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1. Impact of Japanese Occupation 1941 - 1945 on nationalism
The Skinny
Big Picture
1. In 1936, Japan signed an anti-comintern pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
2. In 1937, Japan began to get involved in a long war with Japan in China.
3. In June 1940, the Japanese signed an agreement with the Vichy French government to allow Japanese troops to train in the jungles of Vietnam and to use airfields there. It also allowed Japanese naval ships to use the main naval base in Cam Ranh Bay.
4. The US introduced oil embargoes and demanded that Japan return to the 1937 status quo. Japan was told to immediately withdraw from Vietnam and China. Japan was willing to negotiate for a phased withdrawal over 25 years. Talks between USA and Japan broke down .
5. In June 1941, when Hitler invaded Soviet Russia, Japan was assured that there would not be a two-front war. The Soviet Union would not invade Asia on the Manchurian border because they would be too distracted fighting for their own survival.
6. The Japanese military leaders decided that they would:
a. Destroy the US Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbour
b. Occupy Southeast Asia for its raw materials (rubber & tin in Malaya; oil in Brunei and the Dutch East Indies)
c. Use the resources to finish the war in China.
Southeast Asia Picture
1 Japan invaded Southeast Asia based on the dream of creating a Greater
East Asia Co- Prosperity Sphere which would include Japan, Manchuria,
Korea, China, India and all the territories of Southeast Asia.
2. The goal was to create a huge yen bloc which would allow Japan to control the markets and raw material supplies of East Asia.
3. The propaganda of the Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was:
a. liberate Southeast Asia from colonialism
b. bring freedom and prosperity to all races living the Sphere.
c. Create an Asia For the Asians with Japan as its leader.
4. The propaganda was supposed to inspire front-line Japanese troops and to win local support.
The War
1. On 7 December 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed and attacked. The US
Pacific Fleet was crippled. US bases in the Philippines and British
positions in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaya were also attacked.
2. On 10 December 1941, the British warships Prince of Wales and Repulse
were sunk off the coast of Malaya. Japan had naval supremacy in the
Pacific.
3. The Japanese took advantage of naval and air supremacy, and moved
down the Malayan peninsula and within less than three months, defeated
the British army and occupied Malaya and Singapore by 15 February
1942.
4. The Japanese also landed in Bali and Sumatra, then moved on to attack
and occupy Java. Burma and the Philippines also swiftly fell to the
Japanese.
5. Only in Indochina did the colonial government survive. The Vichy French government in Vietnam would stay intact as long as they cooperated and did not obstruct the Japanese military occupation of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
Early Occupation Years (1941 to 1943)
1. Conquered territories in Southeast Asia came immediately under military
control:
a. The commander of the Southern Army, Field Marshal Terauchi, created his headquarters in Saigon, Vietnam.
b. The army took charge of Sumatra and Malaya
c. The rest of the Dutch East Indies were under the navy.
2. Malaya was renamed ‘New Malai’ and Singapore was renamed ‘Syonan
To.[1]
4. All Europeans (except those from neutral or friendly countries like Spain,
Germany, Switzerland, Italy) were imprisoned. They were also made to
work on labour projects like the Death Railway / Thai-Burma railway
5. The high positions of the Europeans in the various colonial administrations
were taken over by South East Asians.
6 Because the Japanese did not have the manpower to rule all of their
territories directly, they ruled directly only in important areas like
Singapore and Malaya. In other places, they tended to be flexible and
adapted the old colonial institutions and instruments to govern.
Indo-China
1 In Indochina, the Japanese retained French officials under Governor
General Decoux until March 1945.
2 More Vietnamese were promoted to the middle and upper positions of the
government because of the shortage of Europeans. The number doubled
between 1940 and 1944.
3 Youth organizations like the Sports et Jeunesses were set up to distract
Vietnamese youths from Japanese propaganda and there were more than
200,000 participants by late 1943. (Many Viet Minh communist army
commanders would come from the Sports et Jeunesses after World War
Two)
Singapore and Malaya
1. In Malaya, the Japanese were not ready to grant Malaya independence but left the Sultans in power. A convention/ meeting of religious councils was held at Kuala Kangsar in December 1944 to consult Islamic leaders.
2. Racial Malay nationalists from the KMM, such as Ibrahim Yaacob, were released from prison and encouraged to organize paramilitary and political youth organizations. In 1945, the Japanese sponsored the formation of the KRIS or Union of Peninsular Indonesia.
3. Other young Malay youths were sent for training in Kunrensho Colleges in Melaka and Singapore or participated in paramilitary organizations like the Giyu Gun and PETA (Malay acronym for Defenders of the Father Land or were sent to Japan to further their studies.
