Abstract
This chapter explores discussions about oaths of allegiance in the Singapore Trials. The questions raised about changes in allegiance during the war were particularly charged against the post-war socio-political landscape, as the returning British colonial authorities sought to reassert authority and re-establish order in Singapore and the region. This chapter focuses on how the question of allegiance change was treated in two cases: Ikegami Tomoyuki and others and Takashima Shotaro and another. Two different approaches may be identified in trial and post-trial discussions: the impossible-to-renounce approach and the criminal law approach. The first approach focuses on whether changes of allegiance could be effected in times of war. The second approach focuses on the mindset of the accused. This chapter critically examines the rationales and arguments underlying these two approaches.
The original version of this chapter was revised. An erratum to this chapter can be found at DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53141-0_9
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Notes
- 1.
For the account of one infamous incident, the Selarang Barracks Incident, see Syonan Years 1942–1945 Living Under the Rising Sun, Reflections and Memories of War, Volume 2, 1st, ed. (Singapore: National Archives of Singapore, 2009), 378–85.
- 2.
The original records of these trials and other British military records referred to in this chapter are housed at the National Archives of the UK (hereinafter “TNA”). The record group is “WO 235 – Judge Advocate General’s Office: War Crimes Case Files, Second World War”. The National University of Singapore also holds copies of trial transcripts. When relevant documents are available in the International Criminal Court’s Legal Tools Database, reference links will be provided. The trials are cited in TNA as follows: “WO235/979 – Defendant Ikegami Tomuyuki, Place of Trial Singapore”; “WO235/974 – Defendant Takashima Shotaro, Place of Trial Singapore”. Note that the name of the first accused in Takashima Shotaro and another is represented in the TNA citation as “Takashima Shoiaro”, but the documents in the file represent his name as “Takashima Shotaro”. The TNA staff have entered sequential pagination into the documents, many of which do not have original page numbers. This pagination appears on copies held by the National University of Singapore’s Central Library. For reference accuracy and as done by other scholars working with these trial records, I use this pagination as reference by inserting a prefix “SP” before the number.
- 3.
Royal Warrant 0160/2498, 18 June 1945, promulgated by the War Office, Army Order 81 of 1945, available at http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/386f77/ (last accessed 28 Nov. 2016). Hereinafter referred to as “1945 Royal Warrant and Regulations”. In Asia, British war crimes trials were also governed by an army instruction issued by the British military operating in this area, namely Allied Land Forces, South-East Asia (ALFSEA). Note that ALFSEA was reorganised from 1 December 1946 into South-East Asia Land Forces (SEALF). TNA, WO 203/6092, Allied Land Forces, South-East Asia, War Crimes Instruction No. 1 (2nd Edition), 4 May 1946.
- 4.
1945 Royal Warrant and Regulations, regulation 5.
- 5.
1945 Royal Warrant and Regulations, regulation 11.
- 6.
1945 Royal Warrant and Regulations, regulation 10.
- 7.
For the Tokyo Trial, see Yuma Totani, The Tokyo War Crimes Trial: The Pursuit of Justice in the Wake of World War II (Cambridge: Harvard, 2009).
- 8.
The record group is “WO 235 – Judge Advocate General’s Office: War Crimes Case Files, Second World War”. The TNA maintains lists of these trials, which indicate where they were held, but caution must be exercised because, given the huge number of listed trials, there are a few minor errors on locations, and verification in the actual case files is necessary. There are 132 trials listed altogether, but it is indicated that the records of one of these trials was missing at transfer.
- 9.
Peter Doyle, World War II Numbers (London: Quid Publishing, 2013), 58.
- 10.
Alan Warren, “The Indian Army and the Fall of Singapore,” in A Great Betrayal? The Fall of Singapore Revisited, Brian Farrell and Sandy Hunter, eds. (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2010) 235.
- 11.
Ibid .
- 12.
Ibid ., 236.
- 13.
Ibid ., 234.
- 14.
Ibid ., 235.
- 15.
Ibid ., 234.
- 16.
Ibid ., 235.
- 17.
Cheah Boon Kheng, Red Star Over Malaya: Resistance and Social Conflict During and After the Japanese Occupation, 1941–1946 (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2012), 49.
- 18.
Warren, “The Indian Army”, 236.
- 19.
TNA, CO 825/35/4, Joint CO-FO memorandum, August 1942, paragraph 30.
- 20.
Following British convention at the time, this chapter will use the term “British Malaya” to refer to Malaya and Singapore. Malaya and Singapore will be individually used when it refers to these two units individually. F.(Full Name) S.V. Donnison, British Military Administration in the Far East 1943–46 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1956), 139.
- 21.
Tim Harper and Christopher Bayly, Forgotten Wars: The End of Britain’s Asian Empire (London: Penguin, 2008) 274.
- 22.
Of the situation in Singapore, Turnbull writes, “Food was short, shipping was disorganized and traditional rice-producing countries had no surplus to export. Prices of essential commodities soon soared to ten times the pre-war level, and regulations to control the price of rice, fish and vegetables broke down because they could not be enforced.” C(Full Name) M. Turnbull, A History of Singapore 1819–1975 (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1977), 224.
- 23.
Romen Bose, The End of the War: Singapore’s Liberation and the Aftermath of the Second World War (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2005) 92.
