Book Title: When Singapore Was Syonan-To
ISBN: 9789814794275
By Author(s):N I Low
By Publisher:MCIA
Format:PB
A man may outlive a thousand sorrows or a thousand joys but that is all a fairy-tale to a listener. Our lives are real for ourselves alone. To the young people of today, what happened more than 75 years ago may seem but a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing to them. Yet what happened at the concentration camps, the massacre on Changi Beach, the round-up of ‘comfort’ girls, the activities of the black marketeers, life as a servant of the Japanese Government, the story of Lim Bo Seng- are all too real. Many ask of history that it should buttress their own prejudices. But in this book N.I. Low depicts the period 1942-45 with impeccable accuracy, with sharp insight and pathos. As the late Victor Purcell wrote, this is more than a graphic account of a grim period; it is a distinctive and very unusual piece of writing - a combination of the English outlook with that peculiar Chinese satire that does not culminate in a razor’s edge, but ends in a sort of wry resignation.