The survivor after the WORLD WAR 2 AND THE SUMMARY

THE SURVIVOR

SUMMARY!

During World War II, Singapore was occupied by the Japanese.  British Prime Minister Winston Churchill described this “as the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history”. In the aftermath of the war, the country faced staggering problems of high unemployment, slow economic growth, inadequate housing, decaying infrastructure, labor strikes and social unrest. Nevertheless, it sparked a political awakening among the local population and saw the rise of anti-colonial and nationalist sentiments, as epitomized by the slogan “Merdeka” which means “independence” in the Malay language.

In 1959, Singapore became a self-governing state within the British Empire with Yusof Bin Ishak as its firstYang de-Pertuan Negara (Malay for “Someone who is the eminent Master of the State”) and Lee Kuan Yew as its first and long-standing Prime Minister (he served until 1990). Before joining the Federation of Malaysia along with Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak, Singapore declared independence from Britain unilaterally in August 1963. Two years later, Singapore left the federation after heated ideological conflicts arose between the Singapore government’s major political party called the People’s Action Party (PAP) and the federal Kuala Lumpur goverment. On 9 August 1965, Singapore officially gained sovereignty. Yusof Bin Ishak sworn in as its first president and Lee Kuan Yew remained prime minister.

FINALLY I FINISHED MY BLOG! HIP HIP HURRAY! ^^

CITATION: http://www.guidemesingapore.com/relocation/introduction/brief-history-of-singapore

The food that they eat! (2 September onwards)

tapioca

potato

ubi

coconut

rice

What did the British do to solve the problem after war! (2 September 1945)

Food was rationed. Each family was allowed to buy only a small amount of food so that every family would have food. Children were given free food at some food distribution centres. The British made agreements with other countries to supply rice and other foodstuffs to Singapore in exchange for rubberThe government loaned money to businessmen to help them start businesses. It promised to buy what these businesses imported, like food and clothing. the government also started trading with neighbouring countries again. When trade took place, there were more jobs for people. The British government repaired the machinery needed to generate electricity and pump water  so as to restore the supply of electricity nd water. Water pipes that had burst were also fixed. Gas pipes that were leaking were located and repaired.  Taken from: http://singaporeinthepast.webs.com/afterworldwar2.htm

PROBLEMS AFTER THE WAR HAD ENDED! (2 SEPTEMBER 1945)

PROBLEMS AFTER WAR! The people of Singapore were relieved when they heard about the surrender of the Japanese in 1945. They thought that life would improve after the return of the British. However, they continued to suffer even after the war. Prices of food items increased to ten times the prices before the war. Many people were hungry and unhappy. Some even searched through the rubbish heaps in the hope of finding something edible or usable. Many people were poor and life was hard for them. Some people did odd jobs while others became hawkers, selling anything they could get their hands on.

Shortage of Housing and Poor Public Health

The bombed of Singapore by the Japanese caused many houses to collapse. Others were damaged. There was a shortage of houses, so rents increased. Many people could not afford the high rents. Often, as many as ten people crammed into a small room. Living conditions were unhealthy and diseases such as tuberculosis spread easily. The poor public health was also a result of the war. Bombs created pot-holes in the roads which bred mosquitoes and flies. These insects reproduced rapidly and spread diseases among the people.

Shortage of Water and Electricity

There was a shortage of water and electricity in Singapore. Most of the machinery used to filter and pump water was damaged during the war. Moreover, water pipes in building brust. As a result, there was not enough water for the people. People had to be careful about how they handle water. Machinery for generating electricity was also damaged. With little electricity, the streets were unsafe at night as they were not lit.

TAKEN FROM: http://singaporeinthepast.webs.com/afterworldwar2.htm

END OF WAR! (: (2 SEPTEMBER 1945)

The surrender of the Empire of Japan on September 2, 1945, brought the hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. While publicly stating their intent to fight on to the bitter end, the Empire of Japan's leaders, (the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War, also known as the "Big Six"), were privately making entreaties to the neutral Soviet Union to mediate peace on terms favorable to the Japanese. The Soviets, meanwhile, were preparing to attack the Japanese, in fulfillment of their promises to the United States and the United Kingdom made at the Tehran and Yalta Conferences.

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Late in the evening of August 8, 1945, in accordance with the Yalta agreements, but in violation of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, the Soviet Union declared war on the Empire of Japan, and soon after midnight on August 9, 1945, the Soviet Union invaded the Imperial Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Later that day, the United States dropped another atomic bomb, this time on the city of Nagasaki. The combined shock of these events caused Emperor Hirohito to intervene and order the Big Six to accept the terms for ending the war that the Allies had set down in the Potsdam Declaration. After several more days of behind-the-scenes negotiations and a failed coup d'état, Emperor Hirohito gave a recorded radio address to the Empire on August 15. In the radio address, called the Gyokuon-hōsō ("Jewel Voice Broadcast"), he announced the surrender of the Empire of Japan to the Allies.

