DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTION:
SOUTHEAST ASIA AND WORLD WAR II
DIRECTIONS
The following question is based on the accompanying documents. (The documents have
been edited for the purpose of this exercise). The question is designed to test your ability to
work with and understand historical documents. Write an essay that:

Has relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents.

Uses all or all but one of the documents.

Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many appropriate ways as possible and
does not simply summarize the documents individually.

Takes into account both the sources of the documents and the authors’ points of view.
ESSAY PROMPT
Based on the documents, analyze the responses of the peoples of Southeast Asia to the
Japanese victories in World War II.
What types of additional documentation would help access the importance and impact of
Japan’s victories over the United States, France, Great Britain, and the Netherlands on the
peoples of Southeast Asia?
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In 1940, with the surrender of France to Nazi Germany, the Empire of Japan forced the
Vichy French government to allow Japanese troops to garrison Northern Indochina. In late
1941 prior to Pearl Harbor, Japan occupied Southern Indochina. In 1942, following Pearl
Harbor, the Japanese army and navy defeated the combined forces of Great Britain, the
United States, and Netherlands and occupied the Philippines, Malaya, Singapore,
Indonesia, and New Guinea, and began the conquest of Burma after signing an alliance
with Thailand. Japanese control of the region, with the exception of Philippines lasted into
1945 and in some places into 1946 as the Allies used Japanese troops to maintain control
pending the return of the previous colonial rulers such as France and the Netherlands.
DOCUMENT 1
Adun Detcharat, Thai deputy premier and police chief, minutes from a debate with
other government leaders during a cabinet meeting, 1941
“It is better to lose our sovereignty to the extent of allowing Japanese troops to use
our country and roads than to lose it completely by rejecting cooperation and being
taken over as a Japanese colony. Should Japan lose the upper hand and be defeated
by England and the United States, these latter countries should still be able to be
sympathetic towards us as a small country which has done its duty in fighting against
Japanese aggression.”
DOCUMENT 2
Le Duat Ton, soldier and political commissar (cadre) of the Vietnamese Army of
National Salvation and later Vietminh, comments in his memoirs, 1945
“We had to build people’s revolutionary committees at village, district, and
provincial levels to replace the defeated French colonial administration. In villages,
committee members were all elected. In districts there had to be at least one or two
appointed representatives. In provinces there were more appointed members of the
revolutionary government. Our forces had to mainly concentrate on fighting the
Japanese and collaborationist French forces, mobilizing the people, organizing
political education, safeguarding security. When the revolutionary administration
came into being, all smuggling, gambling, etc. were suppressed.
DOCUMENT 3
Colonel Yamamoto, political advisor to the Japanese military governor of
Indonesia, 1942 – 1945, from his memoirs about events in 1943
“The nationalists had organized their movement expecting to make it the core of
their independence campaign. I urged the nationalists to lead their movement more
spiritually in order to combine all power of the inhabitants according to the
directions of the Japanese administration. Since Tokyo would not allow any
nationalist movement to occur, it set the stage for a continuous round of friction
between Indonesian radical nationalists and the Japanese. In reality it amounted to
a fierce struggle and endless negotiations between the two parties.”
DOCUMENT 4
Japanese-Raised Native Armies in Southeast Asia, 1941 – 1945
Army
Strength
Fate
Indian National Army
35-40,000
Arrested, tried by Great Britain
Burmese National Army
200,000
Joined Allies, 1944
Burmese Defense Army
55,000
Disbanded by British
PETA (Java)
33,000
Attacked Japanese, Dutch 1945
PETA (Bali)
1,500
Attacked Japanese, Dutch 1945
Sumatra Giyugun (troops)
6,000
Attacked Japanese, Dutch 1945
Borneo Giyugun (troops)
1,500
Attacked Japanese, Dutch 1945
Malaya Giyugun (troops)
2,000
Arrested, tried by British
Malaya Giyutai (police)
5,000
Disbanded by the British
Filipino Makapili (police)
6,000
Arrested, tried by United States
Indochinese Giyugun (troops)
1,500
Fought Communists, helped France
DOCUMENT 5
Food Prices in Kota Star, Kedah (Malay state) from the annual state report
Commodities
Pre-War Price
August 1944
February 1945
Rice
Salt
Sugar
Coffee
Chillies
Onions
Coconuts (each)
Cucumber
Cabbage
Bean sprouts
Eggplant
Perch
Mackrel
Sardine
Beef
Mutton
.18
.02
.08
.20
.16
.08
.02
.04
.03
.02
.03
.30
.05
.02
.26
.32
6.00
3.00
12.00
14.00
12.00
5.00
.45
.50
.40
.20
.40
5.00
.50
.25
3.00
4.00
24.00
6.00
28.00
22.00
50.00
12.00
2.30
2.50
3.00
2.00
3.00
18.00
5.00
3.00
10.00
15.00
Prices are in US dollars ($) per kati, Malay unit equaling 1 ½ pounds
DOCUMENT 6
