How was life different among the people of Singapore during World War 2?
by YAP SHENG LI DARRIUS HCI
1. The key words in the question are: 1)Life 2)Different 3)People of Singapore 5)During 6)World War ll
2. The time frame for this investigation is: 15 February 1942 to 12 September 1945
3. Chinese
4. Malays
5. P.O.W
6. Some Malay soldiers were held prisoners of war
7. The Japanese encouraged men to be involved in the military
8. Kids studied all their subjects in Japanese
9. People are ordered to sing the Japanese national anthem
10. Some were forced to be slaves of the japanese
11. Some were beaten or killed for defying orders
12. Most were scared of the Japanese
13. Sook Ching operation
14. Operation Sook Ching was a Japanese military operation aimed at purging or eliminating anti-Japanese elements from the Chinese community in Singapore.
15. Chinese males between the ages of 18 and 50 were summoned to various mass screening centres and those suspected of being anti-Japanese were executed.
16. An estimated 40,000 and 50,000 suspected anti- Japanese Chinese were killed.
17. Grow More Food Campaign
18. After the Japanese occupied Malaya, they anticipated that the region would eventually be isolated and blockaded by enemy forces. Food shortages were also driving inflation up.
19. The Grow More Food Campaign was started to encourage people to grow their own food.
20. People planted wherever there was empty space – in front, beside and behind their houses and along the roadsides. No space was left vacant.
21. Education during the Japanese Occupation
22. In Syonan, they focused on teaching of the Japanese language and cultures. The Japanese language was taught in many ways.
23. Libraries were stocked with books on Japan and its language and of course, culture.
24. The P.O.W.s had no choice but feed on the food the Japanese gave them. Mostly they live on the diet of only
25. Some fought the Japanese in captivity by sabotaging Japanese activities
26. Some P.O.W.s were tortured so that they would give away information of the Allied powers.
27. They also led a difficult life as they were given little food and some starved to death.
28. The historical concept is: War caused a lot af damage and should not happen again.
29. Indians
30. Japanese
31. The Kempeitai (the Japanese military secret police), committed numerous atrocities towards the common people.
32. The Japanese tried to remove Western influence
33. They introduced the system of "Sook Ching", which means "purge through purification" in Chinese, to get rid of those deemed to be anti-Japanese. The Sook Ching Massacre claimed the lives of between 25,000 and 50,000 ethnic Chinese in Singapore and Malaya.
34. The Kempeitai established a network of informants around the island to help them identify anti-Japanese.
35. The Japanese set up schools and forced people to learn their language.
36. Textbooks were printed in Japanese.
37. Every morning, children had to stand facing the direction of Japan and sing the Japanese national anthem ("Kimigayo").
38. Japanese propaganda attacked the Western, and particularly Anglo-Saxon culture. The believers in this propaganda saw themselves as offering a different, distinctly Japanese, way of life from Western Imperialism.
39. The Japanese did not adhere to the Geneva Convention signed before the war, mistreating the Allied prisoners of war.
40. The Japanese ordered the POWs to do menial tasks outside of their camps, such as repairing and cleaning the dock facilities,water works and the airfields damaged by Japanese bombs during the invation
41. The POWs and other internees were also given little food and were tasked to do various jobs.
42. About 80 000 British, Indian and Austrailian troops become Prisoners of War, joining 50 000 taken by Japanese in the earlier Malayan Campaign. The British prime minister Winston Churchill, called it the "worst disaster" in British millitary history.
43. If you read the Indian accounts of the Siege of Singapore, the overreacting narrative on the Indian side stresses again and again on the incompetency and cowardice of British officers in charge, coupled with the lack of any intelligence or support whatsoever from the British Malayan government.
44. In 1939, the British Indian Army numbered 205 000 men. It took in volunteers and by 1945 was the larges all volunteer force in history, rising to over 2.5 million men. Some of the volunteers were from Singapore.
