Japanese Occupation In Singapore

The Japanese Occupation years can be regarded as a turning point in Singapore’s formation of a nation. In this context, a nation can be viewed as a community of people bounded by shared experiences and living within defined boundaries. By claiming that it was of no relevance, it assumes that Japanese Occupation did not bear any role or impact in the creation of Singapore nation, for instance, nature of nationalism remaining unchanged throughout the Occupation. However, this paper argues how the Occupation did in fact have relevance to the creation of a nation in which it awakened political and collective consciousness among the locals, where it destroyed the myth of Western invincibility, thus facilitating the rise of nationalism. Formation

This thus made it hard to establish a nation due to the differences in the goals and loyalty of the various communities. For example, the Chinese were more involved with China instead of Singapore , indicating that there was no common form of nationalism among the masses. It was widely known that Japanese Occupation years brought about widespread hardships and sufferings to the locals. Therefore, this portrayed the relevance to the creation of a nation as it helped to instil and heighten a sense of group consciousness as locals shared similar experiences throughout the period . This emergence of collective consciousness was thus important in providing a common goal and aided in nation building process. This enabled the establishment of a new form of territorial nationalism that eventually led to the creation of a Singapore

The scheme resulted in the exclusion of Singapore due to the concern of mainland Malays towards Singapore’s large Chinese population that might gave them unprecedented political power. This separation gave rise to a new political environment and new formation of political parties in Singapore, witnessing people becoming more involved with local politics. Britain’s proposal scheme eventually materialised into territorial nationalism that made cooperation between parties for a nationalist cause possible. Political leaders also experienced newfound opportunity to exercise power and gain mass support in order to achieve independence. Subsequently, this saw the PAP receiving mass support in the 1959 elections, ultimately resulting in a self-governed Singapore. This portrayed how Japanese Occupation was relevant in the making of the