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sook ching operation : Sook Ching, a Chinese term which means “purging through cleansing”, refers to the operation carried out by the Japanese military during the Japanese Occupation to identify and eliminate suspected anti-Japanese elements among the Chinese community in Singapore.[1]On 18 February 1942, a Sook Ching directive was issued by the 25th Army, which was under the command of Lieutenant-General Yamashita Tomoyuki.[2] The directive ordered Chinese males between the ages of 18 and 50 to report to designated screening centres, which were located all over the island. The directive was specifically on the search for members of volunteer forces, communists, looters, those possessing weapons, and those whose names appeared in lists of anti-Japanese suspects maintained and distributed by the Japanese.[3] In general, anyone perceived as obstructing Japanese operations or threatening law and order were singled out as being anti-Japanese.[4]The mass-screening was conducted mainly by the 2nd Field Unit of the Kempeitai (Japanese military police) in urban areas between 21 and 23 February.[5] At the end of February, soldiers from the Imperial Guards Division were assigned to carry out the operation in non-urban districts.[6] The local police and ordinary citizens were also coerced into assisting the Kempeitai.[7] The screening process at the various centres was carried out in an arbitrary and disorganised manner.[8] For instance, at the Jalan Besar centre, men who wore glasses were considered educated and, therefore, guilty of having carried out anti-Japanese activities.[9] At another centre, soft hands were evidence of “education”.[10] At the Telok Kurau School centre, people were selected based on their occupations.[11]Those unfortunate to be selected were loaded into lorries and taken to remote sites to be summarily executed. There was little attempt to conceal these killings. People living near the massacre sites and prisoners of war were ordered to dispose the bodies.[12] The Japanese estimated that there were between 5,000 and 6,000 executions, while the local Chinese put it between 40,000 and 50,000 (which may have included those killed by shelling and bombardment during the Malaya Campaign).[13] The true numbers are unlikely ever to be known.

After the war, seven Kempeitai and Imperial Japanese Army officers were tried for the Sook Ching atrocities during the “Chinese Massacre” War Crimes trial held in Singapore in March 1947.[14] Two officers were sentenced to death, while the remaining five were given life sentences.[15]

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The Japanese were quite brutal and ruthless. American soldiers found the cut-off the heads of their comrades with their genitals stuffed in their mouths. There were reports of Japanese soldiers binding the legs of women in labor so they are their children died in horrible pain. One woman had one breast cut off and the other burned with cigarettes and was tortured with electric shocks often refusing to have sex with Japanese soldiers.

Japanese soldiers expected civilians in occupied territories to bow respectfully in their presence. When civilians neglected to do this, according to some accounts, they were viciously slapped. The Kempeitai, the Japanese secret police, were notorious for their brutality.

The war historian Max Hastings wrote, “War is inherently inhumane but the Japanese practiced extraordinary refinements of inhumanity in the treatment of those thrown at their mercy." Sadism was often the status quo. P.O.W's were starved, beheaded, raped, bayoneted and, in some cases, vivisected."

In his dairy a Japanese soldier who died in the Battle of Manila wrote of his love for his family, eulogized the beauty of a sunset---then described how he participated in a massacre of Filipinos during which he dashed a baby against a tree."

Japanese brutality encouraged local people to launch resistance movements. One Filipino man told Time, "One war scene I can never foreign was a Japanese soldier waving a bayonet with a baby stuck on the tip. I just can't find it in my heart to forgive them."

A Japanese guard commander aboard the tramp steamer Shinyo Maru told the POWs aboard his ship they would be killed if the ship was attacked. Sure enough when the ship was torpedoed in September 1944, Japanese guards machine gunned the prisoners that tried to escape. About 20 men that escaped to the sea were picked up by another Japanese ship. When their identifies were learned they were executed.

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The had to learn Japanese and sing Japan's national anthem [kimigayo]

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They had to bow down to the soldiers

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Killings

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Students singing

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Food rationing

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( Daily life )

Not only the name of our country changed , the people during that time were also forced to sing Japan's national anthem at that time . It was called Kimigayo They had to face towards the direction of Japan while singing the national anthem. It was a new thing for them and it took them some time to adapt with the new national anthem as it was hard to pronounce the words.

