4/18/2012

All victims of Japanese atrocities need to apologise to Japan

After Liew Khai Khuin’s response to a school teacher’s enactment of WW2’s Japanese Occupation, there were some violent responses in the ST forum. Yesterday there was a follow up on the issue by Clarissa Oon, a senior ST writer. This is perhaps the most objective article written by the apologetic victims after the emotional outbursts in the ST forum.

The gist of her objective and critical analysis is that the war and the atrocities are only a matter of interpretation. There is no right and wrong really. In the case of China, it has no right to ask for an apology from Japan after what it had done to its people during the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution and the Tian Anmen Incident. If China could kill its own people in the millions, what was so wrong about Japan killing Chinese? Until China acknowledges its crime over its citizens, it is inappropriate to demand an apology from Japan for war atrocities.

As for the other nations like Korea or South East Asian countries, their histories have a lot of omissions. ‘Singaporeans should also cast a self critical eye on biases and omissions in the telling of our own national history, even as we take a hard look at the narratives of other countries.’ And ‘While Japan’s neighbours should continue to nudge it to face up more fully to its wartime abuses, these countries should also move towards more honest and open examination of their own histories.’

So Asian countries, please rewrite your history honestly before making demands on Japan. Your own interpretation of your history is wrong. Japan’s interpretation is their business. Asian countries have to be honest first before they can ask Japan for an apology. I am wondering what the Asian countries were so dishonest about? Have they distorted their history and anyhow blamed the Japanese for the atrocities which did not take place? Were the claims of atrocities and brutality false, exaggerated as in the case of the Nankin Massacre? What is the relationship between their own histories, or what have the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution got to do with Japanese barbarism towards the Chinese and South East Asian people?

I am floored by the convincing objectivity of the brilliant article and how the Asian countries were wronged about Japan. I must pay a visit to Yasukuni Shrine to apologise to the dead Japanese soldiers. We have no right to demand for an apology from the Japanese if we were not honest with our history, or in other words, our history could have been wrong. There were no atrocities and Japanese interpretation could be right, or the Japanese have their right to interpret their own history. It is only a matter of interpretation. It is our fault for wrongly interpreting our history and worst, for omitting about the good part of the Japanese atrocities against Asian people.

12 comments:

  1. The only thing they can boast about is that they create jobs for translator ,secret agent and Ah Chit.

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  2. Now, how about getting all the poodles to apologise to North Korea using the same logic. Their vision of North Korea is also just a matter of interpretation.

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  3. Sinkies are utterly foolish, no sense of history, no sense of pride, no sense of identity, did not know who raped and killed their forefathers.

    And everyday trying to sympathise with the rapists and murderers and even apologise to them for being such idiots that allowed those things to happen to their forefathers.

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  4. Fucking crackpot PAP. They simply are maggots. This is not the first time they lick ass of someone that murdered our fathers.

    Not too long ago, traitor president Nathan and phoney Christian George Yeo, pay compliment to Subhas Chandra Bose, the traitor FT Indians that had blood of Malayan in his hand.

    Pharisee George Yeo even propose a monument to commemorate SC Bose to be erected in Singapore. I will be the first one to cheer, if a patriotic Singaporean blow it down if it is being built.

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  5. Yelp. Agreed. We shld engage the North Koreans just like we did to Burma.

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  6. Hahaha.....

    I cannot be friend of your enemy meh?

    If your enemy pays me well, I will work for them. I will even tell them that You are up to no good. Can or not?

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  7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoW2WYdOsvg
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJA4f1eJdG8

    The Rape of Nanjing is a recorded event. There is no denying it. The Great Leap Forward is also, and there is yet to have documented evidence around it.

    The writer while objective and critical (I appreciate it) is also naive to think that Asia should "nudge them' forward to come clean!!! These are rapists and murderers at the instruction of their Emperor, you think they are going to admit it? The problem with Asians are they don't believe in confrontation..you can nudge for 50yrs and nothing is going to happen.
    If it were not for the persistency and anger of the Jews who continuously record it, research it, and lobby it, you will not see the success of Holocause history being recorded. The same fervor and determinism must therefore come from the victims (ie. chinese/asian) themselves who must keep pressing, digging and willing to face the truth and take the lead. The generations of victims who survived might not even get to see their justice done given no one/collectively are prepared to face the harsh facts.

    And of course, the same goes for Singapore history, absolutely.

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  8. Typical of chinese..we would just say "let's move on'' why dig out old animosity. They are missing the point.
    There is value and importance in truths. For the generation to come. People must DEMAND for it, or it will not happen. Their pragmatism and 'give face' rhetoric will win over time. That is sad. Makes Asian a soul-less bunch of people.

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  9. Japan is just a colony of USA. Japanese are not Asian strictly speaking.

    Most Sinkies are rootless and ignorant of history. They are just production digits without brain.

