Part One: The last weekend at a cabaret

Last December, I had written stories on the fateful days that followed the landing of the Japanese military on the shores of Kota Baru on the east coast of Malaya, concentrating on the early Penang experience of the war. From there and also from their other landings in southern Thailand where they met only token resistance from the Thais, the Japanese smashed their way down the peninsula, over-ran the positions of the British armed forces everywhere and captured Singapore on the eve of Chinese New Year in February 1942. 

In December 1961, The Straits Times newspaper in Singapore ran a five-part controversial serial called Eighty Days to Singapore to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1941 Japanese invasion. The serial was based on the report of General Arthur Percival (General Officer Commanding (Malaya)) and the memoirs of Japanese master tactician Colonel Tsuji Masanobu. 

From the 3 December 1961 issue of The Straits Times, David Baratham wrote the first part of his serial which I reproduce here: 

THE LAST WEEKEND - at a cabaret

QUOTE: Nevertheless, both during the period before the war and during the campaign itself, an artificial and unwarlike atmosphere prevailed throughout Malaya. - Lt General AE PERCIVAL, C.B., D.S.O., O.B.E., M.C.

IT IS Saturday night in Singapore. We have been to a dinner-dance at the Great World Cabaret. We had seen the advertisements telling us that all the proceeds were for charity.

For the Child Welfare Society, in fact, and that two bottles of champagne were to be given away as prizes.

In the morning the children had been to see Walt Disney's "Pinnochio" at the Alhambra.

Earlier that Saturday evening some friends had gone to see Gene Tierney in "Belle Star".

The posters had boasted that Belle Star "captured an arsenal.....a seized government property....routed U.S. troops in battle after battle!"

MINISTRY FILMS

AND before "Belle" was screened, there were Ministry of Information films showing "The Singapore RNVR and Malay Regiments in Training" and "Indian Troops Preparing for the Defence of Malaya."

When was all this? December 6, 1941. It was a gay weekend, especially at the Happy World Cabaret.

There, the press advertisement exclaimed proudly:

Charming, happy girls are ready to greet and dance with you. Nowhere else such cheerfulness and friendliness!

Saturday night - stay-at-homes could have listened to the radio to "Calling All British Forces in the Far East" at 7 p.m. and after that a report on the racing at Ipoh, then a popular concert until Mantovani took over with dance music.

A VARIETY SHOW

ON an alternative service there was a Malay variety show by the Kampong Gelam Kronchong, followed by the news in Malay, English, Arabic and French.

The news was good. Only the day before, a squadron of Bristol Beaufighters had arrived in Singapore, and one of the pilots had said:

"This is only the beginning! It won't be long before you can count them by the dozen!"

And earlier in the week, Sir Earle Page, the Special Ministerial Delegate from Australia, had made this statement in London: "Enormous advances have been made, making Singapore not merely impregnable, but able if necessary to be a spearhead of a great offensive."

The 'enormous advances' everyone guessed, referred to the arrival on Tuesday, Dec 2, of the battleships the Prince of Wales and the Repulse and other warships.

Only eight months old the Prince of Wales had a speed of over 30 knots and was equipped with ten 14-inch guns firing shells each weighing just under a ton.

She carried four aeroplanes and could put up an anti-aircraft barrage firing 60,000 rounds per minute.

"In the street," a reporter wrote, "the news passed rapidly and syces in Raffles Place were soon saying to each other: 'Kapal perang besar sudah datang.'

The destroyers looked like scooters beside the monster battleship and groups of Malays turned out to welcome warships such as were never seen before."

The Fleet was in! On the eve of its arrival, the BBC said: "Britain is leaving nothing to chance in her preparations to meet a possible flare-up in the Pacific."

AND ALL WAS WELL, IT SEEMED, ON LAND.

"Two days spent touring the new battle stations of the Australian Defence Force in Malaya," said one press correspondent, "have provided convincing proof that an enemy force invading that area has a poor chance of escaping complete ruin."

Admittedly, a State of emergency had been proclaimed by Sir Shenton Thomas, the Governor, on Dec 1. But this, he explained, was a normal precautionary measure.

