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Abstract
When Singapore surrendered to the Japanese, it was ironic that they promoted the British culture of sport. Sport became centralised and the political priority placed on sport by the Japanese government provided it with greater resources to develop than other cultural institutions. The direction and form of its development became more and more dictated by the state. Political function became the predetermining social force compared with such functions as class orcultural distinction. The increase in bureaucracy and complexity in the organisation of the institution of sport widened the network of interdependencies between the state and its subjects but, more significantly, the Japanese government also demonstrated the emotional quality of sport in facilitating political aggrandisement. Paradoxically, during this period of oppression the Japanese embraced the affective quality of sport in nationalising disparate social groups in Singapore. This article, embracing an Eliasian approach, investigates this critical phase in the development of sport in Singapore and reflects upon the notion the shifts in the governmental view of sport, physical education and physical fitness that emerged during the Japanese occupation were major preconditions and influences in the later development of the more centralised control of sport that emerged in independent Singapore.
Le sport à Syonan (Singapour), 1942- 1945: centralisation et japonisation
Quand Singapour se rendit aux Japonais, la culture britannique du sport y fut paradoxalement développée. Le Sport devint centralisé et les priorités politiques placée sur le sport par le gouvernement japonais lui fournirent des ressources plus importantes pour se développer que d'autres institutions culturelles, selon une orientation et une forme de plus en plus dictées par l'Etat. La fonction politique devint une force sociale prédéterminante en comparaison d'autres fonctions telles que la classe ou la distinction culturelle. La montée de la bureaucratie et de la complexité dans l'organisation de l′institution sportive augmenta le réseau d'interdépendances entre l'Etat et les individus mais, plus significativement encore, le gouvernement japonais démontra aussi la qualité émotionnelle de sport en favorisant le développement politique. Paradoxalement, pendant cette période d'oppression, les Japonais prirent en compte la qualité affective du sport en nationalisation des groupes sociaux divers à Singapour. Sur la base d'une approche eliasienne, cet article examine cette phase sensible du développement du sport à Singapour. Il s'intéresse à la notion de changement dans les positions gouvernementales relatives au sport, à l'éducation physique et au loisir qui émergèrent pendant l'occupation japonaise ainsi qu'aux préconditions les plus importantes et aux influences sur le développement ultérieur du contrôle plus centralisé du sport dans le Singapour indépendant.
El deporte en Syonan (Singapur) entre 1942 y 1945: centralización y niponización
No deja de ser irónico que, cuando Singapur se rindió a los japoneses, se promoviera la cultura británica del deporte. Éste se centralizó, y la prioridad política que le otorgó el gobierno japonés le comportó mayores recursos para desarrollarse que a otras instituciones culturales. La dirección y la forma de este desarrollo pasaron a estar cada vez más controladas por el estado. La función política se convirtió en la fuerza social preeminente, en comparación con otras funciones, como la de distinción de clase o cultural. El incremento en la burocracia y en la complejidad organizativa de la institución del deporte amplió la red de interdependencias entre el estado y los súbditos, pero de forma aún más significativa el gobierno japonés también demostró las virtudes emocionales del deporte a la hora de propiciar el enaltecimiento político. Paradójicamente, durante este periodo de opresión los japoneses asumieron las virtudes afectivas del deporte como facilitador de la nacionalización de los diversos grupos sociales de Singapur. Este artículo, basado en las ideas de Norbert Elias, investiga esta fase crítica del desarrollo del deporte en Singapur y reflexiona sobre la idea de que los cambios en la perspectiva gubernamental sobre el deporte, la educación física y el estado de forma de la población que surgieron durante la ocupación japonesa fueron una importante influencia y condición previa para el posterior desarrollo de un control más centralizado del deporte, que se consolidó con la independencia de Singapur.
