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Serious SR Nathan- Death of the last War Time Criminal and Japanese collaborator

Papsmearer

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So some stupid friends of mind were talking about the death of Nathan and how sad that was and what a great guy he was and all that nonsense. I barely restraint my fury as I gave them an education on his war time role in the Japanese occupation of Singapore. I might as well give that same reminder to others here on this forum.

Lets be clear on one thing. Nathan worked for and collaborated with the Japanese during WW2. In other words, he betrayed his country by working for the enemy during wartime. There is no denying this, even the prostitute press and Nathan himself does not object to the fact that he worked for the Japanese during the War. What is questionable is the spin that is put on it by himself and echoed by the prostitute press, much like the spin put on by The Founding Father about his wartime role. In many countries, such collaborators would have been put on trial or have street justice meted out to them after the war, as in Norway, and France and other countries. Only in Singapore is such a traitor to his own country glorified and given the highest post in the country.

He has claimed that he worked as a translator for the Japanese in 1942 until the end of the war in 1945. He has stated in his memoirs that he was given a Japanese-English dictionary as a gift by a Japanese army officer and he learned the Japanese language from that dictionary. Ok, lets consider that for a moment, If someone were to give you that same dictionary, would you have been able to learn the Japanese language in such a short time? Not me. Even if you were gifted in languages, it takes a very long time to learn Japanese from a dictionary, which only translates words and does not put together sentences and context for the use of that language. I am calling bullshit on this. I am saying that in addition to having and studying this dictionary, he also had direct Japanese lessons from a Japanese speaker, perhaps even a native Japanese speaker, likely the same Japanese officer that gave him the dictionary.

He seems to be very proud of his days spend working for the Japanese and happily reminisce about those days, not even once acknowledging the role that his employers played in the massacre, torture and imprisonment of his fellow countrymen.

"World War II brought about a change in fortunes. Encountering a Japanese officer seeking directions, Mr Nathan, who spoke English, was asked to accompany the officer to the market.


Soon, he began running errands for Japanese officers, and, at the encouragement of the officer, who gave him an English-Japanese dictionary, he began learning Japanese.



When the company was due to be pulled out from Muar a few months later, a new job was secured for Mr Nathan at a Japanese firm.


There, his command of Japanese caught the eye of another Japanese officer working for the inspector-general of police for Johor, and he was hired to join the Japanese civilian police, with which he stayed for the rest of the war until the Japanese surrendered.


Recollecting the war years, Mr Nathan reflected: “For many people, World War II was an appalling time. For me, in my teens and with little knowledge of the world or the impact of the war on others, it brought opportunity, after I learnt to speak some simple Japanese.


“It was the first time anyone had told (me) I had a good mind ... With just a little encouragement from an unexpected quarter, my confidence began to rebuild itself.”"

Instead, he happily admits that WW2 and working for the Japs brought him opportunity. What kind of a sick sychophant shows no remorse and no regret at all, and never mentions the Japanese in a poor light. It seems that he was so skilled in the Japanese language, he ended up being the translator for the top Japanese "civilian" police officer in Singapore. No doubt he was in a position of trust and was able to see and hear many things at the police HQ. You are telling me that he did not see anything going on in the Police HQ? People being arrested and tortured there? People coming into the police office to look for missing relatives arrested by his employers? How many incriminating documents did he translate for the Japs? He did not catch glimpses of conversations between Japanese officers to understand what was going on? How many singaporeans died or were arrested and tortured due to his translations? Why did he conveniently fail to mention any of these while he was still alive?

