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5. The Post-Surrender Interregnum: Breakdown of Law and Order
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The Post-Surrender Interregnum | 127 CHAPTER 5 The Post-Surrender Interregnum: Breakdown of Law and Order ….An instigator of the sabotage of the Police will be severely punished. Anyone who hoists the Red Flag or one who instigates the masses by unfounded rumours will also be punished…. – Japanese Armed Forces Proclamation, Singapore, 3 Sept. 1945 After the Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945 there was a brief period in which law and order collapsed, rumour dominated fact, and diverse groups in Malaya were faced with critical decisions. One of the most important rumours was that the British army would land on 20 August to reoccupy Malaya. As it turned out, it was not until 3 September, or 19 days after the Japanese surrender that the first British reoccupation force landed at Penang. As we have seen earlier, however, the rumour of immediate British arrival was a key factor inhibiting the Malay KRIS group in Kuala Lumpur from actually forming a provisional government and declaring national independence. The rumour probably had the effect of causing KRIS leader Ibrahim Yaacob to flee to Jakarta — one of the reasons why the Malay independence movement disintegrated.1 Many rumours had some grain of truth, but it was only a matter of hours before they were embellished or distorted in transmission and became sources of mass confusion. The initial rumour of Japan’s surrender thus reached people in such strange terms that it was 127 128 | Red Star Over Malaya impossible to know what was happening. It was said, among other things, that units of Chiang Kai-shek’s army were to come to Malaya for temporary occupation duty. Others simply wanted to believe that the end of the war had arrived. The immediate Japanese response was to discount all peace rumours and to threaten rumourmongers with dire punishment. Without referring to the atomic bombs or the surrender at all, the Syonan Shimbun of 15 August in effect ordered everyone to keep quiet and await official instructions: No one has any sympathy for those who deliberately repeat idle rumours and get themselves into trouble over it. But for the sake of the good citizens, it is desirable that all foolish rumours should be stifled and those who are given to gossip warned of the serious harm which indulgence in what might seem harmless gossip might lead to. The insensible type of gossiper has had enough time and warning. If they persist in their foolish ways, they must be taught a severe lesson.2 While some people in Malaya took rumours of Japan’s surrender seriously and acted immediately, others thought there was reason to be cautious. One person recalled his disbelief and hesitancy in the following terms: The newspapers came out with a report of the bombing of Hiroshima with a bomb of a hitherto unknown type. The damage was negligible, however, they said. Two days later came an admission of thousands of casualties. But in the interval there had been an unprecedented crop of rumours to which we lent greedy ears. The effects had been cataclysmic, we were informed. Japan’s will-to-war had been pulverised. She was suing for peace. The news seemed too good to be true. A cold fear gripped our hearts. Could it be that the rumours emanated from the Kempeitai [Japanese military police) and were disseminated by their underlings to tempt disaffection to rear its head…. No, we were not going to throw caution to the winds.3 It was about the time of the surrender too that the rumour of the impending arrival in Malaya of the Chinese Nationalist Army of Chiang Kai-shek started. There was no basis for this rumour other than the association of Chiang’s name with the Potsdam Declaration of the Allied leaders. However, it elated and encouraged the most chauvinistic speculation by the Chinese population. On the other [54.172.162.78] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 16:31 GMT) The Post-Surrender Interregnum | 129 hand, the Malay population was most unhappy and fearful of the consequences of such an arrival, as they feared that Malaya would then come completely under the heel of the Chinese. A Malay informant who lived in Singapore at that time, recalled: We Malays thought that the Chinese troops would land on the island first because of the large Chinese population there. In fact, some of my Chinese friends expected this to happen. Many Chinese suddenly became quite chauvinistic and arrogant. We were quite worried and...