Sport in Syonan (Singapur) 1942 – 1945: Zentralisierung und Japanisierung
Es war paradox, dass Singapur – als es sich Japan ergab – die britische Sportkultur förderte. Der Sport wurde zentralisiert und die politische Priorität, die ihm von der japanischen Regierung gegeben wurde, sorgte dafür, dass der Sport größere Ressourcen bekam, um weitere kulturelle Institutionen zu entwickeln. Richtung und Form seiner Entwicklung wurde zunehmend vom Staat diktiert. Verglichen mit seinen Funktionen im Hinblick auf gesellschaftliche Klassen und kulturelle Unterscheidung wurde die politische Funktion des Sports zur maßgebenden sozialen Kraft. Das Netzwerk von Abhängigkeiten zwischen Staat und einzelnen Akteuren wurde durch die zunehmende Bürokratie und komplexere Organisation der Sportinstitutionen vergrößert. Viel wichtiger war jedoch, dass die japanische Regierung die emotionale Qualität des Sports aufzeigte, indem sie seine politische Verherrlichung förderte. In dieser Zeit der Unterdrückung huldigten die Japaner ironischer Weise der affektiven Qualität des Sports, indem sie völlig verschiedene soziale Gruppen in Singapur sozialisierten. Einem Denkansatz von Norbert Elias folgend, untersucht dieser Artikel die kritische Phase in der Entwicklung des Sports in Singapur. Er reflektiert das Verständnis, dass die in der Zeit der japanischen Besatzung eingetretenen Veränderungen der Regierungssicht auf Sport, Sportunterricht und Fitness sowohl wesentliche Voraussetzungen für die spätere, im unabhängigen Singapur aufkommende Entwicklung der eher zentralisierten Sportleitung war als auch nachdrücklichen Einfluss darauf ausübten.
Keywords:
Notes
1. Winston Churchill, quoted in Turnbull, A History of Singapore, 183.
2. Hughes, Japan's Security Agenda, 39–42.
3. N. Elias, ‘The Genesis of Sport as a Sociological Problem', 129.
4. Elias, The Civilizing Process.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. When the British first colonised the small island of Singapura in 1819, it was nothing more than a rather shabby outpost of the declining empire of the Sultan of Johore (Turnbull, A History of Singapore, 1–5). It had very little going for it except its magnificent strategic position and outstanding offshore harbour potential, both of which were immediately recognised by Stamford Raffles and the man who actually did much of the early establishment work for the East India Company, William Farquhar (Chew, ‘The Foundation of a British Settlement‘, 36–40). The island provided meagre farming in land for small bands of Malays (500 Orang Kallang and 200 Orang Seletar); the village at the mouth of the Singapore river was home for the 150 or so Orang Gelam while various Orang Laut (sea people) lived on their boats in the harbour. There were at this time only some 30 Chinese inhabitants (Bartley, ‘Population in Singapore in 1819‘, 177). By 1860 the population of the Straits Settlement of Singapore had exploded to nearly 82,000! (SeeCheng, ‘Demographic Trends’). The largest single immigrant group was the Chinese, numbering over 50,000 made up of Hokkiens, Cantonese, Teo-Chews and Hakkas nearly all of whom came from the provinces of Kwangtung and Fukien in south-east China (Makepeace et al., One Hundred Years of Singapore, 4–5).
8. Elias, The Civilizing Process, 310.
9. Thio, ‘The Syonan Years’, 95.
10. Blaxell, ‘New Syonan and Asianism’, 4–5.
11. Saw, ‘Population Trends in Singapore’, 41.
12. Thio, ‘The Syonan Years’, 97.
13. Ibid.; Shinozaki, ‘My Wartime Experiences in Singapore’, 29.
14. Lee, From Third World to First, 213.
15. For details of the brutality of the Kempeitai see: Turnbull, A History of Singapore; Low, When Singapore Was Syonan-To and Chen, Remember Pompong and Oxley Rise.
