The hard truth during the Japanese occupation

"There was an opium den upstairs and another two across the street. There were also many Japanese prostitutes at that time and some said they were spies," Chen Shi Jing, 74, recalled.

Chen was born in 1937 and grew up in one of the shops located near the Kampung Jawa Bridge in Malacca.

"During the Japanese ruling from 1942-1945, we could hardly find a thief as no one dared to steal. We would even bow to greet when we saw Japanese at that time," Chen was 12 years old when the Japanese came.

He said that anyone caught for stealing would be executed.

"What was wrong with the Japanese? They had managed Malacca well. Do you dare to sleep without locking your door nowadays?" he asked.

Many areas were affected by the war but Chen said that businesses near the Kampung Jawa Bridge were not affected.

"The streets were so crowded in the past and most of them were estate workers," he said.

Chen said that the upper layer of the bridge was made of wood while the lower layer was made of iron. He claimed that the bridge was over a hundred years old.

Some called it the Ghost Bridge and Chen said that he knew a few senior residents had killed themselves by jumping off the bridge. However, he did not know why since he was very young at that time.

The bridge was built in June 1887 by three brothers Tan Hoon Guan, Tan Hoon Chiang and Tan Hoon Hin, connecting Kampung Jawa and Kampung Pantai. The bridge had been rebuilt for twice and it is now better known as the Ghost Bridge.

A few years ago, when the government wanted to beautify the river, some old houses along the river, including Chen's house, were expropriated for development.

Chen's grandfather did repairing work when he first came from China.

"He moved to the current shop and passed it to my father, and my father passed it to me," he said.

They repaired everything, including sewing machine, parang and bird cage.

However, they had less and less customers and Chen focused on repairing umbrellas for a few years.

"In the 1980s, I used to repair a dozen of umbrellas a day and each was charged for RM2 (S$0.80) to RM3 at that time," he said.

Some people still wanted to repair their umbrellas even when the charges increased to RM10, until a few years ago, Chen stopped repairing umbrellas due to worsening eyesight, and many did not collect the repaired umbrellas, causing him to suffer losses.

Helplessly, the only umbrella repairer in the Malacca old street laid down his historical mission.

Let c...Ah Chen born 1937...WWII 1942-1945...he was 12 yrs old when japanese cum...wah! jialat me getting old leow...no matter how i cannot equalise de equation...haizzz...:(

The Japanese army committed atrocities against civilians only in mainland China, Korea and Singapore. The Chinese and Koreans despised them and resisted so strongly like a deathmatch lugging historical accounts unsettled. Chinese in Malaysia and Indonesia couldn't be bothered whether British, Dutch or Japanese ruled over them. They were more concerned with the local Malay majority. Malays couldn't be bothered, so why should they? Singapore Chinese society were different as they were in majority with entrenched loyalty to both their China motherland, British colonial rule and hatred for Japanese war on China and British Empire.

Like Korea, Taiwan was a Japanese colony way before WW2. But unlike Koreans, Taiwanese couldn't be bothered too as Japanese had treated them quite well. The difference in Korean and Taiwanese attitude towards Japanese was due to Korea was a sovereign state conquered by Japan. Taiwan was never a sovereign state and used to all those change in overlord ownership from Portugal to Holland to Ming and Qing China to Japan.

Thais and Malays etc. who stepped aside to let Japanese and British fight were also left untouched. Before official Japanese surrender, supposedly to France in French Indochina (now Vietnam) and Holland in Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), they gave most of their arms to the locals and thought them how to fight. That was how local armed revolt against France and Holland started almost immediately after WW2 kicking them out.

Thailand was spared it all as it had no colonial master and was officially neutral. Japan had a hollow occupation in Malaya without many troops and arms there anyway. In Singapore, they surrendered their arms to British as the majority Chinese were their blood enemies.

