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The Kempeitai

The Kempeitai was the military police force administered by the Japanese War Ministry during WWII over the Occupied Territories of Japan. Specially trained in interrogation methods, its task was to crush all resistance to military rule and it had powers to arrest and extract information from civilians and military alike. During the Japanese Occupation, there were about 200 regular kempeitai in Singapore but 1,000 auxiliaries were recruited from the army.

History
The Kempeitai was founded on 4 January 1881 by order of the Meiji Council of State. Its main responsibility then was to discipline army officers and farmers who opposed the conscription law. Their powers were extended to enforce the country's various security laws under the Acts of 1898 and 1928. In the 1930s, their political influence increased when General Hideki Tojo became the Vice-Minister of War. From 1895 to 1945, the Kempeitai built up a large network of influence and became omnipresent in the Great East Asia Co-Existence Sphere, that is the Occupied Territories of Japan.

In Syonan (Singapore), the Kempeitai came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. Its head was Lieutenant Colonel Msayuki Oishi with his headquarters at the YMCA in Stamford Road, which also served as the East District Branch. The Kempeitai jail was in Outram with branches in Stamford Road, Chinatown, the Central Police Station. A residence at the intersection of Smith Street and New Bridge Road formed the Kempeitai West District Branch. Under Colonel Oishi were 200 regular Kempeitai officers and another 1,000 auxiliaries who were mostly young, rough peasant soldiers.

During the clean-up operations to purge anti-Japanese elements in the early days of the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, many massacres of civilians, especially Chinese, took place. The massacres were executed under the supervision of the Kempeitai with the Hojo Kempei ("auxiliary military police") being employed to carry out the actual shooting under orders of a Kempeitai officer.

After the war, on 18 March 1946, Lieutenant Colonel Masayuki Oishi and Lieutenant Colonel Haruzo Sumida, (commander of the Syonan Branch Kempeitai) with 21 other Kempeitai officers were charged by the Military Court at the Supreme Court Building, Singapore. Both lieutenant colonels were found guilty of war crimes and hanged.  as Another eight received the death sentence, six receiving various terms of imprisonment and seven acquitted.

Methods of Interrogation
Those arrested by the Kempeitai were presumed guilty and had little option for receiving civilian help and no appeal for clemency. Should they be released from one Kempeitai branch, they could be re-arrested by another soon after. The Kempeitai officer was police investigator, prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner. Often, long quiet sessions of interrogation would be used as long as the Kempeitai received the required answers. If these were not forthcoming, the Kempeitai would use various brutal methods of interrogation to extract a confession of guilt. Tortures were executed to the limit of human endurance or to the point of death with survivors attesting to these various methods.

Corporal beatings
This involved metal bars, sticks, bamboo, wet knotted ropes, belts with buckles or revolver butts.

Water Torture
The victim was tied and placed on his back with cloth placed over his nose and mouth. Water was then poured on the cloth as interrogation proceeded. Water would thus be pumped into his stomach until it was bloated. Sometimes he was beaten over his bloated stomach or a Japanese would jump or stand on it. Alternatively, the victim was tied lengthways on a ladder, facing upwards with a rung across his throat and his head beneath the ladder. In this position the victim was immersed head first into a tub of water and kept there until he almost drowned. After being revived, interrogation continued and the process was repeated until the answers were forthcoming.

Electric torture
Electric shocks were administered to various parts of the body

Burning
The victim was burnt with cigarette butts and cheroot ends, petrol and methylated spirits on sensitive parts of the body like the arm pits, between the toes, on the scrotum and penis.

Dislocation of limbs
The victims' limbs were twisted and fingers bent backwards causing dislocation and permanent damage to limbs and joints.

Psychological torture
The victim was led to believe that his/her execution either by shooting or beheading was imminent and advised to write a letter of farewell. Preparations for execution were prepared right up to the final stage and stopped short just before the final shot or cut.

Threats to families
Threats were made to wives and families of the victim.



Author
Wong Heng



References 
Lamont-Brown, R. (1998). Kempeitai: Japan's dreaded military police. (pp. 14-31, 149-163). Phoenix Mill, Thrupp: Stutton Publishing.
(Call no.: R 355.13323 LAM) 

Montgomery, B. (1984). Shenton of Singapore: governor and prisoner of war. (pp. 151-154). London: Leo Cooper.
(Call no.: RSING 941.0840924 SHE.M) 

Tan, B. L. (1996). The Japanese Ocupation 1942-1945: A pictorial record of Singapore during the war. (pp. 97-101). Singapore: Times Edition.
(Call no.: SING 940.5425 TAN) 


Further Readings
Cooper, B. C. (2001). Decade of change: Malaya and the Straits Settlements, 1936-1945 (pp. 297-304). Singapore: Graham Brash.
(Call no.: SING 959.57 COO) 

Lamont-Brown, R. (1998). Kempeitai: Japan's dreaded military police. Stroud, England: Sutton.
(Call no. : R 355.13323 LAM) 

Lim, P. P. H. (Ed.). (2000). War and memory in Malaysia and Singapore (pp. 172-177). Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
(Call no.: RSING 959.503 WAR)

Low, N. I. (1995). When Singapore was Syonan-to (p. 13-18, 72-78). Singapore: Times Book International.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57023 LOW) 

Tan, T. L ( 1946). Kempeitai kindness. Singapore: Malayan Law Journal.
(Call no.: R 940.54725951 TAN) 

The information in this article is valid as at 2002 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

Subject
Biographies>>War Personalities
Events>>Historical Periods>>World War II and Japanese Occupation (1939-1945)
Military police
World War, 1939-1945--Singapore
Singapore--History
History>>Asia>>Southeast Asia>>Singapore



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