A memorial ceremony was held Sunday at Kranji War Cemetery in northern Singapore to honor soldiers and civilians who died defending Singapore and Malaya from Japan's invasion during World War II.
Representatives of diplomatic missions and veterans laid wreaths at the Kranji War Memorial, followed by a moment of silence for those who gave their lives in the war.
In his remarks at the ceremony, Nikesh Mehta, British High Commissioner to Singapore, noted that this year also marks eight and a half decades since the sinking of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, which were attacked by Japanese aircraft off Malaya on Dec 10, 1941, killing 840 people.
He also called for Lim Bo Seng, a Singapore war hero of Chinese descent, to be honored in remembrance.
"The war came to this region 85 years ago. Within months of the Japanese attack in December 1941, Malaya and Singapore had fallen. Today, we also remember civilians whose ordinary lives were torn apart by war. We remember people such as Lim Bo Seng, who left his wife and seven children as Singapore fell and later returned to Malaya with Force 136," Mehta said.
Others at the ceremony spoke about the wider reach of the war, including the African troops who were drawn into it far from home.
"Over one million Africans were conscripted to participate in the Second World War, including Nigerians, of course. And they paid the ultimate sacrifice for global peace and security," said Francisca K. Omayuli, Nigeria's High Commissioner to Singapore.
The Singapore Memorial at Kranji War Cemetery bears the names of more than 24,000 Allied servicemen with no known grave, among them those killed in battle and prisoners of war who died building the 415-kilometer railway between Thailand and Myanmar. More than 100,000 people perished on the project from heavy labor, shortages of basic necessities and rampant disease, earning it the name "Death Railway."
"These people paid the ultimate sacrifice, as did their families, and it's important that we never ever forget that," said a guest.
In March, then Senior Minister for Foreign Affairs Sim Ann said the suffering Japan caused in WWII left unresolved historical issues in parts of Asia, and that Singapore hopes Japan will consider how to settle them thoroughly.
Her remarks reflect concern in the region that Japan's revisionist tendencies and military expansion are testing the post-war international order.
The Kranji War Memorial in Singapore was built to commemorate Allied soldiers who bravely sacrificed their lives during World War II.
Singapore commemorates soldiers, civilians killed in WWII
