T.S., you were a journalist when war broke out. How did it affect your life?

The Japanese Occupation meant disaster for T.S.Khoo. His Tribune office was bombed. "The Tribune office in Anson Road, just at the junction of Anson Road and Enggor Street, was knocked down quite badly," he said. "It was right in the path of Japanese planes bombing the harbour. There were quite a few gaping holes in the building." The machinery was badly damaged or looted. The company closed down and many of the Tribune directors fled the country. Click for audio of full interview T.S. Khoo It also meant that T.S.’s rising career was suddenly snuffed out. "For me, the war was disaster, because the problem was: where do you find a job like that? I thought I had a flying start…’’ "I (had been) on top of the world; so happy with my progress. But suddenly, I found myself without a job, without a future, hoping, against hope that this was just a nightmare, that it was not going to last forever," said T.S. "It was mental torture…because…you thought you had a brilliant future, but that future is destroyed…" Click for audio of full interview T.S. was also hauled in by the Japanese Kempeitai for questioning. "I was held for one day only, fortunately. One chap, the equivalent of an officer in the special branch… took me to one of the Kempeitai branches, the Masonic Lodge in Coleman Street, next to the fire station. They didn’t do anything physical to me, but I could hear people screaming. "I thought this would be the end…, but they asked me quite innocuous questions, They were trying to get evidence against (Malaya Tribune news editor) Hoffman. "They released me the same evening, and my father was waiting for me outside the Kempeitai, frightened and shivering. We walked back home.’’ T.S. spent the next few weeks at home. Then he found that the Japanese man who had hauled him in for interrogation, had moved into the house next to his. The man offered T.S. a job with the Kempeitai. T.S. did not want to work at the Kempeitai, so he lied to his neighbour that he had a job at his uncle’s biscuit factory. For three weeks, he left in house in the morning, returning home only in the evenings.

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One day, a friend asked him if he would like to work in Domei News Agency, a Japanese news agency. T.S. was not keen at first, until he found out that this job was not to generate stories for the Japanese, but simply record what foreign news agencies were writing about the Japanese. He enjoyed working at Domei because the Japanese staff there were "a decent lot." Things were therefore bearable -- but his lifestyle had changed "helluva lot". First of all, the salary he got from Domei -- a few hundred dollars -- was not bad, but the cost of living had skyrocketed. "You could spend the whole thing in one day," said T.S. Another example, eggs cost $200, $300 a dozen, and even then, they were hard to get, said T.S. All this time, T.S. Khoo and most Singaporeans kept hoping that the nightmare would end, that things would get "better". " We wanted Singapore to get liberated by anybody -- Americans or British. Just give us back the life we had before the Japanese Occupation… At that time, few people would think in terms of independence, except independence from the Japanese, and a return to colonial rule if need be." T.S. Khoo's life: First chapter Next chapter Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.