The Japanese in Seremban: A family story

On the 8th of December 1941 the Japanese invaded the north of the Malay Peninsula. Through the use of light tanks and bicycles they quickly took over, making their way down the west coast through KL, Seremban and on towards Singapore. The occupation of what is now Malaysia was complete with the occupation of Jesselton (Kota Kinabalu) on 8 January 1942. 

In this article I will write about a local’s experience during the war that is about my maternal grandfather, Mr Zulkarnain, who lived in Seremban a city 20 minutes away from KTJ.

Japanese troops in the early 1940's

A local’s experience
Mr Zulkarnain was 12 when the Japanese successfully invaded Malaya. His father was a district officer for Seremban, serving the British colonial administration. After the fall of Malaya his father then started to work with the Japanese after being threatened by the the Japanese Kempeitai (military secret police).

Kempeitai, Japanese milary secret 

School in Seremban during WWII
Malayans school children were forced to learn through Japanese and there was a concerted effort to inspire respect towards the Japanese through threats and propaganda.  During the occupation the locals in Seremban had to bow to Japanese soldiers every time they met or saw the soldiers, even if they were on their bikes. 

”There was a time when one of my friends did not bow to a Japanese soldier guarding the school gate. He got slapped by the soldier and he told my friend that he is supposed to bow to him” said Mr. Zulkarnain.

At school, the students were required to sing Japanese patriotic songs and Japan’s national anthem. Mr Zulkarnain still remember the songs that they were forced to sing in school like Aikoku Konshinkyoku, a patriotic war song. 

Racial tensions
Mr Zulkarnain witnessed some acts of torture committed by the Japanese such as water torture. "This method of torture was commonly used against the Chinese migrants in Malaya". The Chinese were particularly targeted as many had sent money to support the Chinese resistance to Japanese occupation of Manchuria in the 1930's.

"The Japanese inspired Malay nationalism and created racial tensions amongst the Malays and the Chinese" added Mr Zulkarnain. 

The Japanese attempted to gain Malay support through their newly introduced slogan which is "Asia belongs to Asians". Many Malays hated the British, the old colonial masters, and saw them as the real enemy. This resulted in many Malays assisting the Kempeitai . The European settlers and migrants also were treated harshly. The Malay pro-independence groups thought that the Japanese would give Malaya her independence. 

Conditions in the local area
"During the war lights were not allowed during night time and radios were banned and if you are caught having a radio you will be imprisoned" said Mr Zulkarnain, remembering the moments that his family was caught having a radio in the house and his father was beaten by the Kempeitai. 

The Japanese forced villagers around Nilai and Mantin (the two nearest towns to KTJ) to give them supplies such as rice, water and rubber (for those who worked in the rubber estates). Since Mantin was famous for tin mining, a lot of Chinese migrants had settled there over the proceeding 80 years. This had caused a lot of tension in the area and there were accounts of ethnic Chinese being killed in the area by the Kempeitai due to lack of rice production by the Chinese villagers.

Resistance
Mr Zulkarnain's father was once threatened by the Kempeitai and he almost get killed by them, but luckily the Malay regiment part of the British Army came over and ambushed them. This event occurred months before the Japanese surrendered. This was when Force 136 started to put real pressure Malaya. Force 136 was joined by the first Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and the first Deputy Prime Minister and future Second Prime Minister Dato Abdul Razak (Tun Abdul Razak).

Above and below, Malaysian founding father's and members of Force 136

Force 136
Force 136 was established in 1941 it was a trained team of soldiers designed to make hit and run attacks. Force 136 made alliances with local partisans, including the communists, to make guerrilla attacks on the Japanese.

After years of Allied forces campaigning in Burma they managed to push the Japanese south towards Malaya. With the help of the irregular troops and the communists within Malaya, the British managed to harass the Japanese. 

In 1945 Britain regained its land from the Japanese when, a few hours after the second atomic bombing on Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered to the British in Malaya. One of the Japanese officer's representatives came to the District Officer's office and gave Mr Baki (Mr Zulkarnain's father) and the Governor of Negeri Sembilan a samurai sword to show their official surrender in the area. The sword is still in Mr Baki's family today.

By Azim, with help from Hong Sean

Mr Wilkinson says... want to know about World War II in Thailand? Jinno, created a Google Doc that contains more information. Click on the link below...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OvbhiSnGy5E5tAD5oZnVxU21xNvZI2tKczptHC7ZB9c/edit?usp=sharing