15. Screening and Interrogation

Three days after the fall of Singapore on February 7, 1942, the Japanese military authorities ordered the mass screening of the Chinese community in Malaya and Singapore. The Chinese suffered the most under Japanese rule, in part because many had contributed funds to the Kuomintang (KMT, Nationalist Party founded by Dr. Sun Yatsen) in China in the war against Japan, and thousands were executed during the occupation.

The Japanese systematically rounded up all the Chinese male population. This special operation known as sook ching (purification through suffering) involved the screening of Chinese neighbourhoods, followed by the detention or execution of any suspected of working against the Japanese.

A most terrifying feature well remembered by most people was the 'identification parade'. People were made to pass in single file before a row of hooded informers. A nod of the head from any one of these hooded informers signified recognition and the victim was immediately picked up for questioning and was never seen again. Chinese suspects were loaded onto lorries and driven away to killing grounds where they were machine-gunned and bayoneted. Many people disappeared without a trace. In Taiping, some of these killing grounds were in Tupai near the Guangdung Cemetery, and the hilly areas around Klian Pauh.

Our father recalled one such screening session conducted in Taiping. On that particular day, all Chinese males, whether young or old, were gathered together in a field known as the circus ground (presently Taiping Hawkers Centre). They were forced out of their homes early in the morning, bare-bodied, thirsty and hungry, and made to stand under the blazing sun for the whole day. The questioning was conducted by the Japanese soldiers with help from some Taiwanese interpreters. Fortunately for our grandfather and father, they returned home safe that evening after suffering one of the most terrifying ordeal of their lives.

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