What Are The Causes Of The Sook Ching Massacre

The Sook Ching, meaning a purge through cleansing, was a massacre that happened when Britain surrendered Singapore to Japan, from February 18 to March 4 of 1942. Chinese males aged 18 to 50 were called to screening centers to be examined by Japanese soldiers. If they were deemed “anti-Japanese,” they would be executed. While this massacre is not as well-known as other historical events, there is still debate on some of the causes. One idea that is widely disagreed on is that the Chinese were passing intelligence to the British and that Chinese guerrillas were consistently attempting to disrupt Japanese efforts, such as by flashing signals to British airplanes. Kempeitai officer Onishi Satoru wrote in his memoirs that there was no evidence
The other false cause is that the anti-Japanese Chinese were preparing for an armed uprising. In addition to more concerns such as looting and raping, the Japanese wished to restore order. However, the diary of Lieutenant General Kawamura Saburo was changed by the Japanese army task force to counter charges made during war crime trials by the Allied forces. Where he wrote about improvements, it was changed to state none. As one of the officers who was later executed, he was highly involved in the invasion and subsequent massacre, thus offering valuable insight. Onishi reinforces this in his memoirs where he stated that Singapore’s public security was improving. Debates aside, the Sook Ching Massacre was caused primarily by the Second Sino-Japanese War occurring at the same time. Other factors include ideological differences, the bloodlust of Japanese soldiers and fear of
In Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking, she states that the average Japanese soldier “was not simply hardened for battle in China; he was hardened for the task of murdering Chinese combatants and non-combatants alike.” This indicates the extent of the violent tendencies of the Japanese armies. Furthermore, the Japanese military used live Chinese civilians and unarmed prisoners as target practice with the purpose of desensitizing soldiers for when they eventually had to kill Chinese civilians. Additionally, Blackburn claims that although the Japanese “made a show” of separating those who may have been “anti-Japanese” or a guerrilla fighter, they often did not have enough time to do so and “indiscriminate killing” ensued instead. Sources based on Colonel Chuang Hui-Tsuan’s collection describe how all Chinese who walked through a certain entrance at one screening centre were executed while those taking another pathway were released. The three instances demonstrate the bloodlust and the lack of hesitation towards violence of the Japanese soldiers. Goh Sin Tub stated that the Kempeitai were “ruthless” and that “the soldiers went all out to screen the Chinese… [and] to seek and destroy anyone suspected of being hostile, no matter how flimsy the evidence, no matter how many were fingered.” While Goh Sin Tub is obviously biased as his own family members were victims, his memory of this time is