,
Chinese, and Latin-script
Hindustani encouraging Malays to learn
Japanese and adopt Japanese culture
Japanese policy Japanese policy for the administration of occupied territories was developed in February 1941 by Colonel Obata Nobuyoshi (Section Chief of Intelligence – Southern Army), and Lt Colonels Otoji Nishimura and Seijiro Tofuku of the General Staff. They set out five principles: acquisition of vital materials for national defence, restoration of law and order, self-sufficiency for the troops in the occupied territories, respect for established local organisations and customs, and no hasty discussion of future status of sovereignty. Administrative-wise, the
Straits Settlements were to be placed directly under the Japanese Army, the
Federated Malay States and
Johor will remain as autonomous protectorates under their sultans, while the four northern states were to eventually revert to Thai rule. Once occupied Malaya was placed under the Malay Military Administration (Malai Gunsei Kumbu) of the Imperial Japanese Army. The 25th Army's chief of staff was the superintendent and its Chief of General Affairs Department Colonel Watanabe Wataru its executive officer. It was Wataru that implemented the occupation policies. He had a particularly hard-line view, treating the Chinese particularly harshly because of their support for
mainland China against Japan. Malays and Indians were dealt with more moderately because of their cooperation. When Wataru was replaced in March 1943 by Major-General Masuzo Fujimuro, the Japanese war position had deteriorated and they recognized that they needed the co-operation of the entire population. Gradually the more repressive policies towards the Chinese were lifted and advisory councils were formed. In March 1944 Colonel Hamada Hiroshi established a public reading room to engage in discussion with the Chinese community leaders and youth. Penang was renamed Tōjō Island (東條島,
Tōjō-tō) and Malaya renamed Malai (馬来,
Marai). The time zone was also moved to align with Japan. The Japanese custom of bowing was also introduced with the populace expected to bow to Japanese soldiers on guard duty. Malay was considered a dialect and the Japanese wanted it to be standardised with Sumatran.
Propaganda ,
Riau Islands, Indonesia) in 1943. During the Japanese occupation, the archipelago was incorporated under the territorial jurisdiction of Malaya. The invading Japanese forces used slogans such as "Asia untuk orang Asia" (translation: Asia for Asians) to win support from the local Malays. Malay radicals had been given strict instruction to abide by Japanese military plans to create "Asians for Asians" and a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" with Malaya as an important base. The Japanese worked hard to convince the local population that they were the actual saviours of Malaya while Britain was portrayed as an imperialist force that wished to exploit Malaya's resources. However, in November 1943, when the Japanese held the
Greater East Asia Conference, both Malaya and
Indonesia were excluded as the Japanese Military wanted to annex both regions.
Newspapers The Japanese news agency,
Dōmei Tsushin, was granted a monopoly covering Malaya, Singapore, and British Borneo. All news publications in this region fell under its control. An exception may have been
The Perak Times which was published by
John Victor Morais in Ipoh from 1942 to 1943. In Penang, on 8 December 1942 the Penang Malay, Chinese, and English newspapers were combined in the
Penang Shimbun.
Abdullah Ariff, a pioneer Malay watercolourist, drew cartoons for the newspaper. Ariff became an active member of the pro-independence
UMNO after the war and eventually a Penang City Councillor from 1955 to 1957. The
Malai Sinpo replaced the
Malay Mail on 1 January 1943 and was published in Kuala Lumpur. The Jawi script
Warta Malaya, owned by
Ibrahim Yaacob and financed by the Japanese, ceased publication prior to the Japanese invasion and resumed for a short period from mid 1942 until 14 August 1942. During that brief period, it was managed by the Japanese.
