By Gandhimathy Durairaj
“Comfort women” is a euphemism used to describe the women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. These women were taken from various countries including Korea, China, the Philippines, and Indonesia, among others. Singapore, like many other parts of Asia under Japanese occupation, were not spared from the atrocities.
The Comfort Women of Singapore in History and Memory uncovers the dark history of this period. Diving into the forgotten narratives of Singapore’s comfort women, this book sheds light on their experiences and the collective silence that enveloped their memories.
When the Japanese occupied Singapore from 1942 to 1945, Singapore served as a significant hub for comfort stations (ianjo) catering to Japanese soldiers and establishments offering sexual services to officers and administrators. Yet, despite the growing voice of comfort women from other Asian nations in the 1990s, Singaporean women remained reticent. The author, Kevin Blackburn, seeks to understand this silence while situating Singapore within the broader discourse on comfort women in Asia, providing a nuanced analysis ripe for comparative study.
The book opens with an exploration of Singapore’s response to the international debate on comfort women post-1991, notably examining the influential stance of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew which served as crucial context for comprehending the prevailing silence.
Subsequent chapters delve into the early and later periods of Japanese Occupation, probing the coercion faced by Singaporean women into providing sexual services for the military and the entrenched patterns of sexual exploitation. Drawing from testimonies and archival materials, Blackburn vividly portrays life within the comfort stations and traces the trafficking of Indonesian and Korean women into Singapore during and after 1943, shedding light on the transnational scope of sexual enslavement during this turbulent period of Singapore’s history.
The book also explores why many comfort women in Singapore chose not to return to their homes and communities after the war, as many of them continued in sex work, hence opting instead to evade humiliation back home. Blackburn concludes by dissecting the challenges faced by the Singaporean state in addressing this transnational history, while also examining the evolving portrayal of local comfort women in Singapore plays, television dramas, and movies since the 1990s.
Overall, The Comfort Women of Singapore in History and Memory is a valuable contribution to the history of comfort women in Singapore, a topic previously overlooked in scholarly discourse. Through its comprehensive analysis and sensitive approach, Blackburn’s work unveils a dark chapter in Singapore’s past, and underscores the importance of shaping the collective memories of WWII narratives and honoring the resilience and courage of the comfort women.
