This chapter reassesses claims of massacre in wartime Singapore, examining the conduct of Chinese militias, the reality of disguised combatants, and postwar narratives that transformed complex wartime actions into one-sided victim stories.

April 28, 2016

This follows the previous chapter.

Only in Singapore did the Japanese army kill Chinese residents, it is said. Lee Kuan Yew makes this claim, but as he himself acknowledges, when the Japanese army landed in Malaya, the Chinese fought on the side of their white masters, the British. They were no different from Indian soldiers.

However, when the British forces were defeated, some of the Chinese fled to Thailand, while those who remained discarded their arms and disguised themselves as innocent civilians.

These were so-called plain-clothes combatants.

They were more unscrupulous than deserters.

Being hunted down and executed was entirely in accordance with wartime law.

Even so, the Japanese army did not kill them all.

Many, including Lee Kuan Yew, were spared.

In the end, that mercy turned against Japan.

After the war, they portrayed themselves as victims, spread countless falsehoods, remained on the island of Singapore floating in the Malay sea, concealed their Chinese origins, sang the Malay national anthem, designated Christian and Islamic holidays as public holidays, and called themselves “Singaporeans.”

There are simply far too many lies in the words of those who insist that there was a massacre.

To be continued.