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( Social life )

15 February 1942 marked the beginning of suffering for all Singaporeans , rich and poor. People all around were devastated when they heard about the surrender of the British to the Japanese. The Japanese introduced lots of changes to Singapore's system such as the currency , law and order and also the name of our beloved country.

During that period , Singapore was known as Syonan To which means ' The light of the South '.

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Banana note

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(Economic life)

Another change which took place during the Japanese occupation was the currency. The currency changed drastically from Singapore Dollars to ' Japanese Banana Notes '. It was called banana notes as there was a picture of a banana tree at every single piece of note. A disadvantage about these notes was that these notes were unlimited . This meant that whenever the Japanese had a shortage of these notes , all they had to do was to print out more of these notes which made it easier to forge it . Due to that , the value of these notes dropped and prices began to soar . This made life harder for the people.

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(School life)

Japanese subjects school. All subjects during classes were taught in Japanese. It was hard for the students as they had to adapt to these changes as they could not understand Japanese. Some parents resorted to finding a tuition teacher who teaches English or even Mother Tongue to avoid their children from losing out.

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[Health life]

Due to the cramped and unsanitary conditions and lack of food, many civilians and POWs contracted illnesses like malaria, cholera and suffered from malnutrition. Since there was little medication to treat the patients, many lost their lives from the battle within. This depicts how tough it was to simply survive the war. Even if one was hopeful and optimistic mentally, one’s body may not be physically strong enough to endure such harsh conditions.Analysis:

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[Family life]

All the men in the families are very protective towards the female in their country .They were scared because the soldiers will either bring harm to the ladies or rape them .

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[economic life]

The currency changed drastically from Singapore Dollars to Japanese ' banana notes '. It is called banana notes as there is a picture of a banana tree at every single piece of notes. A disadvantage about these notes is that these notes are unlimited. These means that whenever the Japanese had a shortage of these notes, all they had to do was to print out more of these notes. There was also no serial numbers on these notes which makes it easier to forge it.Due to that, the value of these 'banana notes' dropped and prices began to soar.

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[People life]

The Eurasians were treated harshly because the Japanese felt they were a threat to them. Some Eurasians were members of the SIngapore Volunteer Corps and had fought against the Japanese. Many were put in prison camps. Those suspected of helping the British were put to death.

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[School life]

The students have to learn Japanese .During national anthem ,the students have to face the flag and sing the Japan national anthem.Some of the parents gave their child tuition so that they will not miss out learning Japanese.

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Education(School Life)

After taking Singapore, the Japanese established the Shonan Japanese School (昭南日本学園 Shōnan Nihon Gakuen), to educate the natives in the Japanese language. Faye Yuan Kleeman, the author of Under an Imperial Sun: Japanese Colonial Literature of Taiwan and the South wrote that this was the most successful such school in Southeast Asia.During the occupation, the Japanese had also opened the Shonan First People's School.

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Scarce basic necessities(Daily Life)
"Banana money" was issued during the war. Resources were scarce during the occupation. The prices of basic necessities increased drastically due to hyperinflation. For example, the price of rice increased from $5 per 100 catties (about 60 kg or 130 lb) to $5,000. The Japanese issued ration cards to limit the amount of resources received by the civilian population. Adults could purchase 4.8 kg (11 lb) of rice per month and 2.4 kg (5.3 lb) for children. The amount of rice for adults was reduced by 25% as the war progressed.[4]

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Life during the Japanese Occupation

Reign of terror

The kempeitai (the Japanese military secret police), committed numerous atrocities against the common people. They introduced the system of "Sook Ching", which means "purge through purification" in Chinese, to get rid of those deemed to be anti-Japanese. The Sook Ching Massacre claimed the lives of between 25,000 and 50,000 etchnic Chinese in Singapore and Malaya. These men were rounded up and taken to deserted spots around the island and killed systematically. Moreover, the Kempeitai established a network of informers around the island to help them identify those who resisted. These informers were well-paid by the Kempeitai and had no fear of being arrested. Japanese soldiers patrolled the streets and commoners had to bow to them when they passed by. Those who failed to do so would be slapped or beaten and some people would be taken away.