Only two days earlier, hundreds more British troops had arrived and were greeted by the Far East C-in-C, Sir Robert Brooke Popham himself. A spokesman told newsmen that they were "itching to have a crack at somebody."

'AN AWKWARD POSITION'

OVERSEAS, too, the news was encouraging. The Sourabaya newspaper Handelsblad declared that Japan was in an awkward position after Mr Churchill's warning speech and would have to go warily if she wished to survive.

Meanwhile, her whole commercial system was dying a natural death, and any violent action by her militarists would only hasten its end.

Another Dutch paper - the Algemeen Indische Dagblad - expressed even tougher views:

"Japan needs a good lesson and she will undoubtedly get it. A new order will have to be established in the East, but a different one from that which Japan envisages."

"It will be an order in which such a leader as Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek will play a much larger role than the little soldiers of the Mikado.

"In Malaya, Burma, Hong Kong and the Philippines, troops stand by, so to speak, with their fingers on the trigger reader to open fire the moment the Japanese make a wrong move.

"The Netherlands East Indies are ready and prepared for whatever may come."

TIRED AND WORRIED

A STAR of the first magnitude in the international diplomatic world of 1941 passed through Singapore on Nov 29, namely, Mr M Litvinov the Soviet Ambassador to America. He (was received by) the Governor, the acting General Officer Commanding, Malaya, the American Consul General and the Soviet Government representative in Singapore.

Although looking tired and worried, Mr Litvinov smiled as he shook hands with Sir Shenton.

While in Singapore, he called on both the C-in-C Far East, Sir Robert Brooke Popham and the C-in-C China Station, Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton, but he declined to make a press statement.

A week later, another visiting diplomat, Mr Suemasa Okamoto, the new Japanese Consul, told the Press: "I have nothing to say."

In Thailand, nightlife was livened up with the arrival of Japanese "tourists" and businessmen.

KILLED IN BRAWL

ONE was reported killed in a brawl and there were several fights in nightclubs and in the streets when Japanese nationals reportedly insisted on paying their charges with yen, which they said would soon be used all over Thailand.

Feeling ran so high that the Japanese Ambassador felt it necessary to reprimand his unruly countrymen for their actions, threatening them with deportation if their "disgraceful behaviour" continued.

On Friday, Dec 5, Field Marshal Songram, the Thai Prime Minister, assured the Bangkok Chronicle:

"We have a non-aggression pact with Britain and a treaty of amity with Japan, and if these great powers do not consider such sacred treaties as scraps of paper, then Thailand must be considered safe from invasion.

"We must remain prepared all the time, because we must not be taken by surprise though we have no idea who will be our enemy.

"If we cannot escape war, we have got to fight, and fight well, and fight to the end."

Another reassuring piece of news was reported from Washington. There Admiral Nomura, the Japanese Ambassador, explained:

"As Chinese troops have recently been showing signs of movements along the north of French Indo-China, Japanese troops, with the object mainly of taking precautionary measures, have been reinforced to a certain extent in the northern part of French Indo-China."

'STILL FRIENDLY NATIONS'

ON Dec 15 (My comment: the date should be Nov 12) it was authoratively declared in Washington that the Japanese troops in Indo-China did not menace Thailand.

Reporters besieged the Japanese envoys as they left the State Department in Washington. Special envoy Saburo Kurusu patted one of them on the back and said: "As your President said, we are still friendly nations."

So much for foreign affairs - tedious, contradictory things at the best of times. What about local sport?

There was plenty to choose from during that Last Weekend: "Rousing rugger will be the order of the day on the padang this evening," predicted the Straits Times of Dec 6, "when Singapore and Johore Bahru meet the combined RAF and RAAF sides in aid of war charities.

"It should be a good, hard struggle."

There was tennis too, and hockey, and the Pasir Panjang Rovers announced they were touring Ipoh and Penang during the Christmas holidays, playing football against the Cheng Hwa Football Club in Ipoh and the Chinese Recreation Club in Penang.

