BIBLIOASIA JUL – SEP 2016 Vol. 12 / Issue 02 / Feature

I was born in Japan in 1966 to a British led to an introduction to the people who had this, and that it actually had resonance for father and Eurasian5 mother (originally from set up its war galleries. hunger to find out anyone who is Singaporean. in ), and brought up as an about my own roots aligned with their quest expatriate child in Japan, Europe, for more information about , and that Wartime Singapore and Malaysia – places where my father’s is how my research project was born. work took him. It was only when my mother, Historically, the Eurasian community The hardships and deprivation caused by the Mary Alethea de Souza, died in England in Singapore has never exceeded more Japanese Occupation of Singapore (1942–45) in 2004 that I sought to find out about my than five percent of its total population. The has already been widely documented. What heritage, both for my own sake and that of community has always been a close-knit I wish to focus on specifically are its effects my children, as I did not want them to grow one with many shared experiences and on the Catholic community in Singapore. BAHAU up not knowing the background of their plenty of inter-marriages within the group. Before the war, there were a number maternal grandmother. When I returned So, the story of Bahau is also the story of Catholic religious orders here, including to Singapore in 2008, I wanted to revisit old of the Eurasian community in Singapore; the De La Salle (or Christian) brothers and A UTOPIA THAT WENT AWRY memories from when I had lived here as there is not a single Eurasian family from the Holy Infant Jesus nuns, whose primary a child in the 1970s and 80s, to satisfy my living memory who either did not live in task was to set up schools. After Singapore thirst for the past and, more importantly, Bahau or had friends or relatives or fore- fell to the Japanese in 1942, these mission- The resettlement of Eurasian and Chinese Catholics in the to find out more about my family history. bears who did. As the story of Bahau was ary teachers were forced to teach within the jungles of Malaysia during World War II has been largely Having visited all the usual histori- passed down informally from one genera- confines of the rules and regulations set by cal sights in Singapore, I finally made the tion to the next, it became preserved within the Japanese curriculum. The fact that many forgotten. Fiona Hodgkins chronicles its painful history. trek to the Eurasian Association at Ceylon the community and never gained wider of the brothers and nuns were Europeans Road. This was where I learnt more about coverage. Approaching the narrative from – usually Irish brothers and French sisters Bahau. Until then, my only knowledge of the outside as such, it soon dawned on me – made them figures of suspicion among Bahau was through the childhood stories that the Bahau story was much bigger than the Japanese authorities. my mum told of the time when she and her family lived in the jungle and when wooden huts used to collapse whenever elephants needed to scratch their backs against the bristly walls of these makeshift dwellings. I thought it was a quaint fairy tale: never did I imagine that it was a real story. A chance meeting at the Eurasian Association with the education officer there The story of Bahau has long been a footnote people have come forward to speak to me in the larger story of World War II in Sin- at public events – interested not so much (Right) Bahau settlers at work on their land gapore, preserved mainly as an anecdotal in the historical angle of my research, but (Japanese propaganda photo). Courtesy of Father record among families who have had the in the fact that the tiny, obscure town they René Nicolas. t (Below) The first settlers to Bahau – mainly young, misfortune of being part of this experiment. came from was actually interesting enough When I first started looking for infor- to be talked about. single men – had to clear the land, build a rudimen- tary road from the train station to the camp and set mation on Bahau in 2008, the only publicly In the 1940s, Bahau did not have the up basic infrastructure before the families started available records in Singapore were found industry that it thrives on today, but was to arrive (Japanese propaganda photo). Courtesy at the Memories at Old Ford Factory1 and known simply as a small town along the of Father René Nicolas. the World War II galleries of the Eurasian train line travelling north-east Association2 in Ceylon Road. Unfortunately, through the Malay Peninsula. Founded in as the association is seldom visited by a slightly elevated position and surrounded non-Eurasian visitors, its Bahau exhibi- by jungle, it was this off-the-beaten-track tion – which opened in 2006 – documents location that was chosen as a resettlement the memory of a place for people who are area for a wartime civilian population from already familiar with the story. Singapore. Bahau, which was set up in 1943 It’s probably true to say that many by the Japanese army in Singapore, with readers of this publication, however much the express approval of the local Catholic they know about the story of World War Church, was home to around 3,000 mainly II in Singapore, will likely not have heard Singaporean Catholics for nearly two years. of Bahau… Although the settlement was located about five miles from the town centre of Where is Bahau? Bahau, it is still commonly referred to as Bahau. Many residents of Bahau town are Bahau3 is a town in the state of Negeri blissfully unaware of the existence of this Fiona Hodgkins, a history graduate whose Sembilan in Malaysia. Today it is a some- wartime camp at their doorstep and what professional life has revolved around history what nondescript semi-industrial town took place there. and education, spent 14 years in Singapore. surrounded by plantations, and is not Her research into Bahau arose from a particularly known to most Malaysians. My Interest in Bahau personal quest as well as a passion for social Indeed, since publicity surrounding the history. From Syonan to Fuji-Go (2014), which 4 chronicles her research, is her first book. publication of my book about the settle- So what led me in 2008 to find out more ment of Bahau emerged in 2014, various about this forgotten settlement in Malaysia?