    It is quite interesting that our beloved statesman can master Japanese in few weeks to be a translator for the Japanese forces during occupation and later fled to Malaya immediately when Japanese forces surrendered. What had he done to the people of then Sinkapore that he needed to flee? There is a gap in this part of the history. Will historians look into this gap to tell the hard truth?

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  10. The Chinese government and the Chinese people must realise that the only true friend of the Chinese is the full might of her military power which should be constantly upgraded and improved and should encompass all fields and aspects of military technology inclusive of rocketry, missiles , nuclear and cyber warfare systems. All other talks of friendship with other countries are false and self deceiving. Looking back in history which countries have not deceived and cheated China and invaded China. Russia is still holding a few million square miles of Chinese lands in the north, Japan is still clinging to Liu Chiu Tao which it renamed Okinawa, while India continues to occupy large chunks of Chinese land in the south western part of China. If China wants to survive she must be constantly vigilant and alert and be prepared to fight a total all out ruthless war against any country or countries which insist on giving trouble to China. China and the Chinese people should never be bullied and trampled on again.

    Southernglory1

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  11. Home / China / Politics
    Provocation by Japanese official harmful to ties
    Updated: 2012-04-18 18:40
    (Xinhua)
    Comments(1) Print Mail Large Medium Small
    1

    BEIJING - A Japanese politician known for anti-China rhetoric has found himself back in the headlines with an announcement that the Tokyo metropolitan government would buy some islets of the Diaoyu Islands, which are incontrovertibly Chinese territory.

    The provocative move by Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara is detrimental to China-Japan relations. If allowed to go ahead, such "purchase" would constitute grim violation of China's sovereign rights.

    In a speech at the U.S. Heritage Foundation on Monday, Ishihara said he had approached for a deal the "private owner" of a small chain of uninhabited islets of the Diaoyu Islands, which are also claimed by Japan.

    The hostile move, following his latest denial of the December 1937 Nanjing Massacre less than two months ago, came in defiance of the fact that the Diaoyu Islands have been an integral part of Chinese territory since ancient times and that China has indisputable sovereignty over them.

    Observers believe that the motive behind Ishihara's move, taken at a time when the 40th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic ties is drawing near, is to generate publicity and gain political capital in Japan for his hawkish posture.

    In other words, Ishihara is attempting to bolster his profile by sabotaging China-Japan ties.

    China has repeatedly proclaimed its stance concerning the Diaoyu Islands and warned that any unilateral action taken by the Japanese side would be illegal and invalid.

    The Chinese Foreign Ministry has said China would not hesitate to take any necessary measures to safeguard sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands.

    Given the complex and sensitive nature of the issue, upon which the general atmosphere of China-Japan relations hinge, Japanese politicians at both central and local levels perhaps should exercise caution in their remarks and should not take any provocative moves.

    The friendly ties between China and Japan have been the result of painstaking efforts by generations of political leaders and the civil societies on both sides.

    The only logical approach to keeping the hard-won friendship is to cherish it, not damage it.



    Provocation by Japanese official harmful to ties|Politics|chinadaily.com.cn
    Comments on this article For more discussions,please go to the forum
    Total 1
    southernglory1 2012-04-18 21:39
    The Chinese government and the Chinese people must realise that the only true friend of the Chinese is the full might of her military power which should be constantly upgraded and improved and should encompass all fields and aspects of military technology inclusive of rocketry, missiles , nuclear and cyber warfare systems. All other talks of friendship with other countries are false and self deceiving. Looking back in history which countries have not deceived and cheated China and invaded China. Russia is still holding a few million square miles of Chinese lands in the north, Japan is still clinging to Liu Chiu Tao which it renamed Okinawa, while India continues to occupy large chunks of Chinese land in the south western part of China. If China wants to survive she must be constantly vigilant and alert and be prepared to fight a total all out ruthless war against any country or countries which insist on giving trouble to China. China and the Chinese people should never be bullied and trampled on again.

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a load of rubbish! The writer's view is morally repugnant and intellectually flawed.

    The logic the writer espouses is that because CCP has committed crimes against fellow Chinese and therefore Chinese Government and ordinary Chinese is not entitled to receive apology from Japan. What kind of argumentative non-sense is this?

    In any case, CCP has admitted that the Great Leap Forward was a grave mistake. Has CCP done enough? Of course not - but that doesn't excuse the lack of contrition Japanese has displayed to fellow Asians for the barbaric and beastial actions Japanese forces took during WWII.

    Such lack of contrition portrays Japan in extremely poor light compared to Germany. In Germany, Holocaust deniers are prosecuted and jailed. In Japan, war criminals are enshrined and worshipped as heros. Apologists and deniers of Japanese war crimes are elected as politicans.

    This is why there is much deap seated anger towards Japan in China and Korea and to a lesser extent in older generation of Singaporean Chinese.

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