On August 28, the occupation of Japan by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers began. The surrender ceremony was held on September 2, aboard the United States Navy battleship USS Missouri (BB-63), at which officials from the Japanese government signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, thereby ending the hostilities in World War II. Allied civilians and military personnel alike celebrated V-J Day, the end of the war; however, some isolated soldiers and personnel from Imperial Japan's far-flung forces throughout Asia and the Pacific islands refused to surrender for months and years afterwards, some even as far as into the 1970s. Since the surrender of the Empire of Japan, historians have continually debated the ethics of using the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The state of war between Japan and the Allies formally ended when the Treaty of San Francisco came into force on April 28, 1952. Four more years passed before Japan and the Soviet Union signed the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956, which formally brought an end to their state of war.

THE WAR FINALLY COME TO AN END!!!! HIP HIP HURRAY!!!!!

cite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan

The Ration Card!

Rationing were introduced to control the sales of essential items like rice, salt and sugar. Each household was issued with a 'Peace Living Certificate' which entitled them to a number of ration cards to purchase essential goods. Once a month, people would line up at the kumiai shop(distribution association) for hours to purchase whatever rations that were available. 

Many lived in poverty and suffered from malnutrition and diseases. Essential foodstuffs like rice ,salt and sugar were sold at high prices at black market. The situation gotten worse by the unlimited supplies of Japanese 'banana notes'. As there were a lot of banana notes, the vale of the notes dropped, leading to soaring prices. Hence, life became harder.

TAKEN FROM HISTORY TEXTBOOK CHAPTER 6.

The War Heroes

THIS IS HOW THEY DIED! :(


THE WAR HEROES!

Lieutenant Adnan bin Saidi
he led the fight against the Japanese at Pasir Panjang. Heavily outnumbered,  he fought gallantly but was later captured and brutally killed by the Japanese. His motto for his men was 'Death Before Dishonour'.
 Adnan Bin Saidi refused to surrender, and encourage his men to fight until the end of their lives. For two days, Japanese are held off by them, amid heavy enemy shelling and shortages of food and ammunition as the fight went on. Adnan Bin Saidi carried on fighting despite that he was shot. After they lost battle, he was captured, dragged and pushed into a gunnysack, when the Japanese overran his Malay soldiers, they hung him by his legs, tied him to acherry tree and bayoneted (stabbed) him to death for his stubbornness resistance again and again as they were angered by the death of their fellow comrades . His throat was slit repeatedly in some instances. Adnan witnessed these gruesome deeds in Corporal Yaakob’s state of ‘death’. No one was allowed to bring down his body for burial in the aftermath of the battle and no one even dared. It claimed that Lieutenant Adnan Saidi's mutilated body was burnt to ashes in some sources , and died in battle at the age of 27.



Elizabeth Choy

During the Japanese invasion of Malaya, Choy became a volunteer nurse with the Medical Auxiliary Service. After the fall of Singapore in 1942, the Choys set up a canteen at theTan Tock Seng Hospital, after all the patients and doctors had been moved from the Miyako Hospital (former Woodbridge Hospital), where they soon started a regular ambulance run for British civilian internees. The couple helped the Changi prisoners-of-war (POW) by passing on cash and parcels containing such things as fresh clothing, medicine and letters during their deliveries, and incurred further risk by sending in radio parts for hidden receivers until the Japanese crackdown following Operation Jaywick.

During the subsequent Double Tenth Incident, an informant told the Kempeitai that the Choys were involved in smuggling money into Changi Prison, and Khun Heng was arrested. After several days, Elizabeth went to the Kempeitai East District Branch at the YMCA building on Stamford Road to inquire about her husband. The Japanese denied all knowledge of him, but lured her back to the YMCA three weeks later and confined her with other Chinese and Changi prisoners. She was imprisoned and subjected to torture. Mr R. H. Scott, a former Director of the British Ministry of Information (Far Eastern Branch) and principal witness at the War Crimes Court in Singapore, had witnessed Choy being stripped and severely beaten "on at least one occasion".^[1]

At the Japanese surrender in Singapore in September 1945, Choy was invited by Lady Mountbatten to witness the official ceremony, where she was escorted by the governor, Sir Shenton Thomas, and his wife, to whom she had sent medicine in Changi.

Lim Bo Seng

Lim was captured by the Japanese under Marshal Ōnishi Satoru at a roadblock in Gopeng around March-April 1944. He was taken to the Kempeitai headquarters for interrogation and he refused to provide the Japanese with any information about Force 136 despite being subjected to severe torture. Instead, he protested against the ill treatment of his comrades in prison. He fell ill with dysentery and was bedridden by the end of May 1944. Lim died in the early hours on 29 June 1944. He was later buried behind the Batu Gajah prison compound in an unmarked spot. After the Japanese surrender, Lim's wife, Gan Choo Neo, was informed of her husband's death by the priest of St. Andrew's School. Gan travelled with her eldest son to bring her husband's remains home later. Lim's remains arrived at the Tanjong Pagar railway station in Singapore on 7 December 1945. Upon arrival, the hearse was sent off by a large procession of British officers and prominent businessmen, from the station to Hock Ann Biscuit Factory in Upper Serangoon Road, via Armenian Street. On the same day, a memorial service for Lim was held at the Tong Teh Library of the Kuomintang Association in Singapore.

cite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_bin_Saidi 

       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lim_Bo_Seng

       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Choy

-end of part 4-

THE ATTACK ON MALAYA BY JAPAN part 2 (7TH December 1941)

Why did the British failed to stop the Japanese?

