Page 92 - Stories from our Grandparents

Mdm Halijah Abdullah Born 1932

By Nurul Hidayah bte Anshari
Millennia Institute

I At the centre, we, women, had to plant crops since
was 10 when World War II
happened. I was at home,
the rationed food given wasn’t sufficient for everyone,
especially those with large families. For the rationed
helping my mom to cook,
as always, when I heard
of the day for food and other necessary items like
a loud crashing sound. foods, we basically had to queue up at ungodly hours
I thought it was just a toilet paper and water. Gardening wasn’t exactly
lightning strike but when I something I was familiar with so I gained help from this
heard chaos, shouting and Eurasian girl. She was like a sister to me. She was 15.
panicky screams, I knew She was the one who helped me with the gardening when I told her I had
well enough that it wasn’t never planted anything before. One day, while we were planting crops, this
just a normal occurrence. Japanese soldier just walked up to her and started calling
her improper names. When she did not respond, he pulled
Later on, I found out that a bomb had been dropped on my her hair and started slapping her face. That was the last
neighbour’s house. It definitely terrified me and until today, I can still time I saw her. I heard she got raped and killed for they
remember the pale look on my neighbours’ face when he came to found her too pretty.
my house for shelter after his whole family had been wiped away. I
thought that was all but it was just the beginning. When all of this was happening, my mom was having serious health
issues. She became really skinny. Well, she didn’t even eat much in
“Two Japanese soldiers came to my house, the first place. She often gave her food to me to eat. It hurt me seeing

with guns and looks that screamed ‘you her suffer and be able to do nothing about it. She passed away later
better follow my instructions or I will not on since her health problem had taken a toll on her life.
hesitate to kill you’. When we refused World War 2 wasn’t something I would want to experience
to evacuate, they beat up my father and again but it was also the reason why I am a much tougher
brother. My mother couldn’t bear to watch and stronger woman today. It helped me to better overcome
hardships and problems in life.
them getting hurt so she made us evacuate
the house to the evacuation centre,
‘for our safety’.”

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