Garrisons The
25th Army Headquartered at Singapore provided garrison duty in Malaya until January 1944. It was replaced by the
29th Army's, 94th Infantry Division, under Lieutenant General
Teizo Ishiguro, which was Headquartered in
Taiping, Perak until the end of the war. The Second (with the 25th Army) and later the Third (with the 29th Army) Field Kempeitai Units of the
Southern Expeditionary Army Group served as military police. These units were able, at will, to arrest and interrogate, with torture, both military and civilians. The civilian police force was subservient to them. The Commander of the
2nd Field Kempeitai unit was Lieutenant Colonel Oishi Masayuki. No 3 Kempeitai was commanded by Major-General Masanori Kojima. By the end of the war there were 758 Kempeitai stationed in Malaya, with more in the Thai occupied Malay states.
Penang submarine base under attack by Allied aircraft while sailing to join the Monsun Gruppe'' During the occupation
Penang was used as a submarine port by the Japanese, Italian, and German navies. The Imperial Japanese Navy's 6th fleet Submarine Squadron 8 was based at Penang from February 1942 under Rear-Admiral
Ishizaki Noboru. The base was used as a refuelling depot for submarines bound for German-occupied Europe and for operations in the
Indian Ocean. In early 1943 the first German and Italian submarines began to call at Penang. In April 1943 under
Kapitanleutnant Wilhelm Dommes was sent to set up and command the German U-boat base at Penang. This base was the only operational base used by all three Axis navies. Japanese submarines from Penang participated in the
Battle of Madagascar on 29 May 1942 attacking shipping in
Diego Suarez harbour. Seven Italian
BETASOM submarines were adapted to carry critical
matériel from the
Far East (
Bagnolin,
Barbarigo, ,
Giuseppe Finzi,
Reginaldo Giuliani, , and ) of which two were sunk by the Allies, two were captured at Penang by the Germans after the
September 1943 Italian surrender and used by them, and a fifth was captured in Bordeaux by the Germans, but not used. Of the first 11 U-boats assigned to the Monsun Gruppe at the base, only , , , and arrived between October and November 1943. Of the second group sent in late 1943 only made it through the Allied-held oceans. It arrived in April 1944 at a time when the focus had changed from combat missions to transport between Europe and Asia. These cargo missions were to transport much-needed war supplies between Germany and Japan. By March 1944 the base was running short of supplies, was under a growing threat from Allied anti-submarine patrols. It lacked air support and reconnaissance. The Japanese had pulled their submarines out of Penang before the end on 1944 because the base had fallen within Allied bombing range. The Germans remained until December 1944 before withdrawing to Singapore. When Germany surrendered the surviving submarines were taken by the Japanese and the German sailors moved to
Batu Pahat. When the British returned in 1945 the sailors were imprisoned at Changi, with the last,
Fregattenkapitän Wilhelm Dommes, being repatriated to Germany in 1947.
Civil service Overall the control and administration was the responsibility of the Japanese 25th Army. The Japanese threatened Thailand, leading to the transfer of the northern Malay states to Thai control. With the transfer of Malaya from the 25th to the 29th Army, Johore was placed under control of the Southern Army based at Singapore. Japanese and Taiwanese civilians headed the Malayan civil service and police during the occupation. The structure remained similar to that of Malaya's pre-war civil service with many former Civil Servants being reappointed. Many of the laws and regulations of the British administration continued in use. The Sultans were initially allowed to continue as nominal rulers, with the intent that they would eventually be completely removed from power. Some Malay Regiment officers were beheaded by the Japanese. An explanation given in a proclamation by Yamashita on 23 February 1942 was that they were dealing with rebellious Chinese. This message was elaborated on in a Syonan Times article of 28 February 1942 titled
Sword that kills one and saves many. Commencing in February in Singapore and then throughout Malaya a process of rounding up and executing those Chinese perceived as being threats began. This was the start of the
Sook Ching massacres in which an estimated 50,000 or more ethnic Chinese were killed, predominantly by the
