as "unclean" by the society and they lived in shame forever. On the other hand, some Japanese soldiers did married Asian women. However, they were separated by the end of the war, when the women left abandoned with children, discovered that their husbands were already married in Japan. No doubt, the Japanese occupation had disturbing impacts on the females - if they had survived.

Education was also disrupted due to Japanese attempt at brainwash using the nipponisation program. The Japanese tried to inculcate their values into the SEA society by propaganda (instilling the Japanese language, culture and spirit in the youths) and destruction (looting schools and executing native teachers). Though proper education ceased during the Japanese occupation, it was interesting to note that Japanese education did changed the children in SEA. They learnt the Japanese language and was influenced by the Japanese Seishin Spirit (the superiority of the spiritual over the material).

Another misfortune brought about by the Japanese conquest was the disintegrating of social order. Undermined social order irreparably resulted in universal distrust, communal and racial strife (especially so in Malaya), and an afflicted public morality as neighbours were pitted against one another. The Japanese stimulated racial antagonism when they recruited Malays to attack Chinese guerillas in jungles. It resulted in the Chinese attacking Malays out of retaliation, and the Malays taking revenge. Hence, the rift between them was widened, and there was increased hatred between the two races. This was a problem which lingers even after the war ended, for suspicions and hatred could not be washed away even after the Japanese retreat.

Conclusion

Although the suffering of SEA under the Japanese was tramatic, the contributions of the Japanese occupation could not be neglected. The SE-Asians were encouraged to remove European imperialists. They were stirred by Jap propaganda (Asia for the Asians), thus, unleashed psychological, social, and political changes and upheaval even in political backwater like Malaya. As Ba Maw (Burmese politician) pointed out, "No nation has done so much to liberate Asia from white domination, yet no nation has been so misunderstood ....". Indeed, the Japanese gave SEA a taste of independence from their colonial masters. The Japanese policy of boycotting Western goods and language helped fostered self-identity; the Japanese education implanted the Seishin Spirit in the youth and stimulated the professional pride of local administrators. As such, I conclude that, though sufferings of SEA resembled that of China, the results were not as tragic.

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