4. The Chinese were brutally treated. An estimated 50,000 Chinese males were murdered during the Sook Ching campaign in Singapore. Young males were screened (examined) and ear-marked for systematic massacre if they were found to be healthy or showed anti-Japanese sentiments (feelings)
5. A Japanese education programme aimed at promoting Asian as opposed to Western values was introduced. It encouraged the use of the Malay language and culture. However, it also subjected Southeast Asian communities to the Japanese way, including the veneration of the emperor, mass celebrations of anniversaries in the Japanese imperial calendar and compulsory lessons in Nippon-go. (Japanese language)
Thailand (non-examinable)
1. In Thailand, Thai leaders like Marshall Phibun Songgram concluded a pact of friendship with Japan in June 1940 to preserve Thailand’s independence. He then declared war on Britain and USA in Janauary 1942.
2. Thailand was rewarded through the creation of Greater Thailand and recovered her ‘lost territories’ in the northern Malay states, Cambodia and Laos.
Late Occupation Years (1943 to 1945)
1 In June 1943, the Japanese army was still engaged in a long war in Burma
and China. They were also losing naval battles (Battle of Midway/ Battle of
Coral Sea) in the Pacific.
2 Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo announced his intention to delegate
civil administration and as a result, a Malayan Consultative Council was
established in Singapore. In Java, the Central Advisory Council was set
up under Sukarno. Greater Thailand was formed with the inclusion of the
northern Malay states, Cambodia and Laos.
3. As Japanese defeats continued, more power was devolved to Southeast
Asians. In July 1944, Tojo was replaced by General Koiso who made
more changes
4. In September, Koiso promised to grant independence to Indonesia.
5. In March 1945, the French government of Governor General Decoux was removed and a nominally independent government was set up in Vietnam under Emperor Bao Dai.
6. Trade came to a standstill because by late 1942 (Battle of Midway), the US and British navies controlled the shipping lanes and had air superiority.
7. The primary aim of exploiting Southeast Asia for its resources also failed. As the Allies were retreating from the Japanese in 1941 and 1942, they adopted scorched earth tactics and wrecked havoc on their own plantations, estates and mines.
8. There were food shortages and lack of basic goods and medical services.
9. The shortage of basic necessities led to rationing, hoarding, a rampant black market and high inflation and standards of living among Southeast Asians declined.
10. Southeast Asians in general suffered unemployment, poverty and loss of basic necessities and in desperation governments forced people to migrate into the rural areas to produce food.
Impact on Nationalism
1. The impact of World War Two on nationalism was that it increased nationalism in the following ways:
a. Destroyed the myth of western superiority and ‘white man’s burden
b. Created a political vacuum for nationalists to experience power
c Encouraged local language, culture and nationalism
d. Armed nationalist groups
7. There were however also limitations placed on nationalism because the Japanese occupation led to the following obstacles:
a. Starvation and hardship under Japanese rule which focused the masses on making a living
b. Ethnic problems which divided the country and prevented nationalism.
Psychological Impact of western superiority and ‘white-man’s burden’
1. In the colonial days, the westerners were held in high regard and held the top positions of power in the government. Government officials like the French Governor-General and British Resident General, junior European government officers, plantation owners and westerners in general were held in high regard.
2. When Japan was defeated, the myth of western superiority was destroyed.
Vietnam
2. However, when the French had to sign an agreement with Japan in 1940 and allowed Japanese to use French bases in Vietnam, it reduced the prestige of the French colonial masters.
3. White Man’s Burden was dealt a further blow in 1943 when the northern Malay Sates, Cambodia and Laos were transferred to Siam to be run as part of a Greater Thailand under Pibul Songgram.
4. Because of the breakdown in trade and because the French were forced to export rice to Japan at low prices, famine broke out in Tongkin at the end of 1944. Hundreds of thousands were killed and the French were blamed for the disaster.
5. Corruption, the development of the Black Market, the high costs of basic goods, the shortage of food were all blamed on the French.
6. The situation worsened in 1945 when the Japanese imprisoned all French officials in March 1945 and ordered them to hand over all French equipment, facilities and war supplies.
Malaya
7. In Malaya, the British were defeated in less than 3 months and the fall of Singapore, supposedly impregnable, was a blow to British prestige.
8. The sight of British troops marching through town, being imprisoned in Changi and having to work on various public work projects as labourers was a blow to ‘white man’s burden’
Political Vacuum for nationalists in higher administrative and political positions
1. During the colonial days, all the top positions of civil government was held by Europeans.
2. However, with the imprisonment, flight and death of many government officials, there was a leadership vacuum.
3. The nationalists who collaborated with the Japanese had an opportunity to take high positions of authority in the government.
Vietnam
1. Local Vietnamese administrators were promoted to high administrative positions because the Vietnamese colony was isolated and too far away from France.