Also, what is the Japanese Civilian Police? I could find no evidence that there is such an organization in Singapore during the Japanese occupation. There was already a British run civilian police force before the Japs came. I am sure that this police force continued on without its British officers during the occupation. The Japs came with the Kampeitai, their secret police/military police force. The Kampeitai has several departments, such as the Keimu Han, which is the closest to being police section. If this was the section that Nathan worked for, well then, he was still working for the Kampeitai. Why would the Japs bring in a civilian police force when they are an occupation force and would have used their Military Police augmented by a regular Army detachment to enforce order? What I am trying to say is that Nathan never worked for no bloody Japanese civilian police force, rather, he worked for the only Japanese police force, which was the Kampeitai. If there is any information out there to correct me, please do so.

Do you know they were still finding mass graves of people killed by the Japanese as late as 1962 in areas like Siglap? In fact, 5 mass war graves were found there in 1962 and the area was dubbed The Valley of Tears by the press. A total of 30 mass graves of victims killed by the Japanese were found. And that does not include the many victims who were machined gun on the beaches of Tanah Merah and Sentosa and whose bodies were carried out to sea. A total of 50000 people killed by the Japs during the Sook Ching massacre and some claim as many as 100,000. On 25th August 1963, 100,000 people marched to City Hall and demanded war reparations and compensations for the atrocities that the Japs committed on Singaporeans. Think about that. 100,000 people took to the streets and when to City Hall to demand the govt do something about this. Today, they would need a police permit or some idiotic thing to do that.

Nathan was a part of these atrocities. He did not play a direct role, this is true, because they never went so far as to trust him with a gun. But he definitely played a much more active role then the ordinary singaporean of his time. Being a direct member of the Japanese occupation force and working for them. Its not the same if he was cleaning toilets for them but the translating of documents implicating singaporeans is a different active level altogether. All of us have older relatives that lived through WW2, and some like me, have lost relatives to the Japs during the war. Nobody put a gun to Nathan's head and forced him to work for the Japs just like no one did for Founding Father. The vast majority of people including my relatives, got through the war without having to work for the Japs. He chose to work for the enemy. That says a lot about where his moral compass was.

Its interesting to note that after many years of back and forth negotiations, The then Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosogawa apologized for the Japanese atrocities in 1993. Its too bad we never got an apology out of Nathan before he died.

 
If he could learn Japanese so quickly & be a translator, he should have been given a Chinese dictionary too & become a Chinese-English translator too...they both use "kanji"...

I bought an English-Japanese dictionary when I was working for a Japanese company....manage to understand or make SOME CONVERSATIOn learning from the dic...but to string proper sentences etc... I have to learn from my Jap boss...who gave me the A E I O U notes to study , is that sequence I forgo?t...on pronunciation....& basic Japanese word for example "no" の....kanji word I recognise...katana word...I am still "lost at sea"...prataman must be a damn good talent...

Now the press etc..are in overdrive...in getting people who knows him....sing 'praises to high heavens' including Sylvia Lim.....to make you feel that the millions we paid for him ...in worth in 'gold"...:rolleyes:
 
If he could learn Japanese so quickly & be a translator, he should have been given a Chinese dictionary too & become a Chinese-English translator too...they both use "kanji"...

I bought an English-Japanese dictionary when I was working for a Japanese company....manage to understand or make SOME CONVERSATIOn learning from the dic...but to string proper sentences etc... I have to learn from my Jap boss...who gave me the A E I O U notes to study , is that sequence I forgo?t...on pronunciation....& basic Japanese word for example "no" の....kanji word I recognise...katana word...I am still "lost at sea"...prataman must be a damn good talent...

Now the press etc..are in overdrive...in getting people who knows him....sing 'praises to high heavens' including Sylvia Lim.....to make you feel that the millions we paid for him ...in worth in 'gold"...:rolleyes:

He has claimed that his native tamil is similar to Japanese in syntax and hence he could master Japanese easily. Not sure about this. I did some research and it seems that there is similar vocabulary for Japanese and tamil (Dravidian), but still, the fucker must be one kind of a language talent to be able to master it so quickly and work for the Japs as long as he did. still say its bullshit if he was not taught by a native jap speaker.
 
