Making Memories Our Own (Way): Non-State Remembrances of the Second World War in Perak, Malaysia

Abstract

As catalyst to the birth of Malay nationalism, the Second World War (1941–45) may be considered a salient episode in Malaysian history, greasing the wheels for the nation to gain independence from British colonial rule in 1957. Yet, it was only recently that the war was inserted into national historiography. Even then, criticisms have emerged of how the government has been highly selective in its portrayal of the event, obscuring (if not erasing) elements seen as irrelevant or against the elevation of the war as a vehicle of nationhood (Ahmad, 2006; Blackburn, 2007). One aspect prone to neglect are the stories of those who went through the war as civilians (vis-à-vis as combatants). Far from being mere bystanders in the clash between Commonwealth Allied forces (consisting mainly of soldiers from Britain, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaya [including Singapore] and the USA) and the Japanese, however, the lives of these individuals were still very much affected, most keenly through hardship and the loss of loved ones (Kratoska, 1995).