Kempeitai. ite Malay and Chinese women at the
Andaman Islands, forcefully taken by the Japanese to serve as comfort women Specific incidents include
Kota Tinggi,
Johore on 28 February 1942 (2,000 killed);
Gelang Patah, Johore on 4 March (300 killed);
Benut, Johore on 6 March (number unknown);
Johore Baharu,
Senai,
Kulai,
Sedenak, Pulai, Rengam,
Kluang,
Yong Peng,
Batu Pahat,
Senggarang, Parit Bakau, and
Muar between February and March (estimated up to 25,000 Chinese were killed in Johore); Tanjong Kling,
Malacca on 16 March (142 killed);
Kuala Pilah,
Negeri Sembilan on 15 March (76 killed); Parit Tinggi, Negeri Sembilan on 16 March (more than 100 killed, the entire village); Joo Loong Loong (near the present village of Titi) on 18 March (1474 killed, entire village eliminated by Major Yokokoji Kyomi and his troops); and
Penang in April (several thousand killed by Major Higashigawa Yoshinura). With increased guerilla activity more massacres occurred, including Sungei Lui, a village of 400 in
Jempol District, Negeri Sembilan, that was wiped out on 31 July 1942 by troops under a Corporal Hashimoto. News of the Sook Ching massacres reached the west by February 1943, with Chinese sources stating that 97,000 suspected anti-Japanese Chinese had been imprisoned or killed by the Japanese in Singapore and Malaya. The same article also stated that the Japanese had set up mutual guarantee units whereby a group of 30 Chinese families would guarantee that none of their members would oppose the Japanese. If they did then the whole group was executed. As is with the
Changi Prison in Singapore, major civilian prisons throughout Malaya (such as the
Pudu Prison and
Taiping Prison) were reconstituted by the Japanese for use as detention and execution grounds. Various schools, including the
Malay College at
Kuala Kangsar, were also repurposed as interrogation facilities for the Japanese. The Japanese were also accused of conducting medical experiments on Malayans, and were known to have taken Malay and Chinese girls and women to serve as
comfort women. Japanese raped Malay comfort women but UMNO leader Najib Razak blocked all attempts by other UMNO members like Mustapha Yakub at asking Japan for compensation and apologies. The threat of Japanese rape against
Chitty girls led Chitty families to let Eurasians, Chinese and full blooded Indians to marry Chitty girls and stop practicing endogamy. Japanese soldiers gang raped Indian Tamil girls and women they forced to work on the Burma railway and made them dance naked. 150,000 Tamils were killed on the railway by Japanese brutality. Tamils who got sick from cholera were executed by the Japanese. As Tamil women were raped by the Japanese, the Japanese soldiers contracted venereal disease like soft sore, syphilis and gonorrhoea and Thai women also spread those diseases to coolies on the railroad.
Hardships The Japanese required the Chinese community through the Japanese controlled Overseas Chinese Organisation to raise Malaya $50 million as atonement for its support of the Chinese war effort. When the organisation only raised $28 million, the organisation was required to take out a loan for the balance. Initially, Malaya's two other major ethnic groups, the Indians and Malays, escaped the worst of Japanese maltreatment. The Japanese wanted the support of the Indian community to free India from British rule, and did not consider the Malays to be a threat. All three races were encouraged to assist the Japanese war effort by providing finance and labour. Some 73,000 Malayans were thought to have been coerced into working on the
Thai-Burma Railway, with an estimated 25,000 dying. The Japanese also took the railway track from Malacca and other branch lines for construction of the railway. As the war progressed all three ethnic communities began to suffer deprivations from increasingly severe rationing, hyper-inflation, and a lack of resources. A blockade by Allied forces on the Japanese occupied territories coupled with a submarine campaign reduced the ability of the Japanese to move supplies between its occupied countries. Both the Malay and Indian communities gradually came into more conflict with the occupying Japanese prompting more joining the resistance movement, including
Abdul Razak bin Hussein, and Abdul Rahman bin Hajih Tiab.
Yeop Mahidin Bin Mohamed Shariff, a former
Royal Malay Regiment officer, founded a Malay-based resistance group immediately after the fall of Singapore in February 1942.
