Japan Invades Malaya by Selvarajah

In November 1940 the GHQ Far East was set up in Singapore and Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham was appointed Commander-in-Chief Far East and he had operational control of the British land and air forces but not the naval forces in Malaya. This was soon followed by the appointment of Lieutenant-General A.E. Percival as the General Officer Commanding, Malaya Command, and Air Vice-Marshal Pulford as Commander of the Far East Air Command.

When the Japanese moved into southern Indo-China in July 1941, the threat to Malaya had increased and land and air reinforcements were brought in and by the 7th December 1941, there was 31 infantry battalions with supporting arms and services totaling to about 87,000 men and 158 aircraft. The 3rd Indian Corps was deployed in the north of Malaya, with the 11th Indian Division to the west of the peninsula in Kedah, Perlis and northern Perak, and the 9th Indian Division to the east from Kelantan down to Pahang.

On 6th December Japanese convoy movements was detected to the south of Indo-China, but nothing further was heard of it until the earlier hours of 8th December when I was woken up by my father to watch what he thought was an "air raid" practice which in fact turned out to be Japanese bombing of Singapore and the beginning of the Japanese invasion of Malaya.

As daylight broke father left for work. It was earlier then his normal time of going to work. But it was not unusual. He was a Telegraph Inspector and every time there was a break down in the communication system he would immediately leave for work irrespective of the time. As mother was still not aware that it was real bombing by the Japanese, I was allowed to go to school. In fact the school holidays had began and I went to school only to see if my end of year examination results were posted.

At this time I was at Bukit Zarah School. I had just sat for my Standard 2 examination and was anxious to know the results. In my time there was no "Forms". It was Primary 1 & 2 and Standard 1 at Ngee Heng followed by Standards 2 to 4 at Bukit Zarah and 5 to 9 (Senior Cambridge) at English College. If we failed any of these Standards we will not get promoted.

When I got to the school the results were not posted. As it was only 8.00 a.m. I and my friends hung around waiting and hoping that the results would be posting. As every minute ticked away we got more and more restless. By eleven o'clock we got fed up and decided to return home.

I was surprised when I got home for my mother did not ask me anything about the examination results. All she wanted to know was if I had noticed anything unusual. Apparently father had rung and told her that the air raid on Singapore was real and there were causalities. I was told to stay at home just in case there were more bombings. Whilst my mother and her friends who had come to find out the latest news were not sure what was happening, the Japanese troops that had landed in Kota Bahru, Kelantan were able to establish a beach head and overrun the defences of the Kota Bahru air field.

For the next of few days we had people dropping in frequently to have a chat about the Japanese attack. They had heard about the two warships, the HMS Prince of Wales and the HMS Repulse, arriving at the Naval Base in Singapore.

This gave them the confidence that the British will get rid of the Japanese in no time. But as each day passed doubts began to creep in. The Japanese Air Force had sunk the two battle ships off the East Coast of Malaya on the 10th of December and the Japanese Army led by Gen Yamashita having easily overrun the allied defences in the Kota Bahru in the east and Jitra in the north on 12th December 1941, were advancing rapidly along the east and west cost towards Kuala Lumpur. European families from the north could be seen passing through Johore Bahru on their way to Singapore

Next it was our turn to evacuate. But not to the south and Singapore like the European families who wanted to catch a boat and escape from Malaya. We were told to move north beyond a radius of seven miles from Johore Bahru, The Japanese advance down the Malay peninsular had been far more rapid then most people expected. They used bicycles and small boats to get behind enemy lines to speed up their advance and by late January 1942 they were not far from Johore Bahru. Everyone thought that the British were going to defend Singapore at all cost until reinforcements arrived and there would be a "battle royal" in the Johore Bahru area. So father send us off with a few of our friends and neighbors in his P&T truck to Adarth Estate whilst he remained behind helping to maintain communication.

It was the first time I have been in a rubber estate. The rubber tapers were all Tamils from southern India. They looked poor and their children seem to be under nourished but very friendly. As we were getting to know each other we were ordered to evacuate to Tebrau Estate.. This time we had to walk with mother carrying my baby brother and with a few tinned milk and food we could manage to carry. When we got to Tebrau Estate mother collapsed and went into a comma. The next few days was agony for us. All the milk and food were stolen and none of our friends and neighbors were of any help. When father joined us at the end of January 1942 mother passed away and Johore Bahru had fallen to the Japanese.

Singapore was connected to Johore Bahru by a causeway with a drawbridge at the Johore Bahru end. My father had taken me there several times to see the bridge being drawn to let the ships cross from one side of the causeway to the other. The British having withdrawn into Singapore, demolished the drawbridge in order to delay the Japanese advance. But the Japanese Army having captured the whole of the Malay Peninsular in less the two months was not going to stopped by a demolished drawbridge.

They started repairing the causeway by using forced labor. Trucks with a few Japanese soldiers came to Tebrau Estate and rounded up all adults including females and forced them into the trucks and were taken away. Anyone who resisted were brutally beaten and kicked. Apparently it was worst at the work site where people were killed if they slackened in their work. Irrespective of its legitimacy the causeway got repaired and the Japanese Army advanced into Singapore.

The anticipated "battle royal" for the defence of the :"island fortress" Singapore did not take place for by the 13th of February 1942 the Japanese advance had already reached Pasir Panjang Ridge. It was close to the Alexandra area where the main ammunition stores and the British Military Hospital was located. Here a detachment of the Malay Regiment, led by Lieutenant (Lt) Adnan bin Saidi fought bravely and distinguished themselves. Though they were outnumbered they fought to the bitter end and most of them perished including Lt. Adnan.

The continued defence of Singapore meant that there would be many more killed including civilians. Eventually food and water would run short and this would inevitably end in victory to the Japanese. So on 15th February 1942 the British Commander General Percival with great humiliation surrendered unconditionally to the Japanese at the Ford Motor Factory in Bukit Timah.

 

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