Did People Collaborate or Resist?

People in Singapore responded to Japanese rule in three main ways. The majority kept their heads down to survive; some collaborated, whether willingly or under duress; and a minority resisted at great personal risk. These notes examine each response, and the groups and individuals, such as the Malay Regiment, the MPAJA, , Lim Bo Seng and Elizabeth Choy, whose resistance is still remembered.

Three Ways to Respond

Keeping their heads down: the majority avoided attracting Japanese attention, prioritising survival over confrontation.
Collaboration: some worked with the Japanese, either willingly or because they were threatened or forced by their circumstances.
Resistance: a minority actively opposed Japanese rule at great personal risk.

Collaboration

Malays: the Japanese actively sought Malay support to help run the administration; some Malays served in the police or in neighbourhood associations that reported suspected anti-Japanese activity.
Chinese informants: some Chinese acted as informants for the Kempeitai during Operation Sook Ching, helping to identify people regarded as anti-Japanese.
Under duress: collaborators came from different communities, and many did not have a free choice.

Resistance

Young uniformed fighters with rifles marching in a long line along a seafront road — MPAJA guerrillas at a march past, 1945. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Malay Regiment: seven senior officers refused to pledge allegiance to Japan or fight for it, and were executed for their defiance.
Armed resistance: others responded to Japanese ill-treatment by joining resistance forces, most notably the and Force 136.
A shared goal: both groups aimed to drive the Japanese out, and both worked with the British.

Did People Collaborate or Resist?

How the Resistance Fought Back

PointResistance groups actively challenged Japanese rule in order to weaken Japanese control and drive the Japanese out.
EvidenceThe MPAJA's guerrillas carried out against Japanese officers and soldiers and circulated anti-Japanese newspapers and posters. Force 136, a secret organisation set up by the British, gathered intelligence on the Japanese and organised sabotage.
ElaborationSabotage disrupted Japanese operations, anti-Japanese publications kept resentment of Japanese rule alive, and intelligence gathered by Force 136 aided the British, who shared the resistance's goal of defeating Japan.
LinkThus, although they were few, resistance groups risked their lives to undermine Japanese rule while most people kept their heads down.

Lim Bo Seng

Before the war: a prominent Hokkien businessman who came to Singapore from China at 16, he led activities to support China's war effort against Japan, including a boycott of Japanese goods.
1942: as Japanese troops advanced from Johor, he helped blow up the Causeway to slow them down, then escaped to India and joined Force 136.
Capture: in 1943 he helped build an intelligence network in Malaya; captured in March 1944, he revealed nothing under torture and died in prison on 29 June 1944.
Impact: buried with full military honours at MacRitchie Reservoir, he became an enduring symbol of sacrifice; the Lim Bo Seng Memorial at Esplanade Park was gazetted a national monument in 2010.

Elizabeth Choy

Secret help: born in North Borneo (present-day Sabah), she ran a canteen at the Mental Hospital with her husband and secretly smuggled food, money, medicine and messages to British prisoners of war.
Imprisonment: she was held by the Kempeitai at their Stamford Road headquarters for close to 200 days.
Forgiveness: after the war she refused to name the men who had hurt her, saying they had acted as they did because of the war.
Impact: awarded the OBE, she became the first woman on the Legislative Council in 1951 and the first principal of the Singapore School for the Blind in 1956, a pioneer for women in public life.

In One Sentence

During the Occupation most people kept their heads down, some collaborated willingly or under duress, and a courageous minority, including the MPAJA, Force 136, Lim Bo Seng and Elizabeth Choy, resisted at great personal risk.

Think About It

Some people collaborated because they were threatened or forced. Should we judge them the same way as people who collaborated willingly? Why or why not?
Most people simply kept their heads down. Was that a sensible choice, a cowardly one, or something else? What do you think you would have done?
Elizabeth Choy refused to name the men who hurt her. Why do you think she chose to forgive them, and what does that tell you about her?