Baba Boyhood

William Gwee

Description

Many of us have heard stories of how tough life was during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore from our parents and grandparents. Food was scarce and families had to grow their own vegetables and survive on a diet of tapioca.Now for the first time in print, writer William Gwee shares his experience on growing up during the Japanese Occupation. The engaging text goes beyond the food shortages and discusses the challenges faced in a very difficult time and how despite the hardship of war, traditional practices and taboos still continued to be enforced, albeit on a smaller scale. What sets this book apart from other materials on World War II are the strong Peranakan references as well as the focus on the Peranakan community.* The term 'Baba' is used to refer to the Straits-born Chinese or Peranakans. The Babas boast a unique culture and way of life that is an amalgamation of Chinese and Malay customs and etiquette.

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique

Informations

• Publié par: MarshallCavendishM
• Date de parution: 15 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789814435512
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Cover design by Adithi Khandadai Shankar
All photographs provided by the author
Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Ltd
Published in 2013 by Marshall Cavendish Editions
An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International
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National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Gwee, Thian Hock.
A Baba boyhood : Growing up during World War 2 / William Gwee Thian Hock. - Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Editions, c2013.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978 981 4435 51 2
1. Gwee, Thian Hock - Childhood and youth. 2. Singapore - History - Japanese occupation, 1942-1945. 3. Singapore - Social conditions - 20th century. I. Title. II. Title: Singapore under the Japanese