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made the settlers vulnerable to malaria and repatriation of the settlers. It was only in a host of tropical ailments and diseases. mid-October 1945 that the last of the set- Not surprisingly, the death toll was high. tlers were evacuated. Still, some settlers remember happy The Japanese Occupation in Singa- days, a testimony of the human ability to see pore left an indelible mark on everyone the positive in the face of adversity. Gwen who survived the period: many lived in Lange née Perry, who was then a teenager, constant fear, lost loved ones, and had recalls enjoying greater freedom than she to make do with much less than before would have been permitted in Singapore, the war. The Bahau experiment that went including being allowed to attend monthly horribly wrong was very much a variation parties held in a neighbour’s house in the of this theme. settlement. People would walk 45 minutes My extended family members in in pitch dark to get to the house, where some Bahau were some of the lucky ones. In would bring musical instruments to play and one house was my mother who lived with homemade rice whisky would be shared in her parents, three sisters and an uncle. an atmosphere of conviviality. They were later joined by her maternal However, in spite of a measure of grandparents and three cousins. In a freedom within the settlement itself, there second house nearby lived my mother's was no escaping from Bahau; the inhabit- paternal grandparents, two uncles and ants were hemmed in by the surrounding an aunt and their spouses. Of this large dense jungle and the only road access was group, only one of my great grandmothers, guarded round the clock by sentries. Only who already had a pre-existing condition those with exit permits for special reasons (of course exacerbated by the ravages of were allowed temporary release. jungle life), died there. We are fortunate in While the true conditions of the settle- that we know where she is buried: in the ment were hidden to the outside world by cemetery in . Many families, the parish of Holy Innocents in the Seran- Given its inauspicious start, it’s not the Japanese authorities who made regular whose loved ones may have initially been goon area, Church of Saints Peter and Paul surprising that the site did not turn out to visits and censored information that went buried in the Bahau settlement, do not know at Queen Street, and St Theresa’s Church be the bucolic paradise that the Catholics out, the settlers managed to come up with where their remains rest now. at Kampong Bahru Road. Many Catholic had been promised. This was made worse by ingenious ways to keep their loved ones in My grandfather Herman de Souza Chinese were eager to move to Bahau as the fact that what had originally started out Singapore informed about what Bahau was (Jnr), despite having had a good relation- the memories of the horrific Sook Ching as an “optional” resettlement programme really like, and warn them from electing to massacres were still fresh in their minds.9 seemed more like forced internment once resettle there. For example, one settler had In addition to these Catholics, a small the people arrived there. The Japanese arranged with his loved ones to write the group of Protestant European families and name for the camp, Fuji-Go, which means letters in ink if the situation at Bahau was neutrals from countries like Switzerland, “beautiful village”, was ironic given the fact favourable and in pencil if it was not. Another (Top) Wedding photo of Luke de Souza and Flo Chopard. [From the left]: Gwen Perry, Flo Chopard, Luke de Denmark, Romania and Russia chose to that an estimated 500 settlers died over an used the phrase “singing the prisoners’ Souza, Bill Hutchinson and an unknown person. In spite of the difficult circumstances in Bahau, several go to Bahau too, thinking that they would be 18-month period between 1944 and 1945. love song” in the letter to mean everything weddings were celebrated there. Courtesy of the family of Luke and Flo de Souza. (Top right) The morning roll call was a daily ritual at Bahau camp (Japanese propaganda photo). Courtesy safer there under the care of the Catholic The first settlers, mainly young, single was well at the camp, but if the letter said of Father René Nicolas. Church than left to the mercy of the Japanese men, lived communally in four sheds con- people were “not singing the prisoners’ love (Above) An announcement in the 15 January 1944 edition of The Syonan Shimbun exhorting the Eurasian authorities in Singapore. structed by the authorities. They were first song”, then things were not looking good. community to apply for the Bahau settlement scheme, which “all Eurasians who are fit and strong enough assigned to clear the land still overgrown But it was not all gloom and doom in to go on the land should avail themselves of enthusiastically”. Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. Life in Bahau with primary jungle, build a rudimentary road Bahau. Budding romances that had begun from the train station to the camp and set in Singapore blossomed in the settlement This, coupled with the general hard- protect Catholics, both lay and religious, It was in late December 1943 that the first up basic infrastructure before the families and resulted in marriages. There were also ships of the Occupation years – including from suppression by the Japanese. Bishop settlers from Singapore – including Bishop started to arrive. Each family was allocated some who were fortunate to meet their chronic food shortages, lack of health- Devals and Shinozaki managed to con- Devals – left for Bahau with whatever belong- 3 acres of land to grow crops and build their future spouses at the settlement. care and indiscriminate rounding up of vince the Japanese authorities that if ings they could carry: meeting first at the own home using whatever they could find people for questioning – made the idea large numbers of people were moved Cathedral of the Good Shepherd on Queen from the jungle – basically split timber and The Legacy of Bahau of an alternative life outside of Singapore out of Singapore, there would be fewer Street, then travelling by overnight train to palm fronds – although some of the more appealing to the Catholic community here. mouths to feed and much less pressure Gemas; followed by a local train to Bahau fortunate families could afford to pay local Bahau was finally liberated on 3 September Their saviour was a Japanese official by on the local infrastructure. Additionally, town and finally walking the last five miles contractors to build sturdier structures. 1945, a few weeks after the official end of the name of Mamoru Shinozaki6, who whatever surplus crops the people in this to the site chosen as the settlement. Then began the difficult task of sur- the war in Southeast Asia, when a team sought to protect various communities overseas settlement produced, could be Stretching over an area of some 40 vival. Those who toiled hard in their allo- from Force 13610 followed up on leads about in Singapore who were most at risk from sent back to Singapore. square miles, the land chosen for the cated land parcels never went hungry with the possible existence of a civilian camp the Kempeitai (Japanese secret police). Now, while the majority of Eurasians settlement had previously been cleared bountiful harvests of vegetables such as in the jungles of Bahau. For the settlers, He had earlier helped the Chinese by set- in Singapore were Catholic, there were and rejected by the Japanese for use as an tapioca, kangkong (water convolvulus) and this was a heaven-sent escape from the ting up a settlement in ,7 in nearby small numbers of Chinese Catholics too, airfield and then by the Chinese who chose bangkwang (Chinese turnip). But although brief period when communist guerrillas in , and now turned his attention to the especially among the Peranakan commu- to settle in Endau instead. Both groups had they might not have gone hungry, their diets Malaya replaced the departing Japanese Eurasian community. nity – which is likely why their role in Bahau allegedly rejected the site because of fears certainly lacked essential nutrients; some garrison in Bahau. Many remember the Shinozaki gained an ally in the Catho- has been largely overlooked by many. In of contracting malaria. The fact that the resorted to eating jungle animals (such as short communist takeover as the most The author, Fiona Hodgkins, was born in Japan in lic Bishop of Singapore, Adrien Devals,8 fact, over 1,000 Chinese Catholics, nearly Catholics accepted the offer to resettle in snails and iguanas) or killing goats, which frightening part of their stay in the settle- 1966. Her father is British and mother is Eurasian. who championed the idea of a self-suffi- as many as Eurasians, settled in Bahau. Bahau reflected the sheer desperation of had been kept as family pets, for protein. ment. Following the arrival of Force 136, This is a photo of Fiona and her mother taken in cient settlement outside of Singapore to The Chinese Catholics came mainly from their situation at the time. The harsh living conditions and poor diets it took another six weeks to organise the Japan, circa 1970. Courtesy of Fiona Hodgkins.