US couldn't be bothered about Holland being defeated and kicked out of Indonesia as the priority concern those days was spread of communism, not Islamic terrorism. But later, CCP victory over KMT in China to turn it into PRC, the Korean War stalemate and French defeat by Vietcong with PRC and USSR support, sparked off US involvement the Vietnam War that as we know, ultimately ended in the first outright defeat of US in a war.

so how did Jap AV industry started then ?

when the defeated Jap soldiers vented their frustrations on Jap women with dildos and vibrators ?

The account is same as what my grandma and grandpa told me. Books, media and govt had been feeding people with trash.

Who knows, maybe this Chen Shijing & his parents were Japanese collaborators.That explains why the Jappies left this family alone.

youth123 said:

Who knows, maybe this Chen Shijing & his parents were Japanese collaborators.That explains why the Jappies left this family alone.

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yeah ah..............who knows.............maybe this Chen Shijing planned the Pear Harbour attack..............

and told the Japs to attack S'pore from the rear................

bet he was the guy that sank Prince of Wales and Repulse too.....................

GOD IS MY DOG said:

so how did Jap AV industry started then ?

when the defeated Jap soldiers vented their frustrations on Jap women with dildos and vibrators ?

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JAV evolved from centuries ago when Tokyo was known as Edo. Which army in the world has comfort women battalion? Only Japan.

Ramseth said:

JAV evolved from centuries ago when Tokyo was known as Edo. Which army in the world has comfort women battalion? Only Japan.

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Ever heard of the Nazi's Joy Division? Clue: they are not the manchester punk band that became New Order.

As usual, don't know anything don't act like a fucking expert. Stick to breakfast threads.

Did this old man work as a translator for the Japanese during the war?

seriously man, if the Japanese had not invaded Asia, it is quite likely that Asia will remain a western colony till today. In some SE Asia countries, the native inhabitants actually welcome the Japanese army when they first landed as the native inhabitants were sick and tired of being constantly exploited by their whitey colonial masters and saw the Japanese army as their liberators.

Why keep picking on the Japanese? What about the whiteys who colonized nearly the whole of Asia, why let them off the hook? They committed atrocities, that were just as bad if not worse, against native inhabitants too.

Royalblood said:

seriously man, if the Japanese had not invaded Asia, it is quite likely that Asia will remain a western colony till today. In some SE Asia countries, the native inhabitants actually welcome the Japanese army when they first landed as the native inhabitants were sick and tired of being constantly exploited by their whitey colonial masters and saw the Japanese army as their liberators.

Why keep picking on the Japanese? What about the whiteys who colonized nearly the whole of Asia, why let them off the hook? They committed atrocities, that were just as bad if not worse, against native inhabitants too.

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The malays, indians and straits chinese did not hate the jap invaders so much. It was mainly the chinese immigrants (and 1st generation chinese) who organised resistance movements because of what the imperial army did in China, where many still deem their motherland.

Even among the chinese population, loyalty to their own was fickle. Many traitors and turncoats back then.

Ramseth said:

Thailand was spared it all as it had no colonial master and was officially neutral.

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According to Wikipedia, Thailand was a member of the Axis powers between 1942 and 1945. Thailand fought against the French, Burma etc. Thailand actually declared war on the UK and USA.

Thailand was never neutral but an ally of Japan during WWII.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_powers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_powers#Thailand

Thailand waged the Franco-Thai War in October 1940 to May 1941 to reclaim territory from French Indochina. It became a formal ally of Japan from January 25, 1942.

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On December 21, 1941, a military alliance with Japan was signed and on January 25, 1942 Sang Phathanothai read over the radio Thailand's formal declaration of war on the United Kingdom and the United States.

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After the war, U.S. influence prevented Thailand from being treated as an Axis country, but the British demanded three million tons of rice as reparations and the return of areas annexed from Malaya during the war.

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Thailand also returned the portions of British Burma and French Indochina that had been annexed.

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Rogue Trader said:

The malays, indians and straits chinese did not hate the jap invaders so much. It was mainly the chinese immigrants (and 1st generation chinese) who organised resistance movements because of what the imperial army did in China, where many still deem their motherland.

