Chapter 2 The Japanese Occupation - Shocking Atrocities

I came into this world on 6th June 1942 and by then the invading Japanese army had overran Malaya with Singapore similarly falling within days of fighting.Actually there were not much of a fight as the Japanese were well equipped and well trained to fight,besides the Japanese invaders outnumbered the British forces which had British officers, with some locals and Gurka solders.In reality,the British ran away from the fighting,so what can you expect?

The first waves of invading forces committed mast shocking atrocities along the route of their invading.And actually why not having almost no resistance along the way.In fact they just cycled restlessly through the country committing rapes,most inhuman torturing and mast slaughtering of any suspicious characters whom they dimmed as traitors .Thousand of stories can verify all of their cruelties and tortures of suspected victims.

Many innocent people were thus murdered just because so and so pointed out that he was a traitor without any sort of verification.One of my mother's elder brother was brutally assaulted and tortured to force him to confirm that he was a Communist spy which he never was.

Further,it was rumoured that they never like his good look, a handsome guy just like a movie star hero,tall handsome and a strong healthy powerful figure which towering over those shorty Japanese officers during the interrogations.Boy!!!,they surely hated him for looking bravely down on them.To make him shorter than them they forced him to kneel down in front of them.That way they can speak down on him,spatting dirty saliva all over his face.

He was subjected to inhumanly tortured to demoralize him further.Slapping and kicking him from all angles.When he was out in the cold,cold water was splashed onto his face to arouse him,poor fellow bravely stood his ground.They also wiped him,but they still cannot made him confessed that he was a spy and as a final resort they put their Samurai sword to his neck on the spot.Putting an end to his life.Poor fellow was just a poor laborer only fault with him was his good and handsome physical condition which were born in him,a gift from the parents.

His poor mother had torrid time retrieving his body and when it was released to her it was without the head.Poor old lady face drenched in tears was made to find it her self having to dig through scores of heads to identify his bloody head.However bloody those heads were she had the present of mind to secure her son's head.Mothers are mothers,she could easily identity her poor son's bloody head.The Japanese therefore owed the ",Sin",my mother's surname a blood depth.

They buried his remains almost immediately for fear that wretched Japanese might eventually changed their minds and wanted the body back at their folds for public exhibition .Every thing were possible during those days.,As poor parents they could only give him a very simple but decent burial at the Chinese Cemetery in Durian Sapetng. .May he rest in peace.


There were more shocking atrocities committed by these first invading forces,such as gang raping young women who unfortunately fell into their captivity.During my days in Bentong Estate,I met a guy ( a friend of my my friend)This young man had a sad sad story to relate to me.It seem he was born out of wedlock.His poor mother was gang raped by a host of Japanese soldiers who left her pregnant.

That friend thus had no father or he does not know who the Japanese father was for his poor mother was raped by so many.So during the nights when he could not sleep he would ponder over such things shedding tears sorrowfully.Who shall he blamed???.The Japanese invading force,most of them possibly be killed by then.When he cried it was surely a pitiful sight to behold and there was nothing we could do to console him.According to my friend the poor chap attempted suicide a couple of times,so far he had been timely saved by friends.So may God blessed him,

There stories that many so called traitors were tortured with their nails pulling from their hands and feet.As if that that were insufficient these "traitors" piped with water straight down their throats forcibly with tap running non stop.When their stomach blown up with water,those Japanese jumped on their poor stomachs to press those water out through their mouths.They were extremely cruel.

In Tel;uk Anson there were at least five spots I could point as places of tortures and executions.Most notorious of these ares were the market and at least three spot in Sam Min Chinese School.Till today such places were reputed to have ghosts moving around many a timers crying loud and clear for their lost heads.No doubt such places had been constructed with modern buildings but the ghosts still lingers on,and nothing can pacify them-nothing.

The second wave of Japanese that took over from the invading forces were slightly better for they tried to make things running as normal again.My family had retreated into the jungle during the invasion and survived there planting most of their own food as no food were available during the invasion as everyone were on the run.

A host of workers followed our family into the jungle especially those Cheahs who came from China.With so many mouths to feed thus everyone had to work on the soil within planting food crops like sweet potatoes,"tapiocas",vegetables and "padi."It surely was hard life but my family survived those ordeal with my paternal grandmother as head of the family.

Although she was from China she apparently stood firm and held the family together.It was through her wise judgement in controlling the little money she had in hand that put everything on order.It seem they even cleared a large tract of land in the jungle to plant crops and although food were not available from the market they had sufficient to sustained themselves from their cultivations.

They survived in the jungle for almost a year and only came out of it after the second of Japanese had put things in some sort of order,but the dangers of being prosecuted still lingered on because many "running dogs" were finger pointing out "traitors" to the Japanese.Nevertheless the family came out as they still had the sawmill at hand.

But alas when they tried to revive the sawmill there was no capital to rehabilitate it.Fate indeed dealt a cruel blow to the entire family for their sole source of income was at stake.There was no capital to restart it and without the late Boss no one were willing to give us a loan to help us in such bad times.

Finally the saw mill was sold and my grandmother held on to her share not trusting anyone.With that little money she had she in haste brought a piece of land along Anson rad,It was a small piece of land about one and a half acres large.A wooden house was constructed in front of the land.My grandmother made sure we had a roof at least over our heads.She did right in up holding her share and refused flatly to join the rest in other business ventures.

That was the sole reason why the rest of the families parted ways and we were on our own.Thinking back and having seen what happened to the rest of the families,I know very well she made a very wise decision in keeping back the money for at least we had a roof over our heads,otherwise we would have been homeless or had to rent rooms for ourselves.

By holding on to the remaining part of her share we had quite a reasonable good life for sometime.Rice was scared then and the jungle we cleared continued to be planted with "padi".In fact at the back of our wooden house was a wooden puncher for "padi".
Milling rice was difficult to come by then but in those bad times we would never diverge to others what amount of rice we had.

My grandmother had the "wooden puncher" fitted to de-husked the "padi" ourselves.It was simple device operated by the foot stepping to smash the tough husk of the padi.Thereafter the rice were separated by rotating the rice in a round basket and with the assistance of the wind the rice were separated from the husk.

However that fittings were not in use with the surrender of the Japanese.With the return of the British came back to Malaya,rice were easily available once more..I was then about three years old I think.Anyway too young to know the "good riddance" of the Japanese.From then on we were actually surviving on the little money my grandmother held on to.

The land she brought not only provided us a place to stay but also provided us ample land to cultivate our own vegetables,sweet potatoes and plenty of sugar-cane.Actual planting was done by my maternal grand parents who at times came and lived with us.The plot of land also had twenty odd coconut palms where some coconuts were obtained for sales,not much but at least some pocket money.




to be continued.