It was Pakatan which restored Japanese monument & praised Japanese invaders

MCA Youth urges pro-Pakatan pages in cyberphere and supporters not to distort facts, considering there are allegations that the controversial “Japanese Warrior Monument” has  been around since the BN administration. It is thus necessary clarify the matter to avoid attempts to divert attention.

According to information, Japanese forces built tombstones along the riverside during World War II (1941) to commemorate three Japanese soldiers who were killed at Kedah River. However, the tombstones were damaged in 2000. 

After the discovery of low-lying tombstones by the Kedah chapter of the Malaysian Historical Society, it was reported that there was a proposal for the former BN-led state government to develop that site into a tourist attraction. However, this proposal was never accepted. As a result, it was only preserved as a tombstone, a bitter remnant of World War II.

When I became the director of the Chinese Youth Bureau of the Kedah State Government and carried out a community renovation project in the nearby Chinatown, the Malaysian Historical Society, Kedah Chapther had suggested restoring the related tombstones. However, we firmly declined their proposal. Our position is that we will not destroy the tombstones, but neither will we restore nor rebuild them.

Unexpectedly, after the Pakatan-led state government came to power in 2018, the Japanese Consulate-General in Penang was allowed to restore the original tombstones and rebuild them into a monument!

Both senior officials of the Japanese government and the Kedah Pakatan state government hold this monument in high esteem. Not only was a grand officiating ceremony held, they even mounted a trilingual signboard to hail the Japanese invaders as “heroes.” This is totally unacceptable to all Malaysians and the next-of-kin of Allied Forces servicemen who served in Malaya!

MCA Youth urges the Kedah Pakatan state government to immediately demolish the monument, as it should never have been restored and reconstructed from beginning.

We believe that the Kedah government's mere dismantlement of the board is insufficient to rectify the incident, because Kedah Tourism Exco Mohd Asmirul only apologised for the word 'hero' on the signboard. MCA Youth resolutely rejects any attempt to turn the monument into a glorification of the aggressors.

Restoring the tombstones and turning it into a monument indicates that the Malaysian Pakatan government condones the Japanese Imperial Army’s atrocities, and the persecution of all Malayans and Allied Forces servicemen and their spouses and families for the 3 years and 8 months of Japanese Occupation. MCA Youth will vehemently oppose such inclinations by the Pakatan government.

MCA Youth stresses that the Pakatan must completely demolish the monument pronto, failing which, we will increase pressure as a show of protest.

Tan Chee Hiong
MCA Youth Deputy Chairman

-MCA online-