Japanese Occupation

By February 1942, the whole Malaysia and Singapore was in Japanese hands. The Japanese regime brutalized the Chinese, largely because of Japan's history of conflict with China: up to fifty thousand people were tortured and killed in the two weeks immediately after the British surrender. The Allied were rounded up into prison camps, and many were sent to build the infamous "Death Railway" in Burma and Thailand.

The Japanese occupation is generally regarded as the darkest period of Malaysian history. Life was tough during the Japanese occupation. The Japanese military used rape and comfort women (women forced into sexual slavery). In addition, food quality and availability decreased greatly. Besides a scarcity of necessities of life, there emerged the black markets to supply the necessities in limited quantities at unlimited prices. The currency notes issued by Japanese became worthless due to escalating rate of inflation.

On August 1945, US B-29 bombers dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It had been about 3 years and 8 months since the Japanese first bombed United States naval base, Pearl Harbor. By this time, Japan announced its surrender.

It has been over half a century since the Japanese occupation. And while I do agree that dwelling on the past scars is never a good thing, I often wonder whether there would be any beneficial effect if Japan were to put together a commission to investigate war crimes and lay old wounds to rest. Is that indeed more important to understand and remember, no matter how painful, than it is to forget?

It can't be denied that the Japanese did some of the most dirty and underhanded things during the war, and what they did seriously affected a lot of people. I am not saying that the allies were angels, but they have apologised time and again for their mistakes. They have taken them apart and examined them. The problem here is that the Japanese government will not admit the wrongs that they did during the war, or that they did anything wrong to begin with. Take the whole row about the comfort women, would it be so difficult for the Japanese government to issue an apology to them and give them some form of reimbursement?