• The underestimation of the Japanese and fatal assumptions about their strategies.
• good Japanese preparation preparation and their superiority in battle strategy, armed force and leadership.
• British putting priority on war in Europe

How did the Japanese occupation change the lives of people in Singapore?

• Propaganda and the imposition of the Japanese way of life
• controlled communications
• food shortages, rationing and black market

- Propaganda and the imposition of the Japanese way of life

• Singapore was renamed 'Syonan-to'
• Propaganda campaigns were carried out to influence people to pledge their loyalty to Japan
• Japanese were taught in schools

For Controlled Communications, radio stations were controlled by the Japanese so only local broadcasts were allowed. Tuning in to foreign broadcasts was a crime punishable by death.

People were starve till can see their body shape.

Many Civilians sleep on the floor. They sleep at such a small place that they have to squeeze when they  want to sleep.

cite: http://www.slideshare.net/sunnydaydown/chapter-6-how-did-ww2-affect-singapore

-end of part 3-

THE ATTACK ON MALAYA BY JAPAN (7TH December 1941)

-part 2-

                  cite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=SG&hl=en-GB&v=09dGuZ6zQt0

The Japanese attack on Malaya started on December 8th 1941 and ended with the surrender of British forces at Singapore. Malaya was 
a major prize for the Japanese as it produced 38% of the world’s rubber and 58% of the world’s tin. The capture of Singapore would provide Japan with a highly valuable military base in the region and  
 it would also greatly undermine British authority in the region. The Japanese commander for the attack on Malaya was General Yamashita. 

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese arrived in the city of Kota Bahru in British Malaya (present day Malaysia). They arrived just a few hours before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Within two months, the Japanese had conquered present day Peninsular Malaysia. On February 8, 1942 they crossed the causeway and entered into the British colony of Singapore. Singapore was ill prepared for this rapid invasion as all of their guns and cannons had been permanently mounted pointing out towards the ocean. The Japanese merely crossed the bridge between the two countries and began in what would be one of the British empire's worst defeats. By February 20 the Japanese had seized Bukit Timah. This was an important achievement as not only was Bukit Timah the highest point on the island (162 meters) in order to provide good views, but from Bukit Timah there were roads that led straight to the center of the city.

The Japanese built man-made caves in the jungle hills of Bukit Timah to store supplies and ammunition. These caves are still standing today. The bars were installed recently to protect the bats that live in the caves from being disturbed by tourists. Another significant battle was the Battle for Bukit Batok, one of Singapore's bloodiest battles. Now the top of Bukit Batok hill is simply a cell phone tower, but this wasn't always the case. 

The conditions in the prisons were horrendous. One of the most famous incidents in the Selarang Barracks is the Selarang Square incident. 17,000 POWs were forced to vacate their buildings and remain outdoors for 5 days with NO shelter, water, or sanitation because they had refused to sign a form stating, "I PROMISE NOT TO ESCAPE."

The Japanese renamed Singapore Syonanto, or Light of the South, and ruled it harshly. The Kempeitai (Japanese military police) massacred over 50,000 Chinese males! Thousands more civilians faced starvation, torture, and execution. 

A picture when they killed a civilian 

An image on how they were being tortured

An image where the civilians were buried alive.

cite: http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/shammons/invasion.html


-end of part 2-

THE DAY WHEN THE BRITISH SURRENDERED TO THE JAPANESE! (15 Feb 1942)

*pedoface*

A lot of people must be wondering why the British surrendered to the Japanese and how people suffer after the surrender. Don't worry, as you read my post you will understand better.

Brief introduction

On the 15th of February, the Japanese had broken through the last line of defence and the Allies were running out of food and ammunition. The anti-aircraft guns were unable to repel any further the Japanese air attacks which threatened heavy casualties. 

The British held a conference at fort canning with the commanders. They proposed two options: either launch an immediate counter-attack to regain the reservoirs and military food depots in Bukit Timah region or capitulate. Those who are present agreed that no counterattack was possible so they opted for a SURRENDER! 

Lt Gen. Yamashita (seated, centre) thumps the table with his fist to emphasises his terms – unconditional surrender. Lt Gen. Percival sits between his officers, his clenched hand to his mouth.

The terms of the surrender included:

• The unconditional surrender of all military forces (Army, Navy and Air Force) in Singapore.
• Hostilities to cease at 20:30 that evening
• All troops to remain in position until further orders.
• All weapons, military equipment, ships, planes and secret documents to be handed over intact.
• To prevent looting, etc., during the temporary withdrawal of all armed forces in Singapore, a force of 1,000 British armed men to take over until relieved by the Japanese

Surrendering troops of the Suffolk Regiment held 
at
 gunpoint by Japanese infantry.

After the surrender, Japanese triumphantly declared 
the victory as deciding the general situation of the war. 






citation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Singapore

-END OF PART 1- :)