16. Turnbull, A History of Singapore, 190.
17. Shinozaki, ‘My Wartime Experiences in Singapore’, 88.
18. Saw, ‘Population Trends in Singapore’, 41.
19. Elias, The Civilizing Process, 443.
20. Ibid., 341.
21. See Lee, From Third World to First, 213.
22. See Thio, ‘The Syonan Years’, passim.
23. Ibid.
24. ‘Mayor Naito’s New Year Message’, The Syonan Times, 1 Jan. 1944.
25. Elias, The Civilizing Process, 318.
26. Saw, ‘Population Trends in Singapore’, 12.
27. Turnbull, A History of Singapore; Thio, ‘The Syonan Years’.
28. Shinozaki, ‘My Wartime Experiences in Singapore’, 57–9.
29. Ibid., 29.
30. See Low and Cheng, This Singapore; Tan, ‘History of the Formation of the Overseas Chinese Association’.
31. Ibid.
32. Turnbull, A History of Singapore, 195.
33. Shinozaki, ‘My Wartime Experiences in Singapore’.
34. Ibid.
35. T. Yamashita, ‘Declaration of the Commander of the Nippon Army’, The Shonan Times, 20 Feb. 1942.
36. Ibid.
37. Ibid.
38. ‘Propaganda a Valuable Aid to Reconstruction’, The Syonan Times, 5 Sept. 1942, 2.
39. ‘Your Future Depends Upon a Knowledge of Nippon-Go’, The Syonan Times, 6 June 1942, iv.
40. For details on the use of film as propaganda, see Kurasawa, ‘Films as Propaganda Media’.
41. Kong et al., Convent Chronicles, 108.
42. Ibid., 109.
43. ‘Propaganda a Valuable Aid to Reconstruction’, 2.
44. Shinozaki, ‘My Wartime Experiences in Singapore’, 48–9.
45. Your Future Depends Upon a Knowledge of Nippon-Go’, iv.
46. Akashi, ‘Education and Indoctrination Policy’, 18.
47. Ibid., 19–20.
48. For a further discussion of Japanese barbarism in Singapore during the occupation, particularly the sook ching, see Gunn, ‘Remembering the Southeast Asian Chinese Massacres’.
49. Dunning and Sheard, Barbarians, Gentlemen and Players, 232.
50. The New Year's Day Sports festival first began in 1834 as the New Year's Day Regatta and by 1839 had expanded to include ‘land sports' in the festival. The celebration of the New Year through community gatherings and sporting competitions reflected the seventeenth-century sport festivals such as those organised by Robert Dover at Much Wenlock in England and the late-nineteenth-century versions of Highland Games such as those at Braemar. The New Year's Day Sports in Singapore were held every year and they were disrupted only by monsoonal rain and war. It was not only the first national sport event but also one of the earliest leisure events that was organised on a mass level. Yet, even though it has such an enduring tradition, of some 128 years, the New Year's Day Sports have been given scant and only a passing mention by sport critics. It was through the New Year Sports that the non-European migrants were first formally introduced to sporting practices. Unlike the clubs, which were exclusive to the middle class, the New Year Sports was intended for the lower social classes. Certainly, however, the motives for the New Year Sports suggest as much a class-dividing practice as they do of a narrowing of class differences; it enabled the established group to accumulate greater social power in the leisure sphere and at the same time established their identity and class. Simultaneously, however, by introducing the non-Europeans to the discourse of sport, it also engendered a diminishing effect on the contrast between the Europeans and other social groups. While the diffusion of sport was facilitated by the New Year's Day Sports, the process was uneven and riven with class tensions. Despite the provision of monetary rewards at the New Year Sports, the event did not attract much interest from the biggest social class in the settlement, the working-class Chinese. It was the Malays who consistently showed the greatest interest in the event. However, in 1893, the middle-class Chinese replicated the event with their introduction of Chinese New Year Sports. From this discussion it thus follows that the development of New Year's Day Sports was bound up in inter-civilisational exchanges.
51. Abe and Mangan, ‘“Sportsmanship” – English Inspiration and Japanese Response', 102.
52. For details on the diffusion of sport to Japan see Abe et al., ‘Fascism, Sport and Society in Japan'; Abe and Mangan, ‘“Sportsmanship” – English Inspiration and Japanese Response'.