Commerce About 150,000 tons of rubber was taken by the Japanese, but this was considerably less than Malaya had exported prior to the occupation. Because Malaya produced more rubber and tin than Japan was able to utilize, Malaya's export income fell as it no longer had access to world markets. Real per capita income fell to about half its 1941 level in 1944 and less than half the 1938 level in 1945. A further factor was a lack of available merchant shipping, noticeable from early in 1942. As an alternative to shipping the Japanese sought to create a rail link from Malaya to
Manchukuo. Prior to the war, Malaya produced 40% of the world's rubber and a high proportion of the world's tin. It imported more than 50% of its rice requirements, a staple food for its population. The Allied blockade meant that both imports and the limited exports to Japan were dramatically reduced. In June 1943 tin was in short supply in Japan despite it occupying Malaya because of the transport problems. During the occupation the Japanese replaced the Malayan dollar with their own version. Prior to occupation, in 1941, there was about Malaya $219 million in circulation. Japanese currency officials estimated that they had put $7,000 to $8,000 million into circulation during occupation. Some Japanese army units had mobile currency printing presses and no record was kept of the quantity or value of notes printed. When Malaya was liberated there was $500 million of uncirculated currency held by the Japanese in Kuala Lumpur. The unrestrained printing of banknotes in the final months of the war created
hyperinflation with the Japanese money becoming valueless at the end of the war. During the war the Allies dropped propaganda leaflets stressing that the Japanese issued money would be valueless when Japan surrendered. This tactic was suggested by Japanese policymakers as one of the reasons for the currencies falling value as Japanese defeats increased. Although a price freeze was put in place in February 1942, by the end of the war prices in Malaya were 11,000 times higher than at the start of the war. Monthly inflation reached over 40% in August 1945.
Resistance movements Following the Japanese invasion of Malaya on 8 December 1941, the British colonial authorities accepted the Malayan Communist Party's (MCP) standing offer of military co-operation and on 15 December, all left-wing political prisoners were released. From 20 December, the British military began to train party members in guerilla warfare at the hastily established 101st Special Training School (101st STS) in Singapore. About 165 MCP members were trained before the fall of Singapore to the Japanese. These fighters, scantily armed and equipped by the hard-pressed British, hurriedly dispersed and attempted to harass the occupying army. Just before Singapore fell on 15 February 1942, the party began organise armed resistance in Johor. 4 armed groups, which became known as 'Regiments', were formed, with the 101st Special Training School's (101st STS) trainees serving as nuclei. In March, this force was dubbed the
Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) and began sabotage and ambushes against the Japanese. The Japanese responded with reprisals against Chinese civilians. These reprisals, coupled with increasing economic hardship, caused large numbers of Malayan Chinese to flee the cities. They became squatters at the forest margins, where they became the main source of recruits, food, and other assistance for the MPAJA. The MPAJA consolidated this support by providing protection. In February 1942,
Lai Teck, most likely a British agent who had infiltrated the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) was arrested by the Japanese. He became a double agent providing information to the Japanese on the MCP and MPAJA. Acting on information he provided the Japanese attacked a secret conference of more than 100 MCP and MPAJA leaders on 1 September 1942 at the
Batu Caves, north of Kuala Lumpur, killing most of them. The loss of personnel forced the MPAJA to abandon its political commissar system, and the military commanders became the heads of the regiments. Following this setback and under the leadership of Lai Teck, the MPAJA avoided engagements and concentrated on consolidation, amassing 4,500 soldiers by early 1943. Lai Teck was not suspected as being a traitor until after the war. He was eventually tracked down and assassinated by
Viet Minh operatives. From May onward, British commandos from Force 136 infiltrated Malaya and made contact with the guerrillas. In 1944, an agreement was reached whereby the MPAJA would accept some direction from the Allied South East Asia Command (SEAC), and the Allies would give the MPAJA weapons and supplies. It was not until the spring of 1945, however, that significant amounts of material began to arrive by air drop. Also operating at the same time as the MPAJA was the Pahang Wataniah, a resistance group formed by Yeop Mahidin. Mahadin had formed the group with consent of the
Sultan of Pahang and set up a training camp at Batu Malim. The unit had an initial strength of 254 men and was assisted by
Force 136, which assigned Major Richardson to help train the unit. Mahidin earned him the nickname "Singa Melayu" (Malay Lion) for his bravery and exploits. Between the Japanese surrender announcement and the return of the British the Wataniah provided protection for the Sultan from the MPAJA. After the war ended the MPAJA was banned due to their communist ideologies and the Pahang Wataniah was reorganised, becoming the
Rejimen Askar Wataniah, a territorial army.
