IN EAST INDIES
JAP REIGN OF TERROR ' Rec. 9 a.m. SYDNEY, March 8. "Light punishment—to be beaten half to death. Heavy punishment-r-to be beheaded." These were the reprisals threatened by a Japanese Commander when he issued instructions to village chiefs in the Netherlands Indies demanding that the natives should, answer the call to work in the forests and swamps. Official representatives in Australia of the Netherlands Government reported today on conditions in the Indies after two years of Japanese occupation. Their report says that the younger men in many villages have completely disappeared, and that the unbelievably brutal treatment of Indonesian women by the Japanese forces has terrified the people. Agriculture is disrupted, and there is a severe shortage of rice. Looting by the Japanese is prevalent, particularly in prison camps, where all international laws are ignored and the shooting and bayoneting of Netherlands soldiers is common. Indonesians who tried to bring food to starving civilian internees have been flogged to death. Men capable of work have been driven away like slaves.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19440309.2.48.2
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 58, 9 March 1944, Page 5
Word Count
172IN EAST INDIES Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 58, 9 March 1944, Page 5
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