53. K. Seto, Kcited in Abe and Mangan, ‘“Sportsmanship” – English Inspiration and Japanese Response', 103.
54. Sharp, The Singapore Cricket Club, 100–2.
55. Gagan, The Singapore Swimming Club.
56. ‘Singapore Chinese Swimming Club: 88 Years and Beyond', 92.
57. Sharp, The Singapore Cricket Club, 102.
58. ‘Soccer Makes Auspicious Start on Syonan Esplanade', The Syonan Times, 3 July 1942, 4.
59. Ibid.
60. ‘Mayor's Football Cup Still to Be Competed For', The Syonan Times, 18 Aug. 1942, 4.
61. ‘Mayor to Be Honorary President of Syonan Sports Association', The Syonan Times, 9Sept. 1942, 4.
62. ‘Sport and Universal Brotherhood', The Syonan Times, 16 Oct. 1942, 2.
63. ‘Mayor to Be Honorary President', 4.
64. H.M. Rappa, ‘Sport Carnivals Feature Holidays in New Malai', The Syonan Times, 2Oct. 1943.
65. ‘Domei Interviews President of Syonan Sports Association', The Syonan Times, 8 Sept. 1942, 3.
66. ‘Opening of the SSA Clubhouse by Mayor: Epochal Event', The Syonan Times, 19 April 1943, 2.
67. Rappa, ‘Sport Carnivals Feature Holidays in New Malai'.
68. ‘SSA Clubhouse to Be Formally Opened by Mayor', The Syonan Times, 6 April 1943, 2.
69. ‘Domei Interviews President of Syonan Sports Association', 3.
70. ‘Mayor to Be Honorary President', 4.
71. Abe and Mangan, ‘“Sportsmanship” – English Inspiration and Japanese Response', 111.
72. ‘Sport and Universal Brotherhood', 2.
73. Ibid.
74. ‘Universal Mission of a Nippon-Zin Is to Exhibit “Spirit of Great Harmony”', The Syonan Times, 16 Oct. 1942, 2.
75. Ibid.
76. Ibid.
77. Abe and Mangan, ‘“Sportsmanship” – English Inspiration and Japanese Response', 116.
78. Elias, The Civilizing Process, 269.
79. ‘Opening of the SSA Clubhouse by Mayor', 2.
80. Girls Sports Club: 50th Golden Anniversary of the Founding of the Club.
81. ‘SSA Women's Section', The Syonan Times, 25 June 1945, 1.
82. ‘Syonan Sports Meet Was Biggest Event of Its Kind', The Syonan Times, 16 Feb. 1943, 2.
83. ‘Senden-Bu Cho Urges Malaians to Lead Industrious Life', The Syonan Shimbun, 13 Dec. 1943, 1.
84. ‘Physical Fitness Keynote Throughout Malai Today', The Syonan Sinbum, 20 Oct. 1943.
85. Ibid.
86. The series of health lectures appeared on the ‘Saturday Supplement' section of The Syonan Times from 18 April to 21 June 1942. Three of these lectures make mention to sport or physical activity: ‘Health Is Wealth vii', The Syonan Times, 30 May 1942; ‘Health Is Wealth viii’, The Syonan Times, 6 June 1942; and ‘Health Is Wealth x’, The Syonan Times, 21 June 1942.
87. ‘Meiji Setsu Sports Carnival Proves a Great Success’, The Syonan Shimbun, 4 Nov. 1943.
88. Ibid.
89. ‘Physical Fitness Keynote Throughout Malai Today’.
90. See Rappa, ‘Sport Carnivals Feature Holidays in New Malai’.
91. ‘Champions Win Charity Soccer at Jalan Besar’, The Syonan Simbun, 14 Feb. 1943, 2.
92. ‘$2,000,000 Sports Stadium Scheme for Farrer Park: Olympic Games Envisaged’, The Syonan Times, n.d., 1942.