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ship with Shinozaki, felt so strongly about towards the Japanese; she visited Japan forgotten over the years; only those who the Japanese that he refused to visit their on a number of occasions, including for were impacted by the experience recall the country when my parents lived there from my birth. unspoken pain. 1965 to 1972 because of my father’s job. Many people who lived in Bahau have I feel very privileged to have met so Thankfully, my grandmother, who lost a tried to put the experience behind them, or many survivors and have had access to so sister and brother-in-law in the war and indeed to bury the memory altogether by many previously unpublished documents, having suffered terribly in Bahau, was not talking about it to their children at all. making it possible for me to unearth the able to put family above her animosity As a result, the story has become largely story of Bahau and record it for others.

assembly points and take them to a church petitioned the British and secured his where they were subsequently released.13 release. Shinozaki subsequently worked (Left) Bishop Adrien Devals was a French priest who became the leader of the Catholics in Singapore from the late 1930s. He led the first group of settlers to Bahau and tragically died there. All rights He also issued between 20,000 and 30,000 for the British army as an interpreter reserved, Pilon, M., & Weiler, D. (2011). The French in Singapore: An Illustrated History (1819–Today). “protection cards” to people. This was a and served as a key witness, providing Singapore: Editions Didier Millet. card with a stamp saying “Special Foreign evidence for the war crimes trials held (Above) The highest point at around the 5-mile mark on Colony Road was believed to be the location of Affairs Officer of Defence Headquarters”; in Singapore against the Japanese sol- Bishop Adrien Devals’ house in Bahau. Courtesy of Fiona Hodgkins. each card stating that the bearer of the diers involved in Operation Sook Ching. pass was a “good” citizen and requesting My grandfather, Herman de Souza for whom he was responsible. Although maintained his position in his belief of Japanese soldiers to “please look after him (Jnr), who worked with Shinozaki in he was already 60 years old, Devals led by the motto “Non mea voluntas sed Tua” and protect him”. According to Shinozaki, the Education Department during the example and moved to Bahau too, among the – Latin for “Not my will but Yours”, from these cards were issued to “everyone Occupation and later in Bahau, recalled The Bishop Who Led by Example first convoy of settlers who left Singapore the gospel of St Luke. asking for them” and he “gave hundreds to what Shinozaki said to him in 1942: “I in December 1943. The priests, brothers Unfortunately, Devals’ health was community leaders to distribute”. He made was in the diplomatic service of the Bishop Adrien Devals, who led the first and nuns, including the bishop, lived in the failing – the physical hardships of Bahau, no attempt to find out whether the cards Japanese, I was trained in Germany, group of settlers in Bahau and tragi- same conditions as everyone else in Bahau. including malaria, took their toll. To “went to communists or anti-Japanese and I had great ambitions. I was going cally died there, should be more widely Devals was in charge of the day-to-day make matters worse, he suffered from elements or bad hats.”14 He was just intent to rise in the consulate world. But when credited for his leadership there under running of the settlement and took charge diabetes, and a bad scratch on his right on saving lives. the British interned me in this place, I adverse circumstances. Although Bahau from the start, assigning roles to the settlers, foot sustained from farming eventually Shinozaki helped set up the settle- had time to think, and I have now only Mamoru Shinozaki was instrumental in saving failed as an experiment, it does not de- such as setting up anti-malarial teams and became infected and turned gangrenous, many lives in Singapore immediately after the ment of Endau, in nearby Johor state, one ambition. … My ambition now is to tract from Devals’ altruistic reasons for liaising with the Japanese authorities. He requiring the amputation of his leg. surrender of the British on 15 February 1942. All for the Chinese, then three months later, do good to people. Doesn’t matter who approving the resettlement plan. did not accord himself special