70 years ago today... when Singapore became Syonan-to.

Today (15 Feb) marks the 70th anniversary of what has been referred to as The Fall of Singapore. The island was renamed Syonan-to by the occupiers.

ST blurbed its various stories on this momentous event under this rubric: "The Japanese caught British troops by surprise as they swept through Malaya, and Singapore fell on Feb 15, 1942. For more than three years, all races suffered under the hardship and brutality of the occupation, leaving an indelible mark on a generation that would go on to fight for independence."

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My late father nearly died at a Japanese soldier's hands; he had failed to bow down low enough when passing the sentry at some checkpoint. Fortunately for me (ie, I -- born in 1950 -- was not even a concept then!), my dad was wearing a hard hat, the safari helmet type. So, when the son-of-a-seaweed scum-of-the-earth soldier used his heavy rifle to hit my father on the head, the hat took most of the blow.

My late mother's brother (ie my uncle) was not so lucky. He was among the young Chinese men rounded up in the infamous "Sook Ching" ("purge through purification" -- a reign of terror tactic aimed at eliminating anti-Japanese resistance). My uncle was never seen again. My mum griefed for the kin I never knew.

A baby sister (Siew Hiok) died during those years. The infant had fallen ill and there was no medical care available for her.

My late eldest sister (How Lui) never had a normal, teenage childhood. She helped care for four other surviving siblings and joined in the daily scrapping for food. But she was never bitter about her wartime experiences. She was a remarkable lady.

My other sister How Eng and I were the two postwar babies. We were the fortunate ones.

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I think Wikipedia's write-up on the Japanese Interregnum is a fair "in a nutshell" account of those years:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_occupation_of_Singapore