Allied action in Malaya during occupation Allied strategic doctrine The principles of Allied strategic doctrine in the event of Japan entering the war were established at a
secret conference between 29 January 1941 and 27 March 1941. The strategy set forth the principle of
Europe first, with the Far East being a defensive war. After the
attack on Pearl Harbor, the British prime minister,
Winston Churchill, and the American president,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, met at the
First Washington Conference. This conference reaffirmed the doctrine of Europe first. At the
third Washington Conference in May 1943 alleviating pressure on China was discussed, in particular through the
Burma campaign. At the
Quebec Conference in August intensifying the war against Japan was decided and
South East Asia Command reorganised. The
Second Quebec Conference in September 1944 discussed the involvement of the British Navy against the Japanese.
Strategic bombing The first strategic bombing raid was carried out by American
Flying Fortresses on 2 February 1942 against Kuantan and Kuala Lumpur's airfields. These may have been planes from the
7th Bombardment Group operating out of Java. Missions did not resume against Malaya until 27 October 1944 when
B-24 Liberators of
No. 159 Squadron RAF flying from
Khargpur mined the
Penang Strait causing its eventual abandonment by Japanese submarine forces. They laid more mines on 26 November and 23 January 1945. On 11 January 1945
B-29's of the
20th Air Force attacked Penang. A further attack on Penang occurred on 24 February.
Action in Malaya and the Straits of Malacca search Japanese prisoners soon after they have been disarmed in
Kuala Lumpur. After the defeat by the Japanese, a number of Allied personnel and European civilians retreated into the jungle. Some, including British woman Nona Baker, joined the
MPAJA. Others, such as
Freddie Spencer Chapman, were
Force 136 operatives who sought to begin a sabotage campaign against the occupying Japanese forces. In August 1943 the Allies set up
South East Asia Command to oversee the war in South East Asia, including Malaya. As the war progressed further Allied operatives were landed either from submarine or be parachuted in to provide assistance to the resistance movements. Allied navy units, particularly submarines, attacked Japanese shipping throughout the occupation and on occasion brought Force 136 operatives to Malaya. Air action was primarily confined to
B-24 Liberators or Navy PB4Y Privateers supplying the resistance with arms and supplies, until late 1944 when B-29's of the US
Twentieth Air Force carried out raids on installations at Penang and Kuala Lumpur. In May 1945 a British task force sank the Japanese cruiser
Haguro in the
Battle of the Malacca Strait.
Tun Ibrahim Ismail landed in Malaya in October 1944 as part of a Force 136 operation to convince the Japanese that the Allies were planning landings on the Isthmus of Kra, 650 miles to the north to establish a beachhead in Malaya under
Operation Zipper. This was to be followed by a drive south to liberate Singapore,
Operation Mailfist, and an offensive to retake northern Malaya designated
Operation Broadsword. In preparation for the landings, a
British task force sailed through the Straits of Malacca in July 1945 clearing mines and attacking Japanese facilities. British carrier borne aircraft attacked targets along the West Coast of Malaya and aircraft of the
United States Seventh Fleet attacked targets on the East Coast as a prelude to Operation Zipper. Before the Operation could commence the war ended. ==Surrender==