Translation:
(Interviewer)Kenneth : So, when the Japanese conquered Johor. Then, when you looked at them, how did you feel?
Interviewee: At that time, not much Japanese soldiers so not very scared. But there was once when I saw them till I became sick! (Giggles)
Kenneth: So if you see Japanese soldiers, what do you do?
Interviewee: During the war, it was the scariest. When they conquered Singapore, they didn’t really do anything. After the war, the Japanese didn’t really dare to do anything to us. So no one was scared.
Kenneth: What did they do?
Interviewee: When they see the females, they would catch them and rape them. And once they are not happy, they would randomly take their guns and point at them. They would catch them and at night, they would shoot them. And the girls would be very scared, and hide all the time. At that time, I was in Johor. As a result of which, I didn’t really know how it was like in Singapore.
Kenneth: It should be the same right?
Interviewee: The girls in Johor would hide in the kitchen all the time. They are very scared that the Japanese would see them as they would get them and rape them. However, when the Japanese conquered, there is not much happening. It only affected people working. If you work, then you will have some money to spend. If you work for the Japanese, then good lah… Then got some money. Whenever you want to buy some food, you have to register, and you have to queue up for the food. If you work, you will have some money to buy food to eat. And the things to eat, were simple staple food like rice and bread. The bread was not anything like todays bread. It was hard. The noodles were red and very oily noodles. As a result of which, we didn’t dare to eat it anymore and when we eat it we may get sick. Back then, there was no white noodles. And if you wanted to buy rice, also need to register. Inside the rice, there was bits of cement, and looked just like rice.
Kenneth: So when you needed to register to buy your food, do you require money for it?
Interviewee: Must pay money lah… We had to pay a bit. The food is not free. I think… The amount of food we got depends on the number of mouths to feed. We needed to queue and register for everything we bought. If u didn’t want to do that, you needed to buy from the street shops which usually sell things like sweet potatoes. They do not sell rice or noodles to you. No matter what you have to register for it or else you need to buy from the roadside. And if we wanted food, we had to queue up from very early in the morning (Midnight). And there was a lot of people queueing. And we had to keep queueing up till about late morning(9-11+). You could only get what they offered.
Kenneth: What were your feelings at the Japanese occupation?
Interviewee: I do not really remember because it was quite long ago. At that time, I was only about you age. I only did things asked to be done by my parents. I didn’t really have any feelings about it I guess.
Kenneth: Did the Japanese come to your house and do anything?
Interviewee: When the Japanese conquered, they didn’t come to my house.They only came when the war was going on…….Oh! There was once when they came and I just came back from school. I was standing near the door and I was doing something with the vegetables. The houses that we stayed in were wooden, so I could see outside. I peeped out and I saw a Japanese man with a rag and bone Malay man. I saw them and I went to the kitchen to hide. I was scared. I just stayed there and dare not come out. I was the only one there at home, and I just came back from home from school, and was standing there choosing the good or bad vegetables. When I hid, they kept knocking on the door, shouting:” Tow-Kay!!! Tow-Kay!!! (Lady Boss/Landlord)” I was very brave, and walked up them and told them that the landlord was not at home. He then pointed a finger at me, and and asked me if I had a guilty conscious. Then I was very scared and ran away. Only like that.
Kenneth: So.. Err…. Is you family poor or rich?
Interviewee: Okay okay lah… But at time, others could not even afford rice, but we could.
Kenneth: So still quite lucky lah.
Interviewee: It is still ok lah.. Quite good. Because my brothers had a job, and they did some furniture business. As a result of which we had a extra source of income. The more money we get the easier it is to get food. We also could give rice to people. We didn’t need to suffer much and lived well.
Kenneth: So luckier than others lah…
Interviewee: Yes. At that time, my brothers still had a job to do. Those who did not have a job eat sweet potatoes, until their legs and faces became swollen and bloated. It was very pitiful. They do not have anything so they only can eat sweet potatoes everyday. If you eat sweet potatoes everyday, your face and legs will swell. And this kind of sickness is very common because there are a lot of very poor people.
(Cut, Timeout)
Interviewee: Buy everything also must register. Like bread then must register.Even though the bread is very hard. Those type of red coloured very oily noodles were so horrible that now if you look at it you won’t dare to eat it. Those type of… Not like our normal type of oil. It is the red in coloured one. Every time I bought noodles home I wash and wash until it is clean. Then stir fry for everyone. Sometimes we make the meals for the worker to eat. Even when I was ten, I already started to cook for the workers. Because my brothers used to do a kind of business which will have workers to help to do work.
Kenneth: So did you experience any hardships?
Interviewee: I… Didn’t experience any hardships.
Kenneth: So you are much luckier than others.
Interviewee: Yes.
Kenneth: So did u see any articles on the newspapers related to the Japanese?
Interviewee: No. We didn’t even have newspapers to read. We didn’t even have enough money to buy food, how will we buy newspapers? But some people earn a lot of money. They have a lot of Japanese money. There were no banks back then, so we keep our own money. And they keep a lot of those money. They have a lot of crates of money. They use those paper containers to put their money. But when the British conquered the land back, all the money became useless. We didn’t use them anymore. The Kang Kong back then cost a thousand dollars.
Kenneth: When the British came into Singapore and the Japanese surrendered, how did you feel?
Interviewee: I don’t know. Back then, I was still small, because I just followed whatever others did.
Kenneth: But were you happy?
Interviewee: Of course a lot of people were very happy.
Kenneth: I mean you.
Interviewee: Of course happy lah. Who won’t be?
Kenneth: Okay. So was there a very big difference compared to previously?
Interviewee: Not really. Cause I was not among those who suffered a lot, so there was not a lot of pain and suffering experienced.
Kenneth: Okay. Thank you.
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