HE came to Singapore to study. But war shattered his plans. He ended up working for the Japanese in Sentosa. Thobias Pereira, 69, now managing director of a farm in Lim Chu Kang, shares his war experiences. I was working in Sentosa, in those days called Pulau Blakang Mati. I took the ferry everyday to the island and worked there as a mechanic. They put me in the workshop for repairing vehicles. There was a time when something was missing, at the Singapore site (another workshop where Mr Pereira was also sometimes sent to work), where the present cable car station is. The Japanese thought one of the locals had stolen this particular part to sell in the black market. Nobody admitted. It was about six in the evening. So they dug a big pit and they said if none was going to admit the fact that he stole it, they were going to slaughter everybody. Because everyone must bear the responsibility for one person's crime. They dug the pit and made all of us bend over the pit. When they chopped the head, they pushed you into the pit lah. Fortunately, the senior officer came. The company was known as Miki Butai. He wanted to go back to Sentosa, saw the commotion, found out what was going on. Then nothing happened. Maybe he asked them to stop the nonsense. I wouldn't know, we could have been pushed into the pit and that would be the end of it! So we escaped that. That was a terrifying experience for us. Next chapter: Prisoners of war Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.