JAPANESE METHODS OF FORCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 60, 11 March 1944, Page 3

JAPANESE METHODS OF FORCE

NATIVES IN EAST INDIES Recd. 10 pjn. Sydney, March 8. ■'Light punishment—to be beaten half to death. Heavy punishment—to be beheaded.” These are the reprisals threatened by a Japanese commander when he issued instructions to village chiefs in the Netherlands East Indies demanding that the natives answer a call to work in forests and swamps. Official representatives in Australia of the Netherlands Government reported to-day 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 Indonese 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 internatronal 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.