A friend lent me his book, Malayan Tit-Bits by S. Durai Raja Singam. It is a fascinating collection of news and anecdotes. On Google, I found a reference to the author and the book in the Shonan Times (Syonan Shimbun), dated 20 November 1942, published during the Japanese Occupation. This, in itself, makes the book even more intriguing. Someone writing under the name Sakura praises the book for the information it contains about Malaya. He must have been a Japanese official in Japanese-occupied Malaya because he adds that copies of the book should be sent to Nippon so that the Japanese will be informed about Malaya. Then, quoting an entry in the book about how Sir Andrew Clarke, upon his appointment as Governor of the Straits Settlements, found no information about Malaya in the Geographical Society’s library in London, Sakura writes that the Japanese must not remain ignorant about Malaya as the British did when they first arrived in these parts.
The writer, referring to another entry in the book about the
various claims of individuals like Stamford Raffles and Frank Swettenham
regarding the development of the colony, cheekily adds that to that list must
be included Lt. General Tomoyuki Yamashita – “I conquered Malaya.”
Simply fascinating.