Page 102 - Stories from our Grandparents

Mdm Basant Kaur Born 1933
By Charanpal Kaur
Millennia Institute
I et her to elaborate on some of her past experiences.
y grandmother was born in the 1930s and had first-hand experience
of the Japanese Occupation which happened in Singapore 1942.
One prominent story that my grandmother remembers is that
Mduring the Japanese Occupation, the Japanese soldiers made
the usual rounds around the small island. Since my family was a Sikh family,
we were not really targeted by the Japanese. The Chinese were more so
targeted by the Japanese whether they did anything bad or not. The Japanese
soldiers also targeted the young Chinese women and through this was how
my grandmother had first-hand experience with the Japanese soldiers.
One hot afternoon my grandmother and her parents were out in the market
when they heard a lot of commotion and two young Chinese ladies were
running from the Japanese soldiers. My grandmother’s parents actually
provided them help by bringing them back to their house.
“They hid one of the girls under the bed and the other girl in a
sack (used to hold a large amount of vegetables like potatoes).
The Japanese soldiers then actually went from door to door
to look for the girls and when they went to my grandmother’s
house they forced them to let them raid the place and search
for the girls. However, my great-grandparents managed to
send them away and save the two girls.”
My grandmother said that she felt very happy that her parents helped the
girls. She said this “at that point in time only helping each other out, no
matter race or religion, helped us survive the hardships during the
Japanese occupation.”
Even though my grandmother did experience preferential treatment by the
Japanese soldiers each day was a struggle. Getting by was even harder. Food
was always expensive and my grandmother often had to starve due to lack of
food. The only food they could afford was sweet potatoes and tapioca. They
lived in constant fear as they feared that even doing something small would
trigger the Japanese to kill them.
will be interviewing my grandmother, Chow Yoon How, age 84.
Before I begin I would like to inform that my grandma is hard of
hearing, so it was difficult to ask her questions, as such I am unable
to g
My grandmother, mother of my father, was born into a family with
one elder brother and her father. Her father was from Indonesia and
moved to Malaysia before the war and gave birth to my grandmother
there. Her father started his own small farm, raising pigs and owning a
small plantation.
“However, when the Japanese invaded, she
and her whole family had to move out of
the kampong and her farm was confiscated
by the Japanese. She would then spend the
next 3 years surviving on sweet potatoes and porridge, and in
the 3 years, even though my grandmother was already quite
skinny, she lost another 10kg.”
Her father would have to frequently starve himself just so my
grandmother and her brother would have enough to eat, this would
explain why she hates it whenever my mom cooks sweet potatoes.
One thing I couldn’t find out was what happened to her mother; it seems
she died during the war and didn’t seem to want to talk about it, and hence
I didn’t pursue the matter any further. After the war ended, her family didn’t
get back her farm. As her family was very poor, she moved to Singapore and
did odd jobs to survive, and it would be in Singapore where she met my
grandfather. This was my interview with my grandmother. From this session I
found out many new things about my grandmother, like how she used to live
in a farm, and that her mother died in the war. This also made me appreciate
my grandmother much more, considering she is 84 years old now, hard of
hearing and yet is still quite well and healthy.
Mdm Chow Hoon How
Born 1934
By Fok Zhi Jon Grandma Stories 45
Millennia Institute