privileges, Sadly, the operation was not enough to rights reserved, Shinozaki, M. (2011). Syonan, My Bahau for Catholics. He visited both set- they are.”15 Born in 1882 in Quins, France, sleeping in the same communal lodgings save Devals and he died in a hospital Story: The Japanese Occupation of Singapore. tlements regularly and many settlers in After the war, a letter published Devals entered the seminary of the with the others and eating the same food. A in Seremban, , on 17 Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions. Bahau have fond memories of him. How- in The Straits Times on 19 August 1946 Société des Missions étrangères de Paris few months later, as people began to move January 1945, having spent just over a ever, in spite of the good Shinozaki did and made the case for allowing Shinozaki to (MEP) in 1900 and was ordained a priest into the houses they had built, so too did year in Bahau. Mamoru Shinozaki: the high regard in which he was held by stay in Singapore. The writer of the letter six years later. He arrived in in the Bishop. He lived in a spartan hut that Devals’ body was taken to Singapore The Japanese Schindler many, he was also viewed with a degree was my great-uncle, P. F. (Pat) de Souza, September 1906 where he was initially the afforded him a bit of peace and quiet time where “a requiem mass was held at the of suspicion by some. After the Japanese a lawyer who personally knew Shinozaki assistant at the Church of the Assump- for prayer and contemplation. Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, attended Mamoru Shinozaki, often described as surrender in 1945, the British arrested him through his practice in Singapore before tion, and later its parish priest. In 1934, In the early days in Bahau, Devals relied by all the top ranking Japanese officers… the “Japanese Schindler”, was instru- and charged him with espionage together the war, and later during his internment he was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of heavily on the religious brothers for leader- almost a state funeral” performed with mental in saving many lives in Singapore with other Japanese officials (he had been in Bahau. He closed his letter by saying: Malacca, which included Singapore, and ship and organisation as well as a core of lay dignity and respect from Singaporeans immediately after the surrender of the similarly charged with espionage by the “I do feel that Shinozaki’s public spirited- served in that role until his death in 1945. people whom he knew and trusted. But as and Japanese.11 Shinozaki described him British on 15 February 1942. British before the war; see Note 6). ness and achievements – at a time when When Mamoru Shinozaki offered time went on and conditions in the settlement as a “noble and fearless man” and said Shinozaki worked with the Catholic Shinozaki was held briefly at the Brit- we who were there were subjected to Bahau to the Catholics as a settlement, did not improve, Devals struggled to provide that at the funeral he “kissed the corner Bishop in Singapore, Adrien Devals, ish Field Security Force headquarters at all kinds of degradations – character- Devals saw it as a way to protect both effective governance in the face of growing of the coffin” because he had “always held to gather a number of Catholics from Balmoral Road in Singapore until some ise him as a great humanitarian and a ­ his flock and the religious communities dissent from members of the laity. Still, he him in respect as a God-fearing man.”12 the so-called “clean-up operation” Bahau residents, along with other civilians, great gentleman.”16

unions in the region between the 16th and 18th centuries. screening. Many of these ethnic Chinese were then interview with Herman Marie de Souza. [Transcript of Oehlers, J. (2011). That's how it goes: The way of the 90- Galvanic Slate”. From the private papers of G. Tack. Notes Most Eurasians in Singapore trace the European part of rounded up and taken to deserted spots to be summarily MP3 Recording No. 000592/06/03, p. 28]. Retrieved year life journey of a Singapore Eurasian. Singapore: Imperial War Museum, London. 