Yes, a lot of what you said is true. This is collaborated also by what my late father told me before his passing.

He was also bayoneted by the Japs but survived. In fact a lot of Singaporeans have been hearing only stories of the period, some of which were true and some fictitious. There were some facts which did not find their way into mainstream media for one reason or another. What Singaporeans in general did not know, and still do not know is that a large of the Japanese force which entered Singapore in the initial phase of the war were actually not Japanese at all.

According to my dad the first group of Jap soldiers who confronted him were actually quite courteous and they spoke in Hokkien, yes Hokkien. They told my father to run and hide because the second group coming up behind them were cruel. Before they had finished telling my dad this, the second group appeared. Immediately the initial group switched to conversing in Japanese ! And it was the second group of soldiers who bayoneted him.

So who were these soldiers? Well the first group were Taiwanese, and the second group were Manchus. Both of these groups of “Japanese” soldiers were drafted into the Japanese military because Taiwan was already under Japanese rule long before WW2 and Manchuria was a satellite state of Imperial Japan. The Manchus had an axe to grind against the Chinese because of the fall of the Qing Dynasty.

So history did not get the real thing in proper perspective. The front force of the Japanese were made up of Taiwanese and Manchurians, the actual Japanese soldiers were in the rear. A lot of this has to do with military tactics, because the Taiwanese spoke our dialects and the Manchus spoke Mandarin. In other words, besides letting this foreign element bear the brunt of the attack (lessening the Japanese casualties) they also act as intelligence gathering units. None of these facts ever appeared in our history nooks. I think, someday, our history need to be properly re-written.

From recollections recanted by my late father, on the day that the Jap Army Administration learnt of the Imperial Surrender in Tokyo there were mass suicides by Japanese Army officers at Alexandra Hospital and elsewhere (he was a witness). These acts were, perhaps, ironic in providing some form of satisfaction for those who were tortured or brutally tortured by them in earlier times. My dad himself survived by feigning death after he was lined up with others and bayoneted once from the back. Those who went down the ground and continued to groan or wriggle received a second stab to finish them off. He was conscious enough to remain quiet and still, an act which saved his life.

After the Japanese surrender, a lot of these “interpreters” (informers) were rounded up by the population, with their heads shaven clean and paraded on the streets. Most of these “snitchs” and “moles” were Taiwanese brought here by the Japanese to mingle with our crowd (Taiwan was under Japanese rule long before WW2). Of course there were treacherous locals. LKY was very lucky not to have suffered this fate. Maybe his many years of privilege with the Jap Administration provided him many avenues of a safe haven.

And that is why he has maintained a very low profile whenever the historical years of Singapore under Japanese rule have been mentioned. Similarly he has also maintained a cloak on the grand sacrifice of our only war hero Maj-Gen(post humous) Lim Bo Seng, whose memorial at the hilly slope of MacRitchie Reservoir has not been given full state honours. Not a single PAP MP dare breach the subject of elevating this war hero, who sacrificed himself for his beloved country, to the stature that he truly deserve. Because to do so would rake up questions of like wise able bodied young men such as LKY and what sacrifice they had done for the country.

Now then he apologises? Is that now then he listens to US?
Maybe he should have LISTENED us that we , students are complaining the way the system teaches Chinese.

May be not. Because of China’s vast market opportunities and he is like SHIT, we have not much manpower handy with Chinese language.

THANKS.

Colourful description but it is not true that Chinese is not fun or well taught at your time.

It was just that Chinese was not important then as LKY went around “killing” off people who only knew that language.

His approach is wrong. He loves to force people to adopt to what he percieve as right when there is no legitimity as to why what he think is right is the correct thing to do.

Taiwan has a revival of their native tongue. It didn’t affect their command of Mandarin a bit. In fact, the mainland Chinese is thinking that they perhaps should learn from the Taiwanese, from their way of teaching Chinese.

It is silly simply to bet on one Man in the hope that he will get everything right.

The world is too diverse. Even for 3 million people on an island.

HK didn’t have Lee KY and they still have world class infrastructure and doctors. And they needn’t lock people up for 20 years for NO reasons.

Sad case of lack of morality in doctors.

“Its per capita income today is amongst the tops in the world and 2nd only to Japan in Asia.”

Where did you get this rubbish statistic to dress your your rubbish talk? I can find one which says Qatar, Kuwait and Brunei ranked higher than us. Even one has Macau ranked higher than us. Hong Kong is not rated since it it part of China now. In any case, Luxembourg and Norway, small in population also ranked much higher.

BUT STILL IT IS MEANINGLESS FOR SINGAPORE BECAUSE OF LEAKAGE. MNCs and foreigner took out the lion’s share and very high proportion could be even be tax as their taxable income a year is less than S$20K

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

Please cut your your ignorant frog croaking here, will you?

And Pedra Branca was terra nullius. We occupied it with a lighthouse and habitate it to our advantage. Malaysia acted in good faith of not forcibly occupying it and lost. It could have gone the other way and Malaysia could make all other negotiation outstanding tougher.

As for bona fide city-state. What is the big deal when Minister told one and all, we are NOT even a country? We are in reality slave to foreign interests – business and soon to be over-run by foreign migration too.

Where is your Singapore’s identity left? Chee Kiong? What happen to the solemnity of your highfalutin national pledge of 44 years – all hoax, just like this post?

If you can’t even recover your pride of national pledge, no need to suck up in pretense.

(“The only surviving city-state on the planet.”

Typical ignorant frog in the PAP well. Vatican City, Monaco + some other equally small countries apparently dont count. One could argue that HK is a city state as well.)

Are you stupid or what?
In any country, big or small, resource rich or not, it’s actually the quality or type of PEOPLE who make or break the country. Either the people are generally wealth creators or consumers. An example. Japan would fit the former and Indonesia, the latter, in a simplistic sense. Given, the handouts & special favours, Malaysia will undoubtedly fall into the latter more than Indonesia. Therefore, what will happen to Malaysia is anyone’s guess without the non-Malays.

Singapore is just a 700 km² rock (enlarged over the years by human ingenuity in land reclamation). It is souvereign with a standing army. Its per capita income today is amongst the tops in the world and 2nd only to Japan in Asia.

Whether you like it or not; believe in it or not, the water has to continue to flow by the Agreement and Pedra Branca is not Pulau Batu Puteh by walkover like Jaffa, Sri Lanka. And mind you, we’re only a LITTLE RED DOT.

It’s a bona fide city state! And your lacking in knowledge brings your stupidity to cite “comparables” like Vatican City, Monaco and HK.

Before 1997 HK was a colony of the UK. Today, it is part and parcel of China with its Chinese motherland as its hinterland. Brother, HK doesn’t even fly a national flag of its won!
Vatican City is a tiny-weeny place of 0.44 km² right smack in Italy. The seat of the Roman Catholic church. It’s a recluse for celibates making up of friars and monks and occasional tourists. Needless to say, Italy and the worls’s 1,3 billion Roman Catholics are its hinterland.
Monaco, worse still. Less than 2 km² in size. A French- speaking, French protectorate i.e. Monaco’s defence is the responsibility of France. And needless to say France’s its hinterland.
Poor Singapore has to make the world’s as is marketplace. So? Sell cheap and nopt only cheap must be good for others to buy our goods and services. How erh?
Hey stupid. Mlaysia and Indonesia are not our hinterland! One threaten to cut water; the other has just cut off our sand asupply after seighting the IRs coming up from Batam.

Can use OUR brains or not??????? LOL!