Claro M. Recto, Filipino Foreign Minister in the Pro-Japanese Government of the
Philippines, letter to the Japanese military commander in Manila, 1944
“The existence of guerrilla elements or of outright banditry, particularly in the
provinces, is not, generally speaking due in the main to any fundamental political
motive. It is doubtful whether those who are engaged in such activities are proAmerican by conviction. In the first place most of them, with the exception perhaps
of some of their leaders, have no real understanding of the basic issues involved in
the present war between the United States and Japan. Nor it is believed have they
developed any feeling of real attachment to the Americans. But many have turned
guerrilla because of the sad and tragic experiences which they or their relatives,
friends and countrymen have undergone at the hands of the Japanese.”
DOCUMENT 7
Sukarno, leader of the Indonesian nationalists and first president of Indonesia,
comments in his autobiography published in 1965
“As for me, I recognized cooperation with Japan as an opportunity four our
ragged flock to become proficient in soldiering. For the first time, Indonesians
would learn to handle guns, to defend themselves. They were taught army
discipline, guerrilla training, how to ambush, how to fire a rifle from a crawling
position, how to fashion homemade grenades from coconuts. We learned how to
fight the enemy – whoever the enemy might be.”
DOCUMENT 8
Indonesian Propaganda Media during World War II
Topic of the Films
Political Developments, Mass Movements
Introduction to Cooperate with Japan, army
Homeland defense by the Indonesians
Economic Affairs (Production, Labor)
Education
Civic Action
Concerning Japan and Southeast Asia
News from Japan
Total
News
Reports
16
6
11
10
5
3
6
5
68
Feature
Films
6
0
9
11
1
5
0
0
32
DOCUMENT 9
Manicasothy Saravanamultu, Malay newspaper editor, early 1945
“State lotteries were held every month and the gambling farms, which had been
abolished for decades, were reintroduced to raise money for the state. Worse than
all, corruption was rife and graft rampant even among Japanese administrators,
while morality was conspicuous by its absence. Women, as in Japan, were
relegated to a very inferior position and Malaya, that was never noted for its strict
moral standards, became loser than ever. It was as if seventy-five years of progress
were undone overnight.”
DOCUMENT 10 (Can substitute for Document 1)
Dr. Kenneth Landon, American Presbyterian missionary in Southern Thailand,
letter to his wife, 1942
“The Thai were helpless to protect their own country. The British had promised
nothing and were not prepared to do anything. The Thai military leaders had
toured the famed Singapore fortress and Malayan defenses just a week before the
Japs attacked and they, if they knew how to use their eyes, could see the weakness
of the British. And we (the United States) promised them nothing. They saw its as
foolhardy to fight and gave in and signed an alliance with Japan.”
DOCUMENT 11 (Can substitute for Document 8)
Proclamation by the Burmese National Army, 1943
“The infidel English did not confine themselves to our Burma. They monopolized
all the countries of Asia. The national treasures, rich mineral resources, and
bountiful agricultural produce of Asian lands were greedily plundered by this
unlawful usurper. Forced this into absolute darkness, the people of Asia did not
know how long it might be before the light of law and justice would dawn again.
The Japanese alone raised the morale and the spirit of the people of Asia by their
previous victory 37 years ago over the mightly armed Russians and again recently
by defeating the British and Americans. The Japanese have been the vanguard of
the Asian people, struggling for social, educational, and economic progress.”
FOOTNOTES
1. Nigel J. Brailey, Thailand and the Fall of Singapore: A Frustrated Asian Revolution.
(Boulder, Colorado and London: Westview Press, Inc., 1986), 85.
2. Thomas Hodpkin, Vietnam: The Revolutionary Path. (New York: St. Martin’s Press,
1981), 327.
3. _________________, Soekarno, Founding Father of Indonesia, 1901 – 1945. (Leiden,
The Netherlands: KITLV Press, 2002), 302.
4. Joyce C. Lebra, Japanese Trained Armies in Southeast Asia: Independence and
Volunteer Forces in World War II (New York: Columbia University Press, 1977), 190.
5. Paul H. Kratoska, The Japanese Occupation of Malaya: A Social and Economic History.
(Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997), 200.
6. Robert B. Asprey, War in the Shadows: The Guerrilla in History, Volume 1. (Garden
City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1975), 527.
7. ________________, Soekarno, 317.
8. Aiko Kurasawa, “Films as Propaganda Media on Java Under Japan, 1942 – 1945” in
Japanese Cultural Relations in Southeast Asia During World War 2 by Grant K.
Goodman. (New York: St. Martins Press, 1991), 54.
9. P. Lim Pui Huen, “Memoirs of War in Malaya” in Malaya and Singapore during the
Japanese Occupation, Paul H. Kratoska, editor. (Singapore: Singapore University Press,
1995), 133.
10. E. Bruce Reynolds, Thailand’s Secret War: The Free Thai, OSS, and SOE during World
War II. (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 18.
11. Lebra, Japanese Trained Armies, 185.