U01Sg, Maverick Cheong ‘20, Cheong Kiah Seng, Grandfather, 1936, Singapore
I interviewed my paternal grandfather, Cheong Kiah Seng, on October 28, 2018. He was born in 1936, and he is 82 years old now. He told me about his experiences during World War II by telephone from his home in Singapore. We spoke in Mandarin.
Q: When the Second World War spread to Singapore, how old were you? Were you in school?
A: When Japan invaded us, I was around five years old. I was about to enter elementary school. My parents even registered to put me into the Anglo-Chinese School (one of the top private schools up until this day) but it was the same time that war broke out.
Q: Can you briefly describe your living conditions?
A: I was born in uptown Singapore, around Beach Road today. We lived in terraced houses that were connected to each other, quite similar-looking and very long. My father, your great-grandfather, was a businessman. His job was to manage imports and exports of rubber, so sometimes he would go on business trips to Sarawak (Eastern Malaysia on the island of Borneo). He was the second generation of our family that came to Singapore.
Q: Had you imagined or expected that Singapore would be invaded?
A: I was too young to imagine what war was like, so no.
Q: Were you aware that Japan had invaded other parts of Asia prior to invading Singapore? Actually, my mother once brought me back to Hainan island, our hometown in China, when I was around three years old. We had planned to live there so that I could have a Chinese education, but for some reason we decided to continue living in Singapore. The civilians of Hainan were getting ready for war, because the Japanese were about to invade southern China in 1939.
Q: During the Battle of Singapore, the Japanese started aerial bombing on a daily basis. Can you describe that?
A:Yes, there were heavy air bombing attacks, day and night. After the first bombing that shocked me, our family moved away from the city into the countryside, a small village. There, we worked together to dig bomb shelters where we stayed most of the time, because the bombings were so frequent. We were very lucky to survive, because most of the city was destroyed.
Q: Singapore was a colony of the British Empire. What was the attitude of the British towards theJapanese aggression?
A: Singapore and Hong Kong were both colonies of Britain. I had always thought that the British were gentlemen, which influenced their colonies to be well-mannered as well. Therefore, our lives were prosperous and peaceful under their control. During that time, Japan was very aggressive towards its neighbours, especially China. Since China was an important market to the British via Hong Kong, they did not like the Japanese.
Q: Did you personally experience the actual battle?
A: I experienced the air raids; however, because the majority of the fighting was in the jungles of Malaya, north of us, I did not experience what it was like on the frontline.
Q: How did the adults protect and take care of their children?
A: Schools were closed down, so the children stayed at home with their families. Many of the families moved out of the city, like us, into kampongs (“village” in Malay), because they were not targeted by the Japanese planes.
Q: Can you describe the surrender of the British and the fall of Singapore?
A: It was terrible. We had never thought that Singapore would fall, because there were thousands of soldiers to protect us, as well as the mighty British fleet. It was very sudden as well, because it only took the Japanese a few weeks to conquer the whole of Malaya and seven days to conquer Singapore. Thousands of British were waiting to get out of Singapore at the harbour. We were all very scared because we did not know what to expect.
Q: When the British surrendered, where were you?
A: I was in the village. The children ran from village to village screaming: Percival has surrendered! He was the general in charge of the British forces.
Q: What was your first impression of seeing Japanese soldiers on the streets?
A: Actually, unlike most of the other kids, I wasn’t that afraid. On every street corner, there was a post where a Japanese soldier stood guard, and we were told to bow to them every time we walked past them or we might be beaten. When they first came, they were very cruel, because they wanted us to feel oppressed, but soon it became better as everyone became used to their rules.
Q: When supplies were rationed and decreased, how did the civilians live?
A: During the battle, it was tough, because food was rationed and given to the soldiers. When the Japanese came, they gave us ration tickets to trade for food. Sometimes, if we helped them do certain labour like construction and so on, we might get extra provisions. The situation did improve compared to the time of the battles.
Q: Was the Japanese attitude towards the Chinese population different from other ethnic groups of Singapore?
A: The Japanese hated us, because many of the Chinese people in Singapore donated lots of money to China to support the resistance against Japan. That is why, when they came, they targeted the Chinese first and treated the Malays and Indians better, because they were irrelevant to the war in China.
Q: What do you think about the Sook Ching Massacre?
A: It was a very dark history. More than a hundred thousand innocent men were killed because they were Chinese. It started immediately after the British surrendered. Every adult Chinese male had to report to meeting points where they were interrogated. The Japanese would ask if they had supported Chiang Kai-shek’s army against the Japanese in China. It was impossible to lie, because then the Japanese would ask a Chinese traitor standing next to you. Their faces were covered so you wouldn’t know who they were. They might be your neighbour, who would know everything. Then, the Chinese were told to get onto trucks and sent to the beaches where they were shot. Many of my best friends’ innocent fathers or brothers were killed.
Q: Were the British to blame for the failure to resist the Japanese invasion?
A: Yes, but to a certain degree. This was because we knew that Japan was very strong by looking at their successes in China, but we did not expect the British to lose that easily, given that they had far better weapons and more soldiers
Q: Did you feel that Japan will never be defeated?
A: I lived my life day by day, so I barely imagined things like that. All we know is we would take whatever chance there might be to kick out the Japanese. Some Chinese men formed guerrilla groups in the Malayan jungles to ambush Japanese camps.
Q: Did you learn Japanese?
A: The Japanese came and stayed for three years and eight months. During that time, I had to study in the village school where we were taught in Japanese.
Q: What was similar and different between living under Japanese occupation and British colonialism?
A: There was nothing similar, because we enjoyed living under British rule before the war. They were very kind and cultured. The Japanese were barbaric and cruel people. Even their appearance looked less like a human and more like a monster. It was very different under the Japanese occupation, and we hated it.
Q: Describe the surrender of Japan and its social impact.
A: Yes, it was amazing! Hundreds of thousands of people packed the streets celebrating when the news came in that Japan surrendered. We couldn’t stop smiling to see the pictures of the atomic bomb in the newspapers.We were happy that Japan finally surrendered and left us, as well as our hometowns in China where they killed so many of our brothers and sisters. They deserved to be humiliated in the end.
Q: How were the traitors treated?
A: There were so many traitors during the occupation who helped the Japanese voluntarily. After the surrender, everyone began searching for them but especially the Chinese traitors, because we could not accept it. They were pulled through the streets and beaten to death by the civilians. There was a popular chant: traitors that helped the Japanese devils would all be eaten by dogs.
Q: Do you think that the war was a factor as a cause of the independence movement against Britain when the British returned?
A: At first, we were glad that they were back. It was far better than living under Japanese rule. However, the rise of nationalism was inevitable, because British strength all across the world was heavily affected by the war. It was then that we realised we must be able to rule our own people. In 1959, we voted to be a self- governing state, still under the Commonwealth. In 1963, Malaysia was formed.
Q: How did the war affect or influence your life afterwards?
A: I have always imagined what my life would be like if the war had not occurred. I would have used that time to study and be able to learn English in school. If I had been able to have that education, I might have participated in politics to help our national father Lee Kuan Yew build the nation. Or, I might have continued the family business, and our family would be richer. Both ways would be so different from reality. The war taught us that those who start wars would be punished terribly, because violence is never the solution. It also taught us that a country must forever stay united, even during tough times, and that we must always stay loyal to Singapore. That is why your father, your uncles, and yourself and other sons of our country must fulfill the duty to serve in the military and defend Singapore from invaders.