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

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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.
We children had to entertain ourselves as best we could. After school we used to roam around the kampongs playing the seasonal games such as ‘tops’ and ‘marbles’. Once in a while the Public Service Van would turn up at the BRC Padang at night, to show some documentary films. It was always about the mighty Japanese air force and army, and how we should be grateful to them for freeing us from ‘White Slavery’. I vividly remember the sinking of the British Navy’s pride HMS. The Prince of Wales and the HMS. Repulse by the Japanese torpedo planes. I remember seeing the young Japanese Kamikaze pilot wearing a white towel with a Red Dot in the centre, tied over his forehead, opening the cockpit and waving a farewell to his friends, shouting Banazai, as he dived into the funnel of the Prince of Wales, and how it exploded with a mighty bang. I know now that these scenes were filmed by other Japanese pilot’s with cameras placed on the nose of their planes, and exaggerated for propaganda purposes. But we always had a great time lying down just below the large screen to get the best view. The sinking of Churchill’s pride HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse off the coast of Kuantan by Japanese Torpedo Bombers on Dec.10 1941 shook Churchill. Only 3 months earlier he had met President Roosevelt on board this battleship which he considered, indestructible. It was fitted with the latest High Angle Control System anti aircraft guns. Unfortunately because of the humidity in Malaya the System failed. But the critical tactical error made by the Admiral Tom Philips (who commanded the Z fleet), for not calling for air cover, was the fait accompli, that led to the sinking of these two ships. Repulse did call for air cover when they were attacked, but it was too late. Admiral Philips and the captain went down with the Prince of Wales. Later, it is mentioned ‘Haruki Iki’, a Japanese pilot, flew back over the site of the sinking, and laid two wreaths, one for the Japanese pilots who died, and another for the British sailors who displayed bravery in defence’. Churchill reflected, when he heard this news “Over all this vast expanse of water, Japan was supreme, and we every where were weak and naked”. The importance of air cover for battle ships was only then realised. We also now know the part Lord Sempell, a decorated World War 1 pilot, working with the Naval Admiralty, played in providing the Japanese with secret military documents, via the Japanese Attaché Toyoda in London, that helped the Japanese to prepare this invasion of South East Asia, with Singapore as their primary target-their prize. Then there was the stubbornness of Percival, who was the GOC for S.E.Asia then, who refused to prepare to defend North West Singapore, because he said “Defence is bad for the morale”. All the guns were facing the sea as he expected a Japanese invasion by the sea. General Yamashita, famously known as the Tiger of Malaya, led the Japanese invasion of Malaysia. Viewing the scene from the roof top of the Palace of the Johore Sultan, with ‘sang froid’ then masterminded the invasion of Singapore and its fall and its final surrender on the 15 th of Feb.1942.The British army, had to stand in a row, by the road to greet the victorious Yamashita. At the surrender, sitting in front of Percival, Yamashita thumbed the desk and demanded an unconditional surrender, which Percival agreed to. With this ignoble defeat of the British, one could see the first chinks appearing in the might of the British Empire. It is true they regained Malaysia, but the wheels of independence began to roll soon after the war. Things were settling down, and people were getting used to the new life style. Food was rationed, and we were all given food coupons, and we had to queue up at the back of the PWD Office, to collect our weekly ration of rice, sugar etc. from a rude local Government Official named Maniam- it was the locals who made life difficult for us. He always made me and my sister feel he was doing us a favour, double checking our coupons, and giving us a close look. My mother’s pride, her flower garden in front of our house, was converted into a vegetable plot. We grew beans, drumsticks, papaya, banana, curry
Page 1 and 2: The Japanese Occupation of Malaya-
Page 3 and 4: The invasion of Malaysia began with
Page 5 and 6: Japanese film at the Cathay theatre
Page 7: That evening, the family took a wal
Page 11 and 12: esidents from our government quarte
Page 13 and 14: Then one afternoon, while my friend
Page 15: 7.PaulH.Kratoska:War and Occupation

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