If working for your wartime enemy as a translator does not quantify as a 汉奸走狗 then I wonder what can.

BTW scrooball clone damn proud his grandma served as voluntary 慰安妇during ww2.
 
In case you guys missed it in the other thread. In any other nation treason is punishable by death. Here we have the two most treasonous subjects in local history helming the nation.


Sleeping With The Enemy


When the Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation ("The Cenotaph") was spray painted with graffiti, many were howling and baying for blood about the sacrilege of the war dead. Some of those outraged may be blissfully unaware of two living individuals who used to cosy up to the Japanese occupiers of World War II.

One answered an advertisement in the Synonan Shimbun and went to work for the Japanese propaganda department called the Hodobu. His job, deciphering intercepted cables from Reuters, UP, AP, Central News Agency of China and TASS, may have contributed to the capture, torture and death of many a freedom fighter. One of the editors, George Takemura, was pal enough to drop in in the evening and give him a packet of Japanese cigarettes from his own rations.("The Singapore Story", pg 63,64)

The other met his Jap buddy by helping him to buy fish and vegetable at the market. Soon he became errant boy of second lieutenant "Amaya-san" for pineapples and papayas (no mangoes, this was way before Michael Palmer's time). Amaya's boss, lieutenant Kokubu, treated him to miso soup and Japanese pickles. He even helped them build the Bakri memorial for Japense soldiers who died fighting there, the last major stand of British and Allied troops. Before long he was made an inspector in the Japanese police department, who hunted down the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA).

No wonder, after the Japs were finally kicked out, and he was looking for a new job, one Major McLean made clear he disapproved of the fact he was an interpreter during the Occupation and accused him of being a collaborator. McLean explained that the MPAJA had fought side-by-side with the British, fought many running battles against the Japanese throughout the Occupation. In SR Nathan's mind, the MPAJA were the bad guys, and the Japs the nice fellows. Worse, he told McLean he would carry a gun for the Eskimo rather than carry anything for the British. ("An Unexpected Journey, Path To The Presidency", SR Nathan, page 122)


WW2.jpg

Lieutenant Kokubu is on the left.
 
aiya...indian where got regard Japanese as their enemies at that time? They are even fighting alongside the Japanese in some areas.
only the Chinese regard the Japanese as death enemies.
 
aiya...indian where got regard Japanese as their enemies at that time? They are even fighting alongside the Japanese in some areas.
only the Chinese regard the Japanese as death enemies.

Singapore was a British colony before the invasion. Prataman's alliance with the Japs against the MPAJA (Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army) and the British made him guilty of treason, no more no less.
 
So some stupid friends of mind were talking about the death of Nathan and how sad that was and what a great guy he was and all that nonsense. I barely restraint my fury as I gave them an education on his war time role in the Japanese occupation of Singapore. I might as well give that same reminder to others here on this forum.

Lets be clear on one thing. Nathan worked for and collaborated with the Japanese during WW2. In other words, he betrayed his country by working for the enemy during wartime. There is no denying this, even the prostitute press and Nathan himself does not object to the fact that he worked for the Japanese during the War. What is questionable is the spin that is put on it by himself and echoed by the prostitute press, much like the spin put on by The Founding Father about his wartime role. In many countries, such collaborators would have been put on trial or have street justice meted out to them after the war, as in Norway, and France and other countries. Only in Singapore is such a traitor to his own country glorified and given the highest post in the country.

He has claimed that he worked as a translator for the Japanese in 1942 until the end of the war in 1945. He has stated in his memoirs that he was given a Japanese-English dictionary as a gift by a Japanese army officer and he learned the Japanese language from that dictionary. Ok, lets consider that for a moment, If someone were to give you that same dictionary, would you have been able to learn the Japanese language in such a short time? Not me. Even if you were gifted in languages, it takes a very long time to learn Japanese from a dictionary, which only translates words and does not put together sentences and context for the use of that language. I am calling bullshit on this. I am saying that in addition to having and studying this dictionary, he also had direct Japanese lessons from a Japanese speaker, perhaps even a native Japanese speaker, likely the same Japanese officer that gave him the dictionary.

