Natalie Soh: Singapore Reflects On The End Of WWII
The setting was grand. The Municipal Building looked out over the harbour, with '100,000 of the local population on the ground' - so wrote one Major-General Sir C. Lanes Letter.
Former prisoners of war packed the balconies of the building now known as City Hall, watching the defeated Japanese march in. Locals waited on the Padang for the ceremony, which would mark the end of three years of oppressive Japanese rule.
The same Union Jack that had been taken down on Feb 15, 1942 - when General Arthur Percival surrendered Singapore - was retrieved from its hiding place in Changi Prison, and flown proud and high again. It was an impressive, emotive spectacle - exactly what it was meant to be.
...
But a new page of history had turned, pointed out Associate Professor Kevin Blackburn, also with the NIE: 'People were meant to be impressed, but over 3 1/2 years, they saw their white masters doing the jobs of coolies.
'That an Asian country had defeated a European power had a big impact - and the kind of prestige that helped keep the Europeans in power before the war was gone, despite the elaborate ceremonies to try to turn back the clock.'
Nonetheless, for the average man on the street, Sept 12, 1945, held great promise.
It was the end of a harsh three years, with little food, skyrocketing inflation, constant fear and senseless brutality, said Mr Jeyathurai Ayadurai, director of the Changi Museum.
But it was also a beginning - of troubled times.
After the heady emotions of the end of Japanese occupation faded, people in Singapore and countries in the region began to feel disappointed and frustrated.
Former prisoners of war packed the balconies of the building now known as City Hall, watching the defeated Japanese march in. Locals waited on the Padang for the ceremony, which would mark the end of three years of oppressive Japanese rule.
The same Union Jack that had been taken down on Feb 15, 1942 - when General Arthur Percival surrendered Singapore - was retrieved from its hiding place in Changi Prison, and flown proud and high again. It was an impressive, emotive spectacle - exactly what it was meant to be.
...
But a new page of history had turned, pointed out Associate Professor Kevin Blackburn, also with the NIE: 'People were meant to be impressed, but over 3 1/2 years, they saw their white masters doing the jobs of coolies.
'That an Asian country had defeated a European power had a big impact - and the kind of prestige that helped keep the Europeans in power before the war was gone, despite the elaborate ceremonies to try to turn back the clock.'
Nonetheless, for the average man on the street, Sept 12, 1945, held great promise.
It was the end of a harsh three years, with little food, skyrocketing inflation, constant fear and senseless brutality, said Mr Jeyathurai Ayadurai, director of the Changi Museum.
But it was also a beginning - of troubled times.
After the heady emotions of the end of Japanese occupation faded, people in Singapore and countries in the region began to feel disappointed and frustrated.