1 Museum commemorating the site of the British their ancestry to the Portuguese, Dutch or British. executed. This came to be known as Operation Sook from National Archives of Singapore website: http:// Select Pub. Call no.: RSING 617.6092 OEH Meissonnier, P, (1947). Memories of Bahau: December surrender of Singapore to the Japanese on 15 6 Mamoru Shinozaki had been in Singapore before the war Ching (the Chinese term means “purge through www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline Shinozaki, M. (1975). Syonan, my story: The Japanese 1943– October 1945. [Translated by René Nicholas. February 1942. Located at Upper Bukit Timah Road, as a press attaché at the Japanese Consulate. Interned cleansing”). It is not known exactly how many people 16 De Souza, P. F. (1946, August 19). Spy and humanitarian. Occupation of Singapore. Singapore: Asia Pacific Originally published as Un évêque missionnaire, it is currently closed for renovations and will open in by the British for espionage, he was subsequently died; the official estimates given by the Japanese is 5,000 The Straits Times, p. 4. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. Press. Call no.: RCLOS 940.548252 SHI chef du STO en Malaise” Missionnaires d’Asie, no the first quarter of 2017. released by the Japanese when Singapore fell on 15 but the actual number is believed to be much higher. Van Cuylenburg, J. B. (1982). Singapore: Through 29-30-31]. 2 Established in Singapore in 1919, the Eurasian Association February 1942. He was then appointed as a senior 10 Force 136 operated in Japanese-occupied Southeast References sunshine and shadow. Singapore: Heinemann Asia. is one of the earliest community associations set up to Japanese official initially with a remit for education and Asia during World War II and was the general Books Call no.: RSING 959.57 VAN-[HIS] Oral history interviews look after the interests of Eurasians. later welfare (see text box on page 11). cover name for a branch of the British World War II Hodgkins, F. (2014). From Syonan to Fuji-Go: The story of the Wijeysingha. E., & Nicolas, R. (2006). Going forth…: The (available at the National Archives of Singapore) 3 Bahau is the principal town of the . The 7 A small town in Malaysia located on the northern organisation, the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Catholic settlement in Bahau in WWII Malaya. Singapore: Catholic Church in Singapore 1819–2004. Singapore: Bogaars, George Edwin (1983) (Accession nos.: 000032, 000379) name Bahau is believed to have derived from a Chinese tip of east Johor and the southern tip of , 11 Wijeysingha E., & Nicolas, R. (2006). Going forth…: Select Publishing. Call no.: RSING 307.212095957 HOD Nicholas Chia. Call no.: RSING 282.5957 WIJ-[SRN] De Souza (Jnr), Herman Marie (1985) (Accession no.: 000592) phrase, 馬口, literally translated as “Horse’s mouth”. whose name became synonymous with the Chinese The Catholic Church in Singapore (p. 140). Singapore. La Brooy, M. (1987). Where is thy victory? [S.l. : s.n.,]. Call Marcus, Philip Carlyle (1982) (Accession no.: 000183) 4 Hodgkins, F. (2014). From Syonan to Fuji-Go: The settlement set up in September 1943. Nicholas Chia. Call no.: RSING 282.5957 WIJ no.: RSING 940.5481 LAB-[WAR] Newspapers Woodford, Esme (2007) (Accession no.: 003267) story of the Catholic settlement in Bahau in WWII 8 Bishop Adrien Devals was a French priest who 12 Shinozaki, 2011, p. 136. O’Donovan, P. (2008). Jungles are never neutral: War- The Straits Times Malaya. Singapore: Select Publishing. Call no.: RSING became the leader of the Catholics in Singapore from 13 Shinozaki, M. (2011). Syonan, my story: The Japanese time in Bahau: An extraordinary story of exile and The Syonan Shimbun For a full list of references behind the research, see 307.212095957 HOD the late 1930s (see text box above). Occupation of Singapore (p. 23). Singapore: Marshall survival: The diaries of Brother O'Donovan fsc. , The Syonan Times Hodgkins, F. (2014). From Syonan to Fuji-Go: The 5 The term Eurasian refers to a person of mixed 9 Following the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942, Cavendish Editions. Call no.: RSING 959.57023 SHI-[HIS] Malaysia: Media Masters Publishing. Call no.: RSING story of the Catholic settlement in Bahau in WWII European-Asian ancestry. Historically, it refers to Chinese males between 18 and 50 years of age were 14 Shinozaki, 2011, pp. 159. 940.5308827178 ODO-[WAR] [previously published as: Unpublished sources Malaya. Singapore: Select Publishing. Call no.: RSING anyone who descended from the first European-Asian ordered to report to designated centres for mass 15 Tan, B. L. (Interviewer). (1985, August 17). Oral history Under the Hinomaru, Ipoh: The La Salle Brothers, 1978] Heine, Major K.R.R. Royal Engineers. (1945). “Operation 307.212095957 HOD

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