Even among the chinese population, loyalty to their own was fickle. Many traitors and turncoats back then.

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that's the hallmark of Chinese.............betrayal and treachery against own kind.................

Teo Kok Eng said:

According to Wikipedia, Thailand was a member of the Axis powers between 1942 and 1945. Thailand fought against the French, Burma etc. Thailand actually declared war on the UK and USA.

Thailand was never neutral but an ally of Japan during WWII.

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The case of Thailand in WW2 was very ambiguous. The Thai military let the Japanese military pass through Thailand without resistance as long as the Japanese don't harm Thai people or occupy any land. In fact, in return, Thailand gained more land in the contested south after the successful Japanese invasion of Malaya. Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani were border Malay states gifted to Thailand by the Japanese. At the Japanese surrender, Thailand somehow negotiated with the British and kept these Malay states as Thai provinces. The British and Americans also agreed to Thailand having been neutral and not subjected to war crime trials.

I aliken it to police and criminal abetment plea bargaining. The most Thailand was guilty of was abetment. However, waiving that charge yielded longer term benefits for US and UK just like police waiving an abetment charge can turn a criminal abettor into a police informant. I surmise the reason was the instability and untenability of France in Indochina. Thailand is just next to it. Turning it into ally instead of punishing it would be more profitable and safer. The threat was no longer Germany and Japan, both defeated and surrendered, and eventually turned into allies too. The threat was then upcoming communist insurgencies.

Teo Kok Eng said:

According to Wikipedia, Thailand was a member of the Axis powers between 1942 and 1945. Thailand fought against the French, Burma etc. Thailand actually declared war on the UK and USA.
Thailand was never neutral but an ally of Japan during WWII.

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Thailand also fought against China in Burma Shan Shan states during WWII.
Field Marshal Phin Choonhavan was the Thai commander. the Chinese forces ( 6th Army, 93rd Division ) was commandeered by 中将吕国铨 Lu Gou Quan.

Ramseth said:

The threat was no longer Germany and Japan, both defeated and surrendered, and eventually turned into allies too. The threat was then upcoming communist insurgencies.

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and USA chose to watch from the sidelines and allowed CCP to defeat KMT in China. surely supporting the "corrupt and incompetent" govt of Chiang was a lesser risk for US than hoping to befriend the unpredictable Mao's Communists. Red China eventually aided and sponsored all communist wars and activities throughout South East Asia for 30 years.

Sideswipe said:

a lesser risk for US than hoping to befriend the unpredictable Mao's Communists.

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Both sides eventually faced off in the Korean peninsula.

Red China eventually aided and sponsored all communist wars and activities throughout South East Asia for 30 years.

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Vietnam sided the Marxist-Leninists rather than the taking the Maoist route. In the Malayan campaign, Chin Peng sided with China all the way since it was that was where his original loyalty lay.

In Indonesia it was more complicated - the communists had European roots. There was a guy named Tan Malaka was had aristocratic background but was influenced by comintern when he was a student in Holland. He came back to SEA in the 20s and started commie set ups in each country. His comrades at European comintern were so impressed with Tan Malaka's efficiency they nicknamed him "The Scarlet Pimplernel" (yes, the revered French Revolution character who made a cameo in Black Adder).

Thailand has always been a staunch believer in its sovereignty! So much so that they are willing to forgo anything & everything! Napoleonic war between French & Brits, the Thai gave up Laos & Northern Malaysia, if the Brits had been greedy, they would have asked for the other four southern Thailand Muslim states too of which they should have! WW2 & they join the AXIS power giving the Japanese free access to almost everything in Thailand! Communists were able to retreat into the Thai jungles everytime they get their arse blasted in Northern Malaysia and during the Vietnam war, it turn into a cradle of cunt! Now you have it, the biggest Prostitution icon in the world!

Yes of cos, I will SCORE their woman on bed, thats my hard truth.