DS610.55
959.5703092 - dc23 OCN 822020654
Printed in Singapore by Times Printers Pte Ltd
DEDICATED TO
My father, Gwee Peng Kwee, and mother, Seow Leong Neo, with especial gratitude for having shared the anecdotes of my early life.
My wife, Rosie Tan Chwee Neo, elder son, Andy Gwee Boon Kheng, younger son, Randy Gwee Boon Kim, daughter-in-law, Caroline Lee Kim Sweet, grandson, Marc Gwee Eng Meng, and granddaughter, Joan Gwee Eng Neo. You have all been my motivators and inspiration.
Babas, Nyonyas and local history buffs for being my inspiration.
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
PROLOGUE
8 th December 1941
BOYHOOD DAYS
Cuppage Road 1930s
27 Cuppage Road
I was born
Goodbye, Cuppage Road
Hello, Carpmael Road
New neighbours
IT S WAR
Bombed
Of myth and reality
The aftermath
A fabulous mansion
Detained
Seeking help
Sudah habis
NEW MASTERS
Herded out
An Arab friend
Segregated and missing
The Sook Ching massacre
Mother the heroine
LIVING IN SYONAN
Early school days
A Japanese education
8 katis of rice
Slave labour
Matchmaking heyday
Career Nyonyas
Incomplete liberty
Days of fear
Japanese entertainment
Tarzan versus Captain Kitti Kumar
Jekyll and Hyde
Hard times
FULL CIRCLE
Glossary
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Foreword
ALMOST 70 YEARS have passed since the Japanese invasion and occupation of Singapore. The 3 years of Japanese Occupation were years of brutal suppression, turmoil and chaos. The opportunities to record people s recollections of those times have been lost with the passing away of much of the generation that experienced the misfortunes, pains and the difficulties during the period.
We are fortunate that a Baba, William Gwee Thian Hock, has survived to tell us his story in this book, A Baba Boyhood . He has given us a glimpse into what it used to be like to live in that period as a young boy who saw and experienced Japanese brutality along with other members of the Chinese community against whom Japanese oppression was directed. He aptly captures a vanished Singapore and provides a personal and a vivid reminiscence of life during this period. His book gives a clear picture of the memorable events of his growing up years and the personalities who touched his life. Singaporeans today who are mainly flat-dwellers would find this book interesting and informative.
William Gwee reveals with a certain sense of pride what Baba homes and their unique family life were like. He touches on where and how he grew up as a child and through it brings to the fore the nature and essence of being a Peranakan Baba . The Baba community, though they were essentially Straits-born Chinese, were a distinct group with their own culture, tradition and heritage. They took no part in the anti-Japanese activities or agitations of any kind in Singapore. Neither did they contribute significantly towards the war effort to support China in its struggle against the Japanese. Yet they were victimized like all Chinese and suffered from the Japanese oppression and cruelty throughout the war years.
I hope that this narrative by William Gwee which records the harshness and the hardships experienced by the Babas during the war would encourage more Singaporeans to dig into their memory and tell more stories of those times. Such real-life accounts would offer readers, especially the younger Singaporeans, a broader and deeper perspective of the tragic happenings that took place in Singapore during the Japanese war and Occupation.
S R NATHAN
6 th President of Singapore
2 nd January 2013
The author at age 10, in a rare photograph taken in 1944 during the Occupation.
Introduction
SINGAPORE S INTRODUCTION TO war and invasion began at dawn on 8 th December 1941, when Japanese planes rained bombs on the island while the populace was blissfully asleep that early Monday. Seventy days later, Singapore capitulated to the Japanese invaders when the British Lt General Arthur Percival surrendered to Japanese Lt General Tomoyuki Yamashita at the Ford Motor Plant located along Upper Bukit Timah Road on 15 th February 1942. So ended 123 years of British colonial rule in Singapore, which was renamed Syonan, light of the south, by the conquerors.
For the next 3 years, Singaporeans were to endure the horrors of the Japanese Occupation, when death, deprivation and fear were the order of the day until 12 th September 1945 when, this time, it was the turn of the Japanese to surrender after being defeated by the Allied forces in the Japanese motherland. Once again Singapore reverted to colonial rule and began a new chapter in history which culminated in its independence on 9 th August 1965.
It has been 68 years since the end of the Japanese Occupation. The debacle of the British defeat at the hands of the Japanese has been continually researched, debated and documented in academic and history publications, magazines and journals, newspapers, television, and books authored by researchers, historians and lay writers. The theme that characterises the bulk of writings by academicians and historians normally centres around the whys of what happened: Why had Singapore, touted as an impregnable fortress, fallen? Why had the defenders who outnumbered the invaders by three to one lain down their arms? Why had the big guns defending Singapore been pointing in the wrong direction? In contrast, other books were written by British expatriates and servicemen who became POWs, or Singaporeans who survived the War, concentrating more on personal reminiscences, often tinged with bitterness.
My account is altogether different. A fifth-generation Singapore Baba, I was born in Cuppage Road at the tail end of the Great Depression which had begun in 1929. At the age of five, I moved with my family to Geylang temporarily before settling in Carpmael Road in the Joo Chiat-Katong neighbourhood. I began my English education at a school in the neighbourhood and had completed Primary One when war descended on Singapore. Had it not been for this interruption, I might have continued with my English education, grown up under British colonial patronage and undergone different life experiences. But Singapore had changed hands. When school re-opened, I resumed my education, this time under a Japanese military regime and their system of education.
I was a boy of eight at the onset of war and 11 years old when those tumultuous events ended. As a result of my impressionable age, the events were permanently etched in my mind. Despite my tender years, I was not spared the major vicissitudes and trauma endured by my seniors. I was side by side with them, sharing the pain of being driven out of our home during the infamous extermination campaign of the victors, growing up amidst acute shortages of basic necessities, bearing witness to human cruelty in the plight of the abandoned Javanese slave labourers, and surviving our family s harrowing encounter with almost certain death for harbouring a comatose Japanese soldier in our home.
Although these vivid experiences within the space of 3 years accelerated my maturity, I was not completely deprived of the lighter moments of boyhood. Exempted from adult responsibilities, I had the time and opportunity to revel in the carefree, innocent pleasures of games and cinema outings with my peers. These were moments of sanity which I savoured.
I pen this memoir documenting my still vivid recollections of the Japanese Occupation years with the hope that it will add another dimension to a story already told and that it will also paint a more balanced sum total of the events.
When the Sino-Japanese conflict first erupted in China in 1937 followed by the beginning of WWII in Europe two years later, it all seemed so distant and remote to most Singaporeans, who were then basking in peace and plenty. Within just two years Singapore was embroiled