Did The Chinese Ever Fight for Singapura?

Transcript:

One fiction played by the PAP is that the Chinese community fought the Japanese in World war 2 in defence of Singapura.

They claimed that this loyalty to Singapura led to the Japanese massacring between 25,000-50,000 Chinese in a genocide known as Sook Ching.

So is it true? Did the genocide happen?  Did the Chinese defend Singapura?

Yes and No.

The Japanese military did commit a genocide of the Chinese in Singapura in 1942.  Thousands of Chinese were gunned down in the most brutal fashion.

Now, it is true that some Chinese were recruited into a defence force known as Dalforce. Many Chinese leaders extolled the courage of the Dalforce troops.

Lee Kuan Yew recounted that Dalforce were “a legend, a name synonymous with bravery”.

But did the Chinese really fight for Singapura? And was that why the Japanese targeted them?

No they did not.

The Chinese did not fight for Singapura.  They fought for China.

As detailed by Blackburn and Chew in their article “Dalforce at the fall of Singapore in 1942”, the Chinese community joined Dalforce as part of their defence of their motherland, China. The fight in Singapura was simply to open another front to help defend their Chinese motherland.

The Chinese community in Singapura had spent 5 years raising money for China’s war against Japan. They raised millions.

It was only when Japan was at Singapura’s door that they, with the help of the British tried to organise a small fighting force.

And what happened when the Japanese started to hit them with artilleries? According to a Dalforce member, that “there were few dead, but more who ran away”.

They ran even though they were not hit directly.

So no, they did not fight for Singapura.

And what about Sook Ching?  It had nothing to do with this small group that did not really fight.

In fact, the Japanese had little concern for them. Historians noted that “Sook Ching was not launched as a retaliation against the Chinese volunteers as [they] inflicted very few casualties …due to their numbers being so small”.

In fact, “among the local units described in the official Japanese war history series, Dalforce is not mentioned.”

So yes, there was a massacre of the Chinese community by the Japanese during the occupation.

But no, it had nothing to do with their courage or defence of Singapura.

It was purely because of their loyalty and support for their motherland, China.

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