Everyday people in WWII: New book tells Singapore’s history under Occupation through personal items

SINGAPORE – After the Japanese occupied Singapore in February 1942, all men and working women had to carry a pink labour identity booklet issued by the Labour Association.

These booklets from the Malaya Sumatra Romukanrikyokai allowed the military administration to track the adult male population and the availability of labourers.

Within months, residents were weighed down by other documents reflecting the harsh conditions of life: ration cards, bicycle registration cards, and permits for buying condensed milk or cloth.

Concurrently, the Japanese military police issued registration certificates to China immigrants arriving in Singapore, known as Syonan during the Occupation. Chinese men aged 18 to 50 were screened at five inspection centres to determine if they supported China or were against Japan.

At those inspection centres, a single rectangular stamp would determine their fates.

Those who “passed” received the stamp on their documents, clothing, or arms and were released. The rest were loaded onto trucks and taken to mass execution sites – a tragedy in Singapore’s history known as Sook Ching, meaning “to purge or cleanse”.

Such artefacts are featured in a new book, Remembering Syonan: 80 Objects From Occupied Singapore. It will launch at the National Library on Sept 12 – exactly 81 years to the day after the formal Japanese surrender.

The book is co-authored by Benjamin Seet and Dominic Tan, avid collectors of artefacts from Singapore.

Some of the objects featured in the book come from a 2024 collection donated to the National Library Board by Seet, who oversees innovation and research at the National Healthcare Group.

Amid a trove of academic work on World War II, the authors said their book stands out for its focus on the everyday lives of ordinary people.

“When you look at most history books... there’s a narrative that is chronological and typically, most of it would feature the politicians, the generals, the heroes, the people who have done great things in terms of war or nation building,” Seet noted.

“But when you look at this book, it is about everyday people.”

The objects in their book offer a close-up look at the ordinary life during the Occupation, beyond historical narratives.

“Difficult” was the only word the widow of a 46-year-old victim of the Sook Ching massacre could say when asked to describe her family’s situation after his death.

She wrote it on an official report for the Appeal Committee for Singapore Chinese Massacred by Japanese, an organisation formed in 1947 to seek justice and reparations from Tokyo. This form is featured in the book, along with the man’s registration certificate.

The last time his wife and son saw him was likely on the evening of Feb 22, 1942, when he left his home on South Bridge Road to report to the Sook Ching inspection centre on Upper Cross Street. He was later taken to a concentration camp.

The documents paint a picture of an ordinary man – a bespectacled medical doctor who arrived from Canton in 1940 and lived on South Bridge Road – who may have been obscured by wider historical narratives of the Occupation.

Seet said the idea for the book sprung from his interest in Singapore’s history, of which World War II was one of the most definitive events.

Tan said many Singaporeans carry second-hand accounts from that era, noting how profoundly the war shaped local lives.

“We all may have personal backstories of grandfathers or grandmothers related to the war and the impact it had,” said Tan, who is the head of the Global Innovation Hub at SATS.

Seet showed The Straits Times a metal disc smaller than a $1 coin. More than eight decades ago in 1942, three-year-old Loke Hin Teng’s parents may have secured it to his clothes with a safety pin or hung it around his neck like an amulet or talisman.

Inscribed in Chinese and English on the disc are his name, age, dialect group, home address and his father’s name.

It is meant to identify the boy if he were separated from his family during the Japanese bombing and invasion.

“Something like this brings up the reality of the moment. It’s about uncertainty and fear. The object tells the history on its own,” said Seet.

Featuring more than 200 objects, the book uses short, visually driven text.

Tan said: “A lot of the knowledge actually exists, but it’s in a format that is becoming less easy for people to digest. The point of our book is that the artefacts draw you into the reality of the situation.”

He added that about half of the objects had not previously been featured in exhibitions or museums.

One such rarity is a cloth pass issued to a local Chinese resident that would have granted him protection during the Sook Ching massacre – a rare token of sympathy from Japanese officials.

“The bearer of this pass is a good citizen. Please look after him, protect him, and let him go about his business without hindrance,” says the pass, handwritten by Mamoru Shinozaki, the welfare department head in the Japanese Military Administration.

The “Good Citizen Certificate” belonged to a 25-year-old resident of 188 Hougang Lane 6.

The deep crease across its width suggests it may have been folded and kept in a pocket for easy reach amid arrests and harassment by Japanese soldiers.

Another rarity is a post-war invitation to a mass rally to demand compensation from the Japanese government on Aug 25, 1963 – the only copy Seet has ever encountered.” 

Thousands were likely printed as public pressure mounted for the Singapore government to seek reparations from Japan following the 1962 discovery of mass graves in Siglap and across the island.

More than 120,000 people attended the rally, making it one of the largest public gatherings in Singapore’s history.

Singapore demanded that Japan pay $50 million to settle the “blood debt”. After prolonged negotiations, Japan agreed to pay that amount on Oct 25, 1966.

Unveiling the Civilian War Memorial in 1967, then prime minister Lee Kuan Yew said: “We meet not to rekindle old fires of hatred, nor to seek settlements for blood debts. We meet to remember the men and women who were hapless victims of one of the fires of history.”

It is through their belongings and documents - yellowed, creased, or torn – that Seet and Tan’s book remembers Syonan and others who lived through those times.

The retail price for the hardcover and softcover are $88 and $36 respectively.