After the Second World War (WWII) ended, Labuan became one of the locations where war crime trials took place. From December 1945 and January 1946, 16 war crime trials took place at Labuan. Some of the cases trialed at Labuan were the ill-treatment of prisoners of War (POW) at Batu Lintang Camp, the Sandakan Death […]
Also known as Lintang Barracks and Kuching POW camp, the Batu Lintang camp was a Japanese internment camp during the Second World War (WWII). Unlike other Japanese internment camps, the Lintang Barracks held both Prisoners of War (POWs) and civilian internees. The camp was originally British Indian Army barracks. The Japanese took it over from […]
When the Malayan Peninsula and subsequently Singapore were captured during World War II (WWII), it was considered among the Japanese Army’s greatest wartime achievements. Meanwhile, it was the worst Far Eastern defeats for Great Britain. During WWII, Singapore was British military base in Southeast Asia. Also known as the Fall of Singapore, the battle lasted […]
Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “Victory belongs to the most persevering”. This is not necessarily works every time especially when comes to Japanese holdouts. In Japanese, they called them ‘Zanryu nipponhei’ or the remaining Japanese soldier. They were the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II (WWII) who continued […]
Unit 731’s official name was ‘Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army’ but their actual work had nothing to do with safeguarding health and security. This biological and chemical warfare research development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army actually started epidemics and polluted rivers with human remains. Based at the Pingfang district […]
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties and three additional protocols which establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. Basically, the treaties define the basic rights of wartime prisoners for both civilians and military personnel. In other words, just because you have conquered a country, it doesn’t mean that you can do whatever you […]
Captain Lionel Matthews might not be a familiar name for Sarawakians but during World War II (WWII) he was executed by a firing squad on Mar 2, 1944 in Kuching. After the war, he was posthumously awarded the George Cross. It is the highest award for heroism or courage in the face of the enemy […]
Kempeitai or also known as Kenpeitai was the infamous Japanese military police from 1881 to 1945. In Japanese-occupied territories, this police force was in charge of arresting and executing those who were suspected of being anti-Japanese. They were notorious for their brutal treatment of prisoners during World War II (WWII). Many historians refer to them […]
World War Two (WWII) brought a lot of changes into the world including the food that we eat. During the war, food supply was low in Japanese-occupied Asian countries because priority was given to the military. There were even incidents of animal captives in zoos being sacrificed for Japanese military food. When people are pushed […]
If you are not familiar with Flores island, Indonesia, it was the home of Homo floresiensis, a species of small archaic human. This species of human was nicknamed ‘Hobbit’ by its discoverers, after the fictional race popularised in J.R.R. Tolkien’s book The Hobbit. It is believed that the Homo floresiensis lived on Flores island until […]