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES

OTHER forthcoming fixtures were the YMCA Hockey XI, with Goh Chin Chye as captain, versus a Field Ambulance Team, and the Hornets and Harlequins with RH Barth as captain, versus the Indian Army on Raffles Institute ground, both games to be played the following Monday, Dec 8.

At the Theatre Royal, K Thayagaraja Bhagavathar and K Aswathamina were starring in "Chintamani."

The Palm Beach Hotel, Malacca, enticed Singaporean weekenders by advertising itself "for quiet relaxation - and ideal holiday resort convenient for golf and swimming."

A lunch-time Rotary Club meeting at the Adelphi Hotel featured Dr JW Scharff who spoke about "Vegetables For All."

And students were reminded by announcements from the YMCA School of Commerce and the Far Eastern Music School that they had vacancies for pupils for the forthcoming winter term.

A drawing office in Ipoh needed a "useful mechanical draughtsman" at a monthly salary of from $50 to $80. There were vacancies also as drivers with the Field Survey Company, Federal Malay States.

And the Royal Air Force Headquarters at Sime Road needed British lady stenographers at $125 per month, specifying a minimum of 36 hours per week.

Business was not bad. On Dec 6 the share market opened quietly and there was a preponderance of sellers in all sections.

Sellers, however, were not prepared to accept lower prices.

The Singapore Traction Company's receipts for November were $296,000. Over a thousand tons of rubber was auctioned, standard smoked sheet fetching 38 1/8 per pound, and over 52,000 tons of rubber were shipped in November.

The War Fund had just passed the $6,000,000 mark. Contributions acknowledged in the press included "a further donation of $15 from the Asian staff of the Dunlop Malay Estates, and a further $15.50 from the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank's Asian staff."

Those who felt like celebrating the strengthening of Singapore's defences on Sunday, as well as Saturday night, could have had a party with dinner served on the lawn at Raffles Hotel and music by the Band of the Loyal Regiment.

Or they could have driven out to Kallang and dined at the Airport Restaurant - "ideal for its pleasant surroundings - dinner served on the cool terrace."

Or indulged in a dinner-dance at the Cathay Restaurant with the Band of the 7th Gordon Highlanders playing for them until it handed over to Harry Hackmire and his music-makers.

And from that lofty building, visitors newly arrived from war-battered, blacked-out London could have paused to contemplate the calm beauty of the sparkling city lights of Singapore.

DISGRUNTLED VICTIM

BUT not everyone could do these pleasant things, however well-off.

Mr AJ Aitken wrote angrily to the Press complaining that he was barred from bringing a close relation in the Services as his guest to a hotel because his relation was an Other Rank and not an officer.

Another disgruntled war-victim was "B" who wrote: "My syce has left me without notice, and I am told he is working for a military officer who is paying him $40 a month.

"It seems strange that Service people who reproach us about the taxes they pay, come here and push up the cost of living like this."

Food prices, of course, were controlled and published. Beef steak was fixed at 45 cents per katti; capons 75 cents; eggs 42 cents for 10.

But these controls did not satisfy "Sympathiser" who wrote to the Straits Times on Dec 6: "Prices have gone up tremendously in spite of control. The cost of living allowance is at present only granted to those earning less than $65 per month.

"The Tuans are still getting their children's allowance, even if they do not educate their children at home. It is the middleclass of subordinates that suffers. They get nothing but debts, which must be cleared before Jan 1, according to CSO Circular No.13."

Another matter causing irritation and hard feelings was the business about wild life preservation.

"Tawan" felt so strongly about it that he let fly with the following salvo in the Straits Times on Dec 6. "For the very life of me I cannot understand why people who obviously have little or no experience in wild life preservation, in Malaya, anyway, positively refuse to take the advice of a known and competent naturalist.

"Why Mr Hubback's offer to become a trustee of the National Park was not accepted promptly is beyond imagination, especially as it was positively proved that considerable money can be saved - a very important and necessary war measure indeed."

ONE TRAGEDY REPORTED

THEN, too, there seemed to be a spot of bother going on in the Singapore Municipality and when the Municipal Commissioners met on Dec 5, Mr B Lowick pointedly referred to "the misleading practice of transferring estimates and putting them up as savings when actually no savings had been made."