2. For example, Governnor General Decoux experimented with a ‘federal Indochinese nation’ or a Conseil Federal Indochinoise. He was willing to concede power power to the locals because in the council there were – 23 Frenchmen, 24 Vietnamese, 4 Cambodians and 2 Laotians.
3. Because the French were unable to effectively fight the nationalists in the inter-war years, the Indo-Chinese Communist Party (ICP) grew in strength.
4. The ICP was able to create the Viet Minh, a united front organization designed to fight against French and Japanese colonialism. It welcomed also non-communists to join.
5. The ICP were able mix simple patriotism with the complex ideas of communism among the villagers of Vietnam. By 1945, they controlled the rural areas and towns in the North.
6. In March 1945, the Japanese even created an ‘independent government’ led by Emperor Bao Dai and used even more Vietnamese officials.
7. For example, the Japanese offered to make Ngo Dinh Diem, a French Catholic nationalist to become the premier of Vietnam. He declined but it showed that more Vietnamese officials were offered posts in the government.
Malaya
1. In Malaya, local administrators were also promoted to higher administrative positions.
2. Indian nationalists like Subhas Chandra Bose encouraged and led local Indians to join the Indian National Army (INA) to fight for the freedom of India from British rule.
3. Racial Malay nationalists from the KMM, such as Ibrahim Yaacob, were released from prison and encouraged to organize paramilitary and political youth organizations. In 1945, the Japanese sponsored the formation of the KRIS or Union of Peninsular Indonesia and the Heiho (military auxiliary) units.
4. During the Japanese occupation, the brutal treatment of the Chinese also encouraged Chinese political awareness. The Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) was the army formed by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and fought the Japanese as resistance fighters to create an independent. Malayan Communist government.
5. MCP were also given an opportunity to help spread communist propaganda. (In the past MCP was considered illegal by the British. During WW2, the British recognised the existence/ legitimacy of MCP )
Arming of Nationalist Groups
1. During the days of colonialism, many of the nationalist groups had difficulty gaining access to weapons. The colonial forces – whether army or police – tended to be militarily better armed and equipped.
2. The balance would change during the Japanese occupation because the nationalists were armed either by the Japanese or by Allied forces. They gained reputation as resistance fighters and local heroes.
Vietnam
1. In Vietnam, the Japanese armed and supported the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao nationalistic religious movements to counter the Viet Minh.
2. The Viet Minh able to set up its own army, the Liberation Army.
3. Vo Nguyen Giap, the Vietnamese general was allowed to experiment with guerilla tactics (hit & run) and Vietnamese guerillas received US weapons from the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS). They also received training to be technicians.
and training of technicians from US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) .
4. In 1945, the Vietnamese would resist the French with the Liberation Army and the Viet Minh forces.
Malaya
1. In Malaya, the Indian National Army (INA) under Subhas Chandra Bose was armed and fought to free Indian from British rule. It made many Indians think about independence.
2. Malay units like KRIS - Kekuatan Rakyat Istimewar (Special Strength of the People) were formed but it does not have mass appeal.
3. Most importantly, anti-Japanese movements led by the MPAJA (Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army) were allowed to experiment with guerilla tactics (hit & run)
4. They were given supplies and weapons by the Allies to help fight the Japanese.
5. In 1948, the MPAJA would continue the fight against the British in the Emergency.
Local language, culture and nationalism encouraged
1. There was limited restriction on propaganda activities. Natives and locals were encouraged to think of themselves as indigenous people with rights to the land.
2. There was a promotion of Japanese languages and local languages.
3. In Indonesia: Allow for use of the Indonesian flag. Singing of the Indonesia Raya. Maching of Heiho and PETA units in the streets
4. In Vietnam, there was the promotion of education and Indochinese culture. New schools were set up. . Funds set were aside to improve the University of Hanoi. Sports movements & rallies to enthuse the youths.
Racial Problems
1. There were racial problems,Sino(Chinese)-Malay relationships were worsened by the war.
2. During the Japanese Occupation, the Japanese treated the Malays leniently in contrast to other races because of the policy of divide and rule.
.
3. In contrast, the Chinese were brutally treated. An estimated 50,000 Chinese males were murdered during the Sook Ching campaign. (Young males were screened (examined) and ear-marked for systematic massacre if they
were found to be healthy or showed anti-Japanese sentiments (feelings).
4. This led to social tensions between the 2 races after the war. This was the large minus point about nationalism and World War Two.
a) How similar were the responses of nationalist groups to
the Japanese Occupation between 1941 to 1945?
Explain your answer. (12)
b) ‘The Japanese Occupation played a key role in the rise
of nationalism in Southeast Asia between 1941 to 1945?
How far do you agree? Explain your answer. (13)
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[1] for details on Indonesian Occupation
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