He seems to be very proud of his days spend working for the Japanese and happily reminisce about those days, not even once acknowledging the role that his employers played in the massacre, torture and imprisonment of his fellow countrymen.

"World War II brought about a change in fortunes. Encountering a Japanese officer seeking directions, Mr Nathan, who spoke English, was asked to accompany the officer to the market.


Soon, he began running errands for Japanese officers, and, at the encouragement of the officer, who gave him an English-Japanese dictionary, he began learning Japanese.



When the company was due to be pulled out from Muar a few months later, a new job was secured for Mr Nathan at a Japanese firm.


There, his command of Japanese caught the eye of another Japanese officer working for the inspector-general of police for Johor, and he was hired to join the Japanese civilian police, with which he stayed for the rest of the war until the Japanese surrendered.


Recollecting the war years, Mr Nathan reflected: “For many people, World War II was an appalling time. For me, in my teens and with little knowledge of the world or the impact of the war on others, it brought opportunity, after I learnt to speak some simple Japanese.


“It was the first time anyone had told (me) I had a good mind ... With just a little encouragement from an unexpected quarter, my confidence began to rebuild itself.”"

Instead, he happily admits that WW2 and working for the Japs brought him opportunity. What kind of a sick sychophant shows no remorse and no regret at all, and never mentions the Japanese in a poor light. It seems that he was so skilled in the Japanese language, he ended up being the translator for the top Japanese "civilian" police officer in Singapore. No doubt he was in a position of trust and was able to see and hear many things at the police HQ. You are telling me that he did not see anything going on in the Police HQ? People being arrested and tortured there? People coming into the police office to look for missing relatives arrested by his employers? How many incriminating documents did he translate for the Japs? He did not catch glimpses of conversations between Japanese officers to understand what was going on? How many singaporeans died or were arrested and tortured due to his translations? Why did he conveniently fail to mention any of these while he was still alive?

Also, what is the Japanese Civilian Police? I could find no evidence that there is such an organization in Singapore during the Japanese occupation. There was already a British run civilian police force before the Japs came. I am sure that this police force continued on without its British officers during the occupation. The Japs came with the Kampeitai, their secret police/military police force. The Kampeitai has several departments, such as the Keimu Han, which is the closest to being police section. If this was the section that Nathan worked for, well then, he was still working for the Kampeitai. Why would the Japs bring in a civilian police force when they are an occupation force and would have used their Military Police augmented by a regular Army detachment to enforce order? What I am trying to say is that Nathan never worked for no bloody Japanese civilian police force, rather, he worked for the only Japanese police force, which was the Kampeitai. If there is any information out there to correct me, please do so.

Do you know they were still finding mass graves of people killed by the Japanese as late as 1962 in areas like Siglap? In fact, 5 mass war graves were found there in 1962 and the area was dubbed The Valley of Tears by the press. A total of 30 mass graves of victims killed by the Japanese were found. And that does not include the many victims who were machined gun on the beaches of Tanah Merah and Sentosa and whose bodies were carried out to sea. A total of 50000 people killed by the Japs during the Sook Ching massacre and some claim as many as 100,000. On 25th August 1963, 100,000 people marched to City Hall and demanded war reparations and compensations for the atrocities that the Japs committed on Singaporeans. Think about that. 100,000 people took to the streets and when to City Hall to demand the govt do something about this. Today, they would need a police permit or some idiotic thing to do that.