And one tragedy was reported that week. A Sikh watchman tried without success to prevent his friend, a Sikh police corporal, from jumping off the terrace of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank.

At the inquest, evidence showed that the young corporal had been greatly distressed over the question of his promotion.

Yet on the whole, everyone seemed happy enough. Mr Clause de Silva told the Legislative Council: "The people are bursting with confidence and are proud to share in any sufferings or sacrifices. Malaya is going to see this thing through."

On Dec 8, Sir Robert Brooke Popham joined with Sir Geoffrey Layton in proclaiming: EXHAUSTIVE CLAIMS

"WE are confident. Our defences are strong and our weapons efficient. We see before us a Japan disarmed for years by the exhaustive claims of her wanton onslaught on China."

Then war came to Malaya. Japan struck. And a leading article, entitled "At Last the Far Eastern Tension Has Ended" on Dec 8 fully endorsed these military experts' sentiments.

The article began: "It is impossible to say at this moment how many points Japan has attacked. The Hawaiian Islands, the Philippines, Wake Island and Malaya are certainties, but she has sacrificed the great advantages conferred in her by her large fleet.

"Her actions indicate stark madness which can have only one result. The sun of Japan has ceased to rise.

"It is setting rapidly - we are now faced with a struggle which will certainly be sharp, but which by all indications cannot be unduly long.

"One of the most satisfying features of the Singapore scene this morning is the absolute calm of the local populace.

"This is not an inspired statement. The ordinary people are going about their business very much as they did on Saturday and Friday before their island home was attacked.

"Sightseeing was a popular pastime. There was no sign whatever of any panic. We know where we stand, we know where we are going, and we shall get there."

Sightseers must have been diverted by the text of a huge banner fixed high up on the Victoria Memorial clock tower. It read: "THEY CAN'T STOP THE CLOCK."

AT midnight on Sunday Japanese transports anchored off Kota Bharu in rough weather, and transshipped troops into invasion barges.

The Japanese believed the beach would be heavily mined and waited for fighter plane protection while their naval escorts bombarded the coast.

SWAM FOR THE SHORE

ACCORDING to Col Mansobu Tsuji, General Yamashita's Chief of Staff, 5,300 men of the Takumi Detachment were detailed to capture the town; they carried with them a battery of mountain guns, two quickfiring guns and anti-aircraft guns.

The detachment included medical and sanitation personnel, pressmen and a field hospital.

Resistance to the landing was fierce - both from the land and air. Two of the transports caught fire and some of the troops, wearing life belts and carrying their rifles, jumped overboard and swam for the shore.

The invasion barges were attacked constantly by fighter aircraft, but eventually the men surviving these low-level machinegun attacks got to the beach where they were confronted by point blank fire.

They dug into the sand with their hands and their helmets, lobbing grenades into the pillboxes, edging forward on their stomachs until they came to barbed wire entanglements.

Exploding land mines blew them to pieces. Wire-cutters crawled over the corpses and made several openings. Other invasion troops charged pillboxes with fixed bayonets and threw more hand grenades.

Across the river, another defence position was attacked the same way.

Fighting went on all day and through the night. At sunset, torrential rain obscured the battlefield. But by midnight the aerodrome was taken. Kota Bharu fell the next day, at 2 p.m.

Monday, Dec 8, 1941 - when, according to a news item from London: "Informed quarters discredited reports that the Japanese have sunk two cruisers at Singapore. Authoritative quarters state that all the information they have so far is that the enemy attempted a landing near Kota Bharu, and it is confirmed that the first attempt was repulsed."

Monday, Dec 8, 1941 - the day of the first air raid on Singapore - an early-morning attack aided by those sparkling city lights - the day Pearl Harbour was destroyed, the day Britain declared war on Japan, the day the Japanese 25th Army took Singora and Patani.

The Black Monday after that gay Last Weekend in Singapore, which ended an era of prosperity and security dating from Jan 29, 1819.

To be continued....