NONAGENARIAN RECALLS LIFE AS A WW2 SLAV VE
Samsudin Yatim, 93, among 1,000 people forced to work for the Japanese army in PNG
SAMSUDIN Yatim knows what it feels like to be a slave, without basic freedoms and forced to work without pay. Even at 93 and after more than seven decades, he remembers everything clearly — the backbreaking work, shortage of food, absence of medicine and the deaths around him.
“Our lives were torturous. My friends and I were made into slaves by the Japanese Imperial Army in New Britain Island (in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea) during World War 2.
“There were about 1,000 of us — men and women, Malay, Chinese and Indian. We were forced to open up farms on the island to provide food for the army of the Land of the Rising Sun.”
Samsudin said he was rounded up by the Japanese early in 1942, when the Imperial Army arrived in Muar.
When Singapore fell, he and the others were taken there.
“They told us that we would be working for the army. What they actually meant was that we would be slaves.
“We were brought to Singapore on their warships.”
“From there, we were taken to Sumat- era, Tanjung Periuk, Surabaya and Palau before ending up in New Britain. I stayed in New Britain throughout the remainder of World War 2,” he said at his house here.
Samsudin said the New Britain terrain was hilly while the shores were covered in mangrove forests.
The Japanese put their slaves to work, making them plant potatoes, yams and padi meant solely for the consumption of Japanese troops.
“We were forced to work without pay. It was a hard life... just imagine 1kg of rice being shared by 20 people. We slept in bamboo shacks with lalang (weed) used for the roof.
“We really lived a tortured existence... only God knows how it was.
“They didn’t care about us at all, since we were forced labourers. There was no medicine. If you fell sick or were in pain, you just had to bear with it.
“Many died from diseases. And if you died, you would be buried without any sort of rites, whether you are Muslim or nonMuslim,” he said.
Besides the horrors they faced at the hands of the Japanese, the labourers had to deal with Allied attacks on the island.
“These white men (the Allies) did not land (on the island), they attacked from the air.
“The single-engine aircraft would use machine guns, the ones with two would fire missiles and the ones with four would drop bombs. Anyone hit would be obliterated.
“If an air attack occurred, we would run helter-skelter... if there was a drain nearby, we would jump into the drain. We hid wherever we thought would be safe.
“One incident I will never forget is when two of my friends and I tried to hide behind a tree. An aircraft came and fired its machine guns.
“I survived, but my two friends, one on either side of me, were killed.”
Samsudin said he cried every night as he missed his family. Every night he would pray that the war would end and he would be able to return home.
“The night before the Japanese surrendered, there was a large-scale attack on the island. I can’t describe how scared I felt. But the Japanese knew they were defeated... many soldiers, especially the officers, began to commit suicide either by shooting themselves or cutting open their bellies with their swords.”
The next morning, said Samsudin, they saw a flotilla of Allied warships near the shores of the island. Troops began landing and they knew that the war was over.
It was time for them to return.
It was the last time Samsudin ever took his freedom for granted.
The nonagenarian hopes that Malaysians cherish their freedom, and the peace and harmony the country now enjoys.