93. ‘Million Dollar Boxing Show Planned to Aid Syonan Evacuee Fund’, The Syonan Times, 19 July 1945, 2.
94. Ibid.
95. ‘Sport Playing Big Part in Daily Life of Syonan’, The Syonan Times, 19 June 1945, 2.
96. ‘SSA Membership Passes 2000 Mark’, The Syonan Shimbun, 5 May 1943.
97. ‘Sporting Life of Perak Back to Normal’, The Syonan Times, 9 July 1942.
98. ‘Syonan's Largest Swimming Pool Re-Opens after Seven Months’, The Syonan Times, 1Sept. 1942, 4.
99. ‘$2,000,000 Sports Stadium Scheme for Farrer Park’.
100. ‘Syonan Amateur Athletic Meet on Feb. 15, Details’, The Syonan Times, 16 Jan. 1943, 2.
101. Abe et al., ‘Sport and Physical Education under Fascistization’.
102. Yujiro Watanabe founded a boxing club in Tokyo after his visit to America. See, Ikuo Abe et al., ‘Sport and Physical Education under Fascistization in Japan’.
103. H. Saito, ‘Boxing in Syonan’, The Syonan Shimbun, 2 March 1944.
104. Ibid.
105. Ibid.
106. Ibid.
107. Sheard, ‘Aspects of Boxing’, 39.
108. Ibid.
109. Ibid., 38.
110. Ibid.
111. ‘Carrie, Eagle Favour Control over Boxing’, The Syonan Shimbun, 1 Dec. 1943.
112. ‘Sport in Syonan’, The Syonan Times, 9 March 1944.
113. Abe et al., ‘Sport and Physical Education under Fascistization’.
114. ‘Propaganda a Valuable Aid to Reconstruction’, 2.
115. Wijeysingha, The Eagle Breeds a Gryphon, 189; Foo, Collecting Memories.
116. Although the school was later returned to the Japanese government, it is not known what happened to those that became geisha houses. Shinozaki, ‘My Wartime Experiences in Singapore’, 51.
117. Calculated from the data in the appendix section of Akashi, ‘Education and Indoctrination Policy’, appendix, 36–9.
118. ‘Fundamental Policy Concerning Education in the Southern Hemisphere’ (Headquarters of the Southern Expeditionary Forces, 1942), attached in appendix of Akashi, ‘Education and Indoctrination Policy’, 25.
119. Akashi, ‘Education and Indoctrination Policy’, 5.
120. ‘Education Dept Notice: Renaming of Schools’, The Syonan Times, 2 April 1942.
121. ‘Fundamental Policy Concerning Education in the Southern Hemisphere’, Akashi, ‘Education and Indoctrination Policy’, appendix, 26.
122. Ibid.
123. Ibid., 25.
124. ‘Ibid., 28–9.
125. Shinozaki, ‘My Wartime Experiences in Singapore’, 47.
126. Brown, Memories of S.J.I., 37.
127. ‘Giyu-Gun Enrolment Begins in Syonan’, The Syonan Shimbun, 22 Jan. 1944, 2.
128. ‘Physical Fitness Keynote Throughout Malai Today’.
129. S.S. Tomi, ‘Matter Relating to Reopening of Primary Schools’ (From Military Administrator to Mayor and Governors, 1942), in Akashi, ‘Education and Indoctrination Policy’, appendix, 24.
130. Kong et al., Convent Chronicles,109.
131. Shinozaki, ‘My Wartime Experiences in Singapore’.
132. Ibid., 52.
133. Akashi, ‘Education and Indoctrination Policy’, 11.
134. Brown, Memories of S.J.I., 37.
135. Shinozaki, ‘My Wartime Experiences in Singapore’, 48.
136. Brown, Memories of S.J.I., 37.
137. ‘Giyu-Gun Enrolment Begins in Syonan’, The Syonan Shimbun, 22 Jan. 1944, 2.
138. ‘Physical Fitness Keynote Throughout Malai Today’.