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Bahau Settlement

Bahau Settlement was an agricultural settlement set up at Bahau in the Malayan state of Negri Sembilan during the Japanese Occupation.  The settlement was set up under a self-sufficiency scheme initiated by the Japanese authorities to ease the food supply problem in Singapore.  Under the scheme, Singaporeans were encouraged to resettle outside Singapore, in areas where they could farm and live off the land.  The Bahau Settlement was specially set up for Eurasians and Chinese Roman Catholics.  It was also known as Fuji-go, which means "Fuji village".

Background
In August 1943, in order to ease the food shortage problem in Singapore, the Japanese authorities mooted the idea of setting up new settlements outside Singapore and encouraging Singaporeans to relocate to these settlements to cultivate the land there.  These settlements were planned to become self-sufficient in food supply.  A settlement was created for Chinese settlers at Endau in Johore.   At the same time, it was decided that the Eurasians and Chinese Roman Catholics could also form a similar settlement.  An area north of Bahau in Negri Sembilan was selected, although there were initial misgivings about the site as it had poor soil and insufficient water.  Mamoru Shinozaki, Head of the Welfare Department, also foresaw some administrative difficulties as the Bahau settlement would have to depend on the Negri Sembilan government for food and other supplies and administrative support, unlike the Endau settlement, which could rely on help from Singapore.

Description
The Bahau settlement was located two miles away from the town of Bahau.  To reach the settlement, the migrants had to take a train or lorry ride to the town of Bahau, from where they had to walk several hours to the settlement.  The first group of migrants was mostly bachelors, who were specially selected by the Japanese to help lay the foundation for the new settlement.   When the first group of migrants arrived at the settlement, they found that the site had already been cleared by locally contracted loggers.  There were burnt and fallen tree trunks on the ground as the loggers had cut and burnt the forests but left the debris uncleared.  There were also several shabby-looking communal longhouses at the site.  For many months, the settlers slept in these longhouses.  It was only later that they built better houses and public amenities for themselves.   As the Eurasians and Chinese Roman Catholics were mostly white-collar workers who had no farming experience, the first group of migrants was tasked to set up a model farm to educate the rest of the settlers, who could work on the farm to pick up farming techniques.

The prospects of escaping from the watchful eyes of the Kempeitai, the Japanese military police, attracted many settlers to Bahau.  From December 1943 to April 1944, some 2,000 Eurasians left their homes for Bahau, bringing along with them items such as curtains and piano to furnish their new homes.    The responsibility for administering the affairs of the settlement was bestowed upon the Roman Catholic Bishop, Monseigneur Adrian Devals.  Dr C. J. P. Paglar, president of the Eurasian Welfare Association, also visited the settlement frequently and often brought along with him medicines and some entertainment and morale boosting shows for the settlers.

Once a while there would be party with singing and dancing in the settlement.  However, most of the settlers had little knowledge of farming and found life tough at Bahau.  Many suffered from malnutrition, as they were unable to make themselves more self-sufficient in food.  In addition, they were plagued by malaria and other diseases.  Although measures were taken to prevent the spread of diseases and medical care was provided in the village, the malaria death toll increased over the months.  It was estimated that some 500 people lost their lives there, including their leader Bishop Devals, who accidentally cut his foot with a hoe and died from tetanus in January 1945.  As a result, the settlers could not wait to return to Singapore.  After the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, they returned to Singapore on the earliest possible train.



Author
Joshua Chia Yeong Jia



References
Chandran, K. (2006, April 15). Retelling the Eurasian WWII story.  The Straits Times. [Electronic Version].

M. Braga-Blake (Ed.). (1992). Singapore Eurasians: Memories and hopes (pp.112-116). Singapore: Published for Eurasian Association, Singapore, by Times Editions.
(Call no.: RSING 305.80405957 SIN)

Lee, G. B. (1992).  Syonan Singapore under the Japanese 1942 - 1945 (pp. 105-107).  Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57023 LEE)

Shinozaki, M. (1982).  Syonan - my story: the Japanese occupation of Singapore. (pp. 87-92).  Singapore: Times Books International.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57023 SHI)

Sidhu, H. (1991).  The Bamboo fortress: True Singapore war stories (pp. 233-245). Singapore: Native Publications.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57023 SID)

Subject
Events>>Historical Periods>>World War II and Japanese Occupation (1939 - 1945)
Ethnic Communities
Singapore--History--Japanese occupation, 1942-1945
History>>Asia>>Southeast Asia>>Singapore



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