Nathan was a part of these atrocities. He did not play a direct role, this is true, because they never went so far as to trust him with a gun. But he definitely played a much more active role then the ordinary singaporean of his time. Being a direct member of the Japanese occupation force and working for them. Its not the same if he was cleaning toilets for them but the translating of documents implicating singaporeans is a different active level altogether. All of us have older relatives that lived through WW2, and some like me, have lost relatives to the Japs during the war. Nobody put a gun to Nathan's head and forced him to work for the Japs just like no one did for Founding Father. The vast majority of people including my relatives, got through the war without having to work for the Japs. He chose to work for the enemy. That says a lot about where his moral compass was.

Its interesting to note that after many years of back and forth negotiations, The then Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosogawa apologized for the Japanese atrocities in 1993. Its too bad we never got an apology out of Nathan before he died.


British High Commissioner

https://twitter.com/HCScottinSG/status/767741818645602305

Former President SR Nathan served Singapore and its people selflessly. I offer my deepest sympathy to his family and to the country.

Former British HC

https://twitter.com/AJPhillipson/status/767837440493121536

RIP former President SR Nathan. Privileged to present my credentials as HC to him in 2011. Condolences to his family & people of #Singapore
 
If he could learn Japanese so quickly & be a translator, he should have been given a Chinese dictionary too & become a Chinese-English translator too...they both use "kanji"...

According to the Chinese newspapers, he started learning Mandarin when he was 75 years old. :rolleyes::D
 
the Sook Ching massacre in Singapore was the second largest massacre of Chinese after Nanking massacre in China during ww2. why was he so shameless to reveal his Japanese collaborator past in his memoirs ? what he did was clearly morally wrong at the least. majority of Sinkies are really so stupid not to realize it ?
 
the Sook Ching massacre in Singapore was the second largest massacre of Chinese after Nanking massacre in China during ww2. why was he so shameless to reveal his Japanese collaborator past in his memoirs ? what he did was clearly morally wrong at the least. majority of Sinkies are really so stupid not to realize it ?

why did he reveal it and not Harry?
 
All politicians, those rich and powerful have one thing in common.
They will go all out to benefit themselves at the expenses of others.
Upon successful, they will only glorify their good deeds by twisting the facts but hide the truth from lime light.
 
halo wu lang jiak kali gway ho 油煎走牛 pek kim lui si boh

 
there's a mimizuka in kyoto. he was so enamored of the japs all his life his body parts especially ears and nose should be interred there.

image.jpg
 
He has claimed that his native tamil is similar to Japanese in syntax and hence he could master Japanese easily. Not sure about this. I did some research and it seems that there is similar vocabulary for Japanese and tamil (Dravidian), but still, the fucker must be one kind of a language talent to be able to master it so quickly and work for the Japs as long as he did. still say its bullshit if he was not taught by a native jap speaker.

When I was very young, one of my neighbour of the same age as me, the family were Upper Caste Indians. The poor chap, did not have much of life growing up as a child, he has to learn Inidan classical stuffs other than school, he had a Tamil tutor, a sitar teacher & an Indian Classical dance teacher...all these would come to the house.

Anyway...to cut a long story short.. to keep him company I spent time with him, so, he tried teaching me what he had learnt...like Tamil...how to write..which I could never understand or comprehend, least of all master...he even wanted to teach me the sitar...or Indian classical dance steps..:p

Prataman must be a genius....get the point?....
 
nathan being a linguist expert with just a dictionary is just smokescreen cooked up by PAP, he should have gone to Japan as ambassador instead of US.

jap secret police knows well indians will sell out even their family,that should explain his employmennt.

lock in a room with indian and king cobra...enough said..
 
Now we missed the chance to ask Mr Nathan the question:

"You lived through the Japanese occupation. Why didn't you fight against the Japanese?"
 
According to the Chinese newspapers, he started learning Mandarin when he was 75 years old. :rolleyes::D

Big deal, i learnt Tamil when i was in my teens

Dey, Nathan Pundeh Pooda!
 
Japanese civilian police consider odd job? :confused: Next time you see police post police patrolling you tell them to get a real job lah. :rolleyes:
 
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