Signs Singapore Had Fallen §
- Change of flags (Union Jack -> Japanese)
- Renaming Singapore to “Syonan-To”
- Soldiers removing uniform and fleeing (POWs)
- Severed body parts
- Couldn’t buy food
- Learning Japanese in schools
- bowing to the east
- manipulated to sing Japanese songs
War Survivor Experiences §
- Japanese forced Chinese men to “register”
- killed
- racial discrimination
- had to sweep rice of the ground
Why not kill EVERYONE in Singapore? §
- Manpower
- Ammunition
- Waste resources
Methods the Japanese used §
- Carrot and stick ⇒ establish legitimacy
- legitimacy → trust & right to rule
Kempetai §
- Military police force
- relied on informers (spies) (proceeds to get backstabbed)
- created an atmosphere of fear
Imprisoning Allied Soldiers §
- Rounded up Allied troops and imprisoned them as POW
- Dispelled the myth of British superiority and built up the image of Japanese as a strong Asian power
Meting out Harsh Punishments §
- Executed anyone caught stealing and displayed their heads in public
- Methods of interrogation by kempetai included water torture, electric shocks, dislocating limbs, etc.
Sook Ching §
- Mass brutality instailled fear in many, especially the Chinese community → kept them in line with japanese rule
- Eliminated (perceived) anti-Japanese elements among the local people
Winning loyalty §
Different Treatment §
- Race
- Loyalty to Japanese
- Willingness to work for Japanese
Japanese Culture §
- English names were changed to Japanese ones
- Teaching of Nippon-go
- Promotion of Nippon-seishin
- Japanese lessons in newspapers
- Sports for the masses
Education System §
- Rejected British emphasis on academic subjects
- Favoured character building, physical education and vocational education
- English and Chinese language was restricted
- Malay and Japanese only
Propaganda §
- Appeals to emotions
- Simple and easy to understand
- Indoctrination to influence the minds of the locals
- Idea of prestige
- Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
- Portrays the Japanese as liberators
- Benevolent rulers
Resistance and collaboration §
- Dependent on personal interests
- Collaborated for personal safety
Daily life of people §
Health and Safety §
- Unsanitary
- Pneumonia + dysentery
- insufficient funds to rebuild
- overcrowding of people
- Insufficient food
- Lack access to clean water
POWs §
- 5000 men were squeezed into a space for 600
- Prevent them from resisting
- Dispel the myth of western superiority
- Used them as free, forced labour
- Worked on the Thailand-Burma railway, aka ‘Death Railway’
- Meant to transport resources
- 16000 died in the process
Food Shortage §
Why? §
- Not safe to export and import food
- Japanese kept food supplies to themselves
Rationing §
- Purchased food supplies in rationed amounts using the cards issued to them.
- Could only receive fixed quantity of rice, salt, sugar, etc.
- Very long queues
- People at the back could not get food
Black Market §
- Demand high, supply high
- prices skyrocket
- hyperinflation
Banana Money §
- First introduced on 23 February 1942
- Roughly worth to the value of the Straits Dollars
- As economic conditions deteriorated, more money was printed by the administration → banana money became useless
Grow More Food Campaign §
- People dont depend on Japanese
- cut cost on trade and import
- encourage self-sufficiency
- produce tapioca, sweet potato, yam
Relocation §
- Wider plots of land to grow food and build settlements
- Encourage self-sufficiency
- Endau and Bahau
- Chinese → Endau (generally successful)
- Eurasians and Chinese Roman Catholics → Bahau
- Why did Bahau fail
- Hilly land and clay soil which was not very fertile
- Settlers were mainly white-collar workers who had little experience in agriculture
- Land was a hotbed for mosquitoes that spread malaria
Japanese Surrender §
Mood of the people §
- Happy
- Relieved → Not under Japanese rule
- Hopeful
- Japanese collaborators → Fearful of the repercussions
Changes §
- People were no longer afraid of the Japanese
- Japanese forced to do hard labour → POW
British Military Administration §
- Restore a basic sense of order
- fix issues from Japanese
The End §
- Battle of Coral Sea
- Battle of Midway
- 1994 - Re-invasion of the Philippines
- March 1945 - Battle of Iwo Jima and Okinawa
- Allied bombers and planes could be seen
- Atomic bomb dropped
- Little boy + fat man