Malaysian Seeks Compensation From Japanese

Shortly after British forces surrendered in Malaya, a young boy watched as invading Japanese troops carried out one of the more horrific civilian massacres of World War II.

Residents of this town in the southwestern state of Negri Sembilan were first gathered together to look on as a feast of pork, mutton and chicken they had prepared was eaten by a group of soldiers, said Soon Kian Seng.

When the meal was over, the troops bayoneted and shot dead up to several hundred townsfolk in what Soon said was a little-known incident for which Japan must now pay compensation.

That episode on March 15, 1942, has remained etched in the memory of Soon, who is waging a crusade for compensation, saying that Tokyo must bear full moral and financial responsibility for its actions in Malaya during the three-year Japanese occupation.

“Nine of my family members were among the hundreds killed in the massacre,” said Soon, 57, as he gazed at a stream that runs past the site of the killings.

“This was a great injustice,” said Soon, who escaped the slaughter by hiding with his grandmother in nearby jungle for two days without food.

“The villagers had been told the Japanese wanted a meeting but when the eating was done, they cordoned off the field and began an orgy of killing,” he said.

About 10,000 Malaysians are estimated to have been killed during the Japanese occupation of Malaya, said Soon.

He has submitted a memorandum to the Japanese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur demanding $200 million on behalf of some 238 relatives of victims in Negri Sembilan.

Apart from asking for cash, the memorandum calls on Japan to build a Memorial Hall of Japanese Occupation in the state to serve as a reminder of Tokyo’s imperialist past.

Michio Harada, the Japanese Embassy second secretary, said the memorandum would be forwarded to Tokyo, but he declined comment on Japanese atrocities in Malaya.

Soon’s plea to the United Nations to help secure the compensation was turned down in September.

The United Nations wrote to him saying it did not have the mandate to consider applications for compensation for losses or suffering experienced during World War II.

In 1967 Malaysia accepted 25 million ringgit (about $10 million at current exchange rates) from Japan as a final settlement. But Soon said none of the money went to the victims.

He said several public interest groups from Japan had contacted him and were interested in documenting Japanese atrocities in Malaya.

“I will be making a trip to Japan soon to discuss with these groups how my claims can be filed with the Japanese government,” he said.

The Japanese 18th Army Corps landed in the northeastern state of Kelantan on Dec. 8, 1941, and within 55 days had overrun the Malayan peninsula, then under British rule.

The Japanese soldiers began their killings soon after the conquest.

History professor Khoo Kay Kim said the Negri Sembilan massacre was not highlighted in documents detailing Japanese brutality in Malaya but added that “it was very possible because there were many such incidents.”

“People were rounded up and taken to their deaths. Although the number of Malaysians killed during the Japanese occupation is still vague, there could have been 10,000 victims,” said Khoo, of the Malaya University in Kuala Lumpur.

Chuang Hui-Tsuan, a colonel in Force 136, an anti-Japanese group that led a series of covert activities behind enemy lines, wrote in his book on the war:

“In the three days from Feb. 28 (1942) to March 3, thousands of innocent people were killed under the pretext of punishment for resisting the Japanese army.

“There was hardly any distinction made in sex or age as villagers were driven en masse into a forest to be machine-gunned,” he wrote.