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Singapore Shonan: Light of the South
The Japanese occupied Singapore from 1942 until 1945.
They
designated it the capital of Japan's southern region and
renamed it
Shonan, meaning "Light of the South" in Japanese. All
European and
Australian prisoners were interned at Changi on the
eastern end of
the island--the 2,300 civilians at the prison and the more
than
15,000 military personnel at nearby Selarang barracks. The
600
Malay and 45,000 Indian troops were assembled by the
Japanese and
urged to transfer their allegiance to the emperor of
Japan. Many
refused and were executed, tortured, imprisoned, or sent
as forced
laborers to Thailand, Sumatra, or New Guinea. Under
pressure, about
20,000 Indian troops joined the Japanese-sponsored Indian
National
Army to fight for India's independence from the British.
The Asian civilian population watched with shock as
their
colonial rulers and supposed protectors were marched off
to prison
and the Japanese set about establishing their
administration and
authority. The Chinese were to bear the brunt of the
occupation, in
retribution for support given by Singapore Chinese to
China in its
struggle against Japan. All Chinese males from ages
eighteen to
fifty were required to report to registration camps for
screening.
The Japanese or military police arrested those alleged to
be antiJapanese , meaning those who were singled out by informers
or who
were teachers, journalists, intellectuals, or even former
servants
of the British. Some were imprisoned, but most were
executed, and
estimates of their number range from 5,000 to 25,000. Many
of the
leaders of Singapore's anti-Japanese movement had already
escaped,
however, and the remnants of Dalforce and other Chinese
irregular
units had fled to the peninsula, where they formed the
Malayan
People's Anti-Japanese Army.
The harsh treatment by the Japanese in the early days
of the
occupation undermined any later efforts to enlist the
support of
Singaporeans for the Japanese vision of a Greater East
Asia CoProsperity Sphere, which was to comprise Japan, China,
Manchuria,
and Southeast Asia. Singapore's prominent Chinese leaders
and
businessmen were further disaffected when the Japanese
military
command bullied them into raising a S$10 million "gift" to
the
Japanese as a symbol of their cooperation and as
reparation for
their support for the government of China in its war
against Japan.
The Chinese and English schools were pressured to use
Japanese as
the medium of instruction. The Malay schools were allowed
to use
Malay, which was considered the indigenous language. The
Japanesecontrolled schools concentrated on physical training and
teaching
Japanese patriotic songs and propaganda. Most parents kept
their
children at home, and total enrollment for all the schools
was
never more than 7,000. Although free Japanese language
classes were
given at night and bonuses and promotions awarded to those
who
learned the language, efforts to replace English and
Chinese with
Japanese were generally unsuccessful.
Serious disruption of not only the economy but the
whole fabric
of society marked the occupation years in Singapore. Food
and
essential materials were in short supply since the
entrepôt trade
that Singapore depended on to provide most goods was
severely
curtailed by the war. Chinese businessmen collaborated
with corrupt
Japanese officials to establish a flourishing black market
for most
items, which were sold at outrageous prices. Inflation
grew even
more rampant as Japanese military scrip flooded the
economy.
Speculation, profiteering, bribery, and corruption were
the order
of the day, and lawlessness against the occupation
government
almost a point of honor.
As the war wound down and Japanese fortunes began to
fade, life
grew even more difficult in Shonan. Military prisoners,
who
suffered increasing hardship from reduced rations and
brutal
treatment, were set to work constructing an airfield at
Changi,
which was completed in May 1945. Not only prisoners of war
but also
Singapore's unemployed civilians were impressed into work
gangs for
labor on the Burma-Siam railroad, from which many never
returned.
As conditions worsened and news of Japanese defeats
filtered in,
Singaporeans anxiously awaited what they feared would be a
bloody
and protracted fight to reoccupy the island. Although
Japan
formally surrendered to the Allies on August 15, 1945, it
was not
announced in the Singapore press until a week later. The
Japanese
military quietly retreated to an internment camp they had
prepared
at Jurong. On September 5, Commonwealth troops arrived
aboard
British warships, cheered by wildly enthusiastic
Singaporeans, who
lined the five-kilometer parade route. A week later, on
the steps
of the municipal building, the Japanese military command
in
Singapore surrendered to the supreme Allied commander in
Southeast
Asia, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten.
Data as of December 1989
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