Japanese Occupation- Dato' Param.pdf - Malaysian Paediatric ...

would in turn say “Ohayo gozaimasy seito”-good morning students. Classes then began, first learning
Japanese songs and dancing. Then we were taught Japanese, both written and oral. Very soon all of us
were speaking Japanese fluently. There was also a lot of emphasis on physical education and daily we
had a class on Rajio Taiso-Japanese style free exercise.This is still practiced in Japan in the parks and
daily for the staff in factories.
Empertor Hirohito’s Birthday was a major occasion. On that day the whole school as well as other
government servants had to assemble at the BRC padang for a special ceremony. It began with raising
the Japanese flag and singing the Japanese National Anthem Kimigayo. And after the ritual of bowing
towards Japan, there followed numerous speeches in Japanese, and all this under the blazing midday
sun. Some students fainted and had to be taken off the field. Following this long drawn out ceremony,
we then had to march around Butterworth town. We loved the marching part. We were each given a
Japanese flag, the Hinomaru(the rising sun) and we felt important waving it around as we sang the
Japanese song ‘Aruke Aruke’, and the famous ‘Naval Marching song Gunkan March ‘(which I still enjoy
humming) and walked around Butterworth town, being cheered by the large crowd lining the streets to
see this march pass, and parents trying to spot their children. Marching was a big part of the Japanese
war culture.
My eldest sister went to a Japanese teacher’s training college in Penang called Nippon Kindanhan for
one year. After graduating she started teaching Japanese in a Tamil school in Prai. My brother had to
take her on a bicycle and leave her at the Prai River where she used to cross in a sampan. Awoyagi who
also worked in Prai, some times used to pass her in another sampan. He would stand tall in the sampan,
with the annoyance of the sampan man, and salute my sister and then both would have a big laugh.
Later in the evening my brother had to go back to fetch her. And he never grumbled-and he was just 13-
14 by then.
My eldest brother joined the Kunrensho, an Officer Training Institute, which was a semi military style
residential school for the training of Asians in both academics and unarmed combat. It was stationed at
Chung Ling High School in Ayer Itam. The daily routine began with a roll call at 5am.This was followed by
a 5 mile jog, then a Malayan style bath(pail and water from a tub) and breakfast. They had regular
classes in Japanese in the morning and Judo in the afternoon. My second brother used to visit him, with
food parcels my mother would have prepared earlier, cycling a rickety bicycle with hard solid tyres(
tube tyres were no more available) called ‘tyremathi,’ which he borrowed from a friend at the Marine
Police at Beach Street and made his way to Ayer Itam, and this was no mean feat. Once when he was
cycling along Penang road the tyre got stuck to the old tram line, and came off. He had to push his cycle
to a cycle repair shop(fortunately there was one nearby)and got it fixed. At the end of the day, he used
to complain of a sore bottom, riding on these ‘tyremathi’.
My eldest brother used to visit us on his off days, proudly wearing his Japanese uniform and the
Japanese hat. I used to be thrilled to see him in uniform, and kept bugging my mother when I could also
join the Kunrensho. One day, during one of the judo sessions, he was thrown and fell on his arm and
broke his elbow joint. He was rushed to the Penang General Hospital, and he was lucky that they were
able to use the last POP plaster that was available. The Indian Doctor, whom my father knew well, told
us how lucky he was. He was off Judo but he completed his training and ended up with a good job.