- 24.
Cheah, Red Star Over Malaya, 133.
- 25.
Donnison, British Military Administration, 158, 161.
- 26.
Ibid ., 159, 162.
- 27.
Ibid ., 386.
- 28.
It is important to bear in mind that responsibility for these trials was delegated to the British military, with decisions to be taken in a largely decentralised fashion away from London. For this reason, it is important to understand how the British military leaders viewed these trials.
- 29.
TNA, WO 203/4926A, SACSEA to Cabinet Offices, 2 October 1945, paragraph 2.
- 30.
TNA, WO 203/4571A, Chief Civil Affairs Officer to SACSEA Headquarters, 15 February 1946, paragraph 4.
- 31.
TNA, WO235/979, Ikegami Tomoyuki and others. The names and ranks of the defendants are as follows: Major Ikegami Tomoyuki, Lieutenant Takahashi Yoichi, Lieutenant Takahashi Tatsuo, Second Lieutenant Miyoshi Ren, Second Lieutenant Hisano Jun, Corporal Takashi Takeshi.
- 32.
TNA, WO235/979, Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, “Proceedings of a Military Court”, SP 00019.
- 33.
Ibid .
- 34.
Ibid .
- 35.
Ibid .
- 36.
TNA, WO235/979, Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, “Opening Address by the Defence Counsel”, 1, SP 00099.
- 37.
Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, “Proceedings of a Military Court”, Testimony of Miyoshi Ren, SP 00042.
- 38.
Ibid .
- 39.
Ibid .
- 40.
Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, “Proceedings of a Military Court”, Testimony of Takahashi Tatsuo, SP 00046.
- 41.
Ibid .
- 42.
Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, “Proceedings of a Military Court”, Testimony of Takahashi Tatsuo, SP 00047.
- 43.
Ibid .
- 44.
Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, “Proceedings of a Military Court”, Prosecution submission on oaths of allegiance, SP 00049.
- 45.
Ibid .
- 46.
Ibid ., SP 00050.
- 47.
This was to be expected as defence counsel was Japanese and not to be expected to be familiar with British law, another problem in the Singapore Trials, which this author deals with in a more comprehensive manner elsewhere.
- 48.
Trial of Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, “Proceedings of a Military Court”, Defence reply to prosecution submission on oaths of allegiance, SP 00051.
- 49.
Ibid .
- 50.
Ibid .
- 51.
Trial of Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, “Proceedings of a Military Court”, SP 00052.
- 52.
TNA, WO 235/974, Takashima Shotaro and another, “Proceedings of a Military Court”, TNA, SP 00014.
- 53.
Ibid .
- 54.
Ibid .
- 55.
Ibid .
- 56.
Ibid ., SP 00036–00037.
- 57.
Ibid ., SP 00054.
- 58.
Ibid ., SP 00055.
- 59.
Ibid ., SP 00054.
- 60.
Ibid ., SP 00055.
- 61.
Ibid .
- 62.
Ibid .
- 63.
Ibid .
- 64.
Ibid .
- 65.
Ibid ., SP 00067.
- 66.
Ibid ., SP 00091.
- 67.
1945 Royal Warrant and Regulations, regulation 11.
- 68.
TNA, WO 235/979, Department of Judge Advocate General, South East Asia Land Forces, 13 February 1947, “War Crimes Trial”, prepared by Brigadier F.G.T. Davis. Hereinafter, TNA, WO235/979, DJAG review report on Ikegami Tomoyuki and others; Department of Judge Advocate General, South-East Asia Land Forces, 15 April 1947, “War Crimes Trial”, prepared by Brigadier F.G.T. Davis. Hereinafter, DJAG review report on Takashima Shotaro and another.
- 69.
TNA, WO235/979, Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, DJAG review report on Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, SP 00010.
- 70.
Ibid ., SP 00012.
- 71.
Ibid ., SP 00013.
- 72.
Ibid .
- 73.
Ibid .
- 74.
Ibid .
- 75.
Ibid .
- 76.
Ibid . It is noteworthy that the report also found that the question of the victims’ status “is one of fact, though dependent on considerations of law”, thus categorising this as a mistake of fact.
- 77.
TNA, WO235/979, Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, “Closing Address for the Prosecution”, SP 00109.
- 78.
TNA, WO235/979, Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, DJAG review report on Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, SP 00013.
- 79.
Ibid .
- 80.
TNA, WO235/979, Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, “Military Court for the Trial of War Criminals”, summary of case, SP 00003.
- 81.
TNA, WO235/974, Takashima Shotaro and another, DJAG review report on Takashima Shotaro and another, SP 0005.
- 82.
Ibid .
- 83.
Ibid ., SP 0006.
- 84.
TNA, WO235/979, Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, F.G.T. Davis to JAG of the Forces, London, 10 January 1947, SP 0005. As this chapter focuses on trials conducted in Singapore and due to limitations of space, I will not consider the latter case.
- 85.
TNA, WO235/979, Ikegami Tomoyuki and others, F.G.T. Davis to JAG of the Forces, London, 27 February 1947, SP 00004.
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Ling, C.W. (2017). Oaths of Allegiance in the Singapore Trials. In: von Lingen, K. (eds) Debating Collaboration and Complicity in War Crimes Trials in Asia, 1945-1956. World Histories of Crime, Culture and Violence. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53141-0_4
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