The Kempetai, was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945. They were also known for randomly accusing people of participating in anti-Japanese activities, and them dragging them off to be tortured for information at their head quarters, now known as the YMCA Building.
One of their favourite torture techniques was to pump water into a person’s stomach before jumping on their abdomen. The stomach and intestinal rupture would eventually kill the person. My teacher had to go retrieve his uncle’s body after they took him away in the middle of the night.
The other was to tie their victim to a chair and allow a hose to drip water on his head. The slow dripping would bruise the skull first but eventually the soaked skin would bear excruciating pain with every drip. They would leave the victim to cry through the ordeal for days.
Some soldiers would randomly kidnap young women to rape. Such that many girls cut their hairs really short to look like boys, and their parents would rub charcoal on their faces to have them look like tramps.
Children in school had to learn Japanese. The teachers teaching were no better than the students learning an entirely new language. In the early parts, whenever a Japanese officer enters a classroom, the kids would collectively wet their pants.
Plenty of Japanese soldiers in Singapore were not monsters. Fact is, many of them did not participate in the massacre or other brutalities. A lot of them treated the locals with less care but not necessarily with heavy handedness. Some families invited friendlier soldiers to dinner. Some Japanese soldiers even learned to speak Melayu and Teochew. One was even fluent in Hokkien, they guessed he must have been a Taiwanese under Imperial Japanese employment.
Under occupation, people had to come to terms with their loss of livelihood and seek work elsewhere. A number of locals sought jobs with the Japanese.
As the occupation went on, the Japanese instituted currency went into an inflation. Whenever the Japanese needed to buy something, they simply printed more money, without care for economic consequences. The value of their dollar dropped so low that people needed to carry bags of dollar notes just to buy bread. The locals called these worthless currency “banana money” because of the bananas printed on it and its equated worthlessn
How the operation Sook Ching had several impacts on the Chinese Community?
1. Lacked the will to work with the Japanese
The Japanese were so violent and merciless towards the Chinese during Operation Sook Ching that a great sense of hatred was developed towards the Japanese within the Chinese community.
The Chinese community boycotted Japanese products, shops and anything involving the Japanese. The Chinese people made it a point not to go to Japanese stores, barbers and other kinds of Japanese shops. They would encourage others in the Chinese community to not buy Japanese products and goods, and Chinese shops were prohibited from selling any Japanese products.
2. The fleeing of the important Chinese people
The Japanese thought that their Operation Sook Ching was effective, but in actual fact they failed to accomplish their main objective-to eliminate great anti-Japanese influences.
Through Operation Sook Ching, they managed to kill off the many anti-Japanese people who wouldn't do anything much, but their foolish start had bought people like Tan Kah-kee and remaining Dalforce members some time to run way from Singapore. Tan Kah-kee fled to Java where he hid himself, living among the Indonesian people. He was very fortunate to be with people who were against the Japanese, because they never exposed him although promised to be rewarded a million dollars by the Japanese for finding him. The Dalforce members fled to the north in the Malaysian jungles to form the Malaysian People's Anti-Japanese Army.
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