My dear readers,

1. Sunset over the British Empire

Singapore gained nationhood and independence in 1965. Only two weeks ago we commemorated National Day, our forty-third. Our children who have grown up in self-ruling Singapore will not fully appreciate what it means to be a colony. As a child I lived in Johor and Singapore when both territories were under British rule. The seat of government was in London. Malaya and Singapore were part of an empire which stretched over a fourth part of the globe. But that empire was about to be dismantled. Those were historic and momentous days. One chapter of my Memoirs tells of the last days of the British Empire which began on December 9, 1941.

2. To every thing there is a season

At school I learnt to speak King's English, read Shakespeare, sang "God save the King," "Rule Britannia, Britannia Rules the Waves," and celebrated the King's Birthday, and Empire Day. It felt good to belong to the one and only empire over which the sun never set. No other empire in all history could boast such greatness and durability, until December 8, 1941 sounded its death knell.

Some call it "fate." But it was God's doing, an event ordered by the Judge of Heaven for execution on Earth. It was the Judge who first called the English to rise up to greatness and power. It was by "heaven's command" as that stirring patriotic song "Rule Britannia" says: "When Britain first, at heaven's command, Arose from out the azure main ..." (James Thomson 1700 - 48)

That glorious empire had run its predestined course, and by the same heaven's command it was time to exit the world stage. "For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another" (Psalm 75:6 , 7 ).

The Empire's days were numbered.

On that fateful day, the impossible became possible: Japanese bombs fell over Singapore, shaking Great Britain's "Impregnable Fortress in the Far East." Two days later, HMS Repluse and HMS Prince of Wales sailed out of Singapore's Naval Base, northward up the South-China Sea. Off Kuantan, Japanese aerial torpedoes summarily despatched the two "unsinkable" battleships to their watery grave.

Disaster! Blame it on lack of air cover. But above and beyond the air cover rules the Almighty, who "putteth down one and setteth up another" (Psalm 75:7 ).

Think back on the course of the war in Malaya and Singapore. The British, masters of a fourth part of Planet Earth, had all the time in the world and the best military brains to prepare for the defence of Malaya and Singapore against a known enemy. But, in the engagement, it was simply "no contest." Great Britain and her Allies suffered the worst defeat in British history. How did it happen that General Percival with 130,000 troops, were routed by General Yamashita with 36,000? What happened to the multi-million pound fortresses which the British had built in Singapore and Malaya? Only recently, (NST 5 May 2008), an enormous defence establishment was uncovered in the south-eastern tip of Johor, overlooking the South China Sea. It had been designed to protect Singapore's sea lanes from Japanese landing craft - which never appeared as expected.

The British had built hundreds of concrete fortresses ("machine gun nests" and "pillboxes") at strategic points along the main trunk roads of Malaya and Singapore, which proved useless in the war. Similarly, the 15-inch guns on Pulau Belakang Mati (Sentosa) and other sites: those enormous guns were armed with AP (Armour Piercing) shells, designed to destroy warships, which did not turn up!

The fixation that enemy forces must come from the sea was a major blunder in strategic planning, a fatal "blind spot" in the British psyche. The Japanese came overland from Kota Baru, sweeping down the Malay Peninsula, outwitting the British. It was "brain triumphing over brawn." Unknown to the British, the Japanese had been operating a vast espionage network of agents planted among 6,000 Japanese nationals residing in Malaya and Singapore - harmless and innocent looking businessmen, photographers, draftsmen, artists, shopkeepers, laundrymen, engineers, doctors, dentists, technicians, seamen and fisherman.

As a people, the Japanese were the most highly educated, industrious and technically advanced in all Asia. Traditionally, they were fiercely loyal to their Emperor whom they revered as a descendent of some heavenly ancestor. In the context of the Pacific War, the Japanese were indoctrinated with the lofty concept of a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere," to be built by the Japanese after they had liberated the oppressed people of Southeast Asia from the Western colonial masters. Thus motivated, their spies and under-cover agents had been quietly preparing road maps, charts, photographs, statistics and other sensitive documents, of strategic installations, to be used by future invasion forces.

Little surprise, the Japanese troops came overland on bicycles, swarming through estate roads and kampungs paths, led by the same people who had prepared the road maps. This was the genius of the all conquering "Bicycle Blitzkrieg Army" which, by stealth and surprise, overwhelmed the British and Allied Forces.

In nine weeks, the Japanese completed the conquest of Malaya, by-passing the fortifications built by the British along the main roads. The sun was fast setting over the British Empire. Prime Minister Winston Churchill described the defeat as the "worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history." By the end of January 1942, the Japanese had gained complete control of Malaya. General Percival and his troops were trapped in Singapore, faced with a most difficult dilemma: to fight on or to surrender. A major consideration was the lives of a million civilians. The situation was made more critical as the water supply fell into Japanese hands. In the midst of the fighting, Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent a typical Churchillian message. "The battle must be fought to the bitter end at all costs ... the honour of the British Empire and of the British Army is at stake. I rely on you to show no mercy to weakness in any form ...." It was easier said than done.

By the morning of February 15, 1942, it was evident that further resistance was only prolonging a lost cause and at the heavy cost of civilian lives. General Percival made the inevitable decision to surrender, discretion being the better part of valour. He showed General Yamashita the white flag, thus sparing his troops and the civilian population from senseless slaughter. Thankfully, there was no "fight to the last man" just for the sake of "British pride," but a sensible "hong bao" consolation for all to celebrate the Chinese New Year on a happier note. Historically, the Fall of Singapore marked the beginning of the dissolution of the British Empire. For the people of Malaya and Singapore, it was the dawn of Japan's dream of a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." What the "Co-Prosperity" would bring, we shall see.

Thankfully the sphere lasted only three-and-a-half years.

Lovingly in the Lord
Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor
Penang, 14 August 2008