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War and Conflict. World War II. Far East. pic: circa 1943. The railway near Thanbyuzayat on the Burma - Siam railway showing the destruction of a bridge by RAF. Liberators.War and Conflict, World War II, Far East, pic: circa 1943, The railway near Thanbyuzayat on the Burma - Siam railway showing the destruction of a bridge by RAF, Liberators (Photo by Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images) - https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/war-and-conflict-world-war-ii-far-east-pic-circa-1943-the-news-photo/78986891?adppopup=true
RM207b Death Railway compensation: Enough of 34 years of NATO
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9, 2024: Aren’t Malaysian politicians sick and tired of talking and hearing about the RM207 billion Death Railway compensation?
It’s already 34 years after the money is believed to have been transferred by the Japanese government to Malaysia in the 1990s. What has happened to it?
Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister (PMX) Anwar Ibrahim is again playing the same record for political mileage.
“(Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) needs to explain (why) RM207 billion was not sent to through the Treasury. Shouid conduct an investigation and submit a full report to Parliament,” Anwar blared.
Why “should”? Aren’t you now the prime minister? Just order the probe immediately for appropriate action?
Oh! How forgetful of us?
Anwar’s is also Mr NATO (No Action Talk Only) PM!
No News Is Bad News reproduces below news feports of the RM207 compensation paid by the Japanese government for the families of some 30,000 forced-labour Malaysians who died in the 1940s Death Railway Project:
Anwar : Mahathir Need To Explain RM207 Billion Not Sent Through Treasury – Should Conduct An Investigation & Submit A Full Report To Parliament
9 December, 2024
Anwar Ibrahim today confirmed that RM207 billion Death Railway compensation was sent to the Malaysian government but added that the money did not go through the Treasury.
“Why you have to ask the former finance ministers to explain? If the money came to the Treasury, I would surely have been informed.
“During my time as finance minister, it was not sent through the Treasury.
“But they (both Japanese and Malaysian officials) have evidence that it was sent to the government.
“So I think the then Prime Minister (Dr Mahathir Mohamad) needs to explain. What is the present Prime Minister (Najib Tun Razak) is doing?
“Najib should conduct a full investigation,” Anwar said, adding that the issue had been raised in Parliament by one of the Pakatan Rakyat MPs.
Anwar was commenting on the ‘missing’ RM207 billion paid by the Japanese government as compensation to the Malaysian government over the ‘Death Railway’ project in the 1940s.
The money was meant to be distributed to some 30,000 Malaysians who had been taken as prisoners of war and used as forced labour by the Japanese to build the Thai-Burma rail link.
According to PAS, the Japanese Embassy had recently revealed that it had in the 1990s paid a compensation of RM207 billion to the Malaysian government for families of the victims.
Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin had called for former finance minister Anwar and Daim Zainuddin, along with Mahathir, to explain the whereabouts of the RM207 billion.
Source : Malaysiakini
Source : FMT
Reveal outcome of probe into RM207bil ‘Death Railway’ compensation, govt told
A DAP MP has urged the government to reveal the findings of a police investigation into the alleged RM207 billion compensation paid by the Japanese government to Malaysia for the loss of lives in the construction of the infamous “Death Railway” during World War II.
M Kula Segaran (PH-Ipoh Barat) had asked the finance ministry yesterday to explain the status of the payment, following claims that victims and their next of kin have not received the compensation.
Today, Kula told the Dewan Rakyat he has received a written reply from the ministry saying it has issued two official statements, on Jan 15 and 19 of 2013, refuting the “false claim”.
The ministry also said a police report had been lodged over the matter in September 2012 for further investigation.
“From 2012 until now, it has been about 11 years, surely there was an outcome from the police investigation. Why was the outcome not revealed?
“I hope the ministry can give a comprehensive answer for this matter so that the issue can be resolved once and for all,” said Kula.
The ministry also said it has requested for the issue of the compensation from the Japanese government not to be raised in the Dewan Rakyat again.
In response, Kula said it is the right of the people to raise any issues in the Dewan Rakyat in accordance with the law and rules of Parliament.
In recent years, the mainstream and social media had reported claims that the Japanese government had paid Malaysia the RM207 billion in the 1990s, when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister.
However, in a TV interview with the Tamil news site Vanakkam Malaysia on May 23, Mahathir denied receiving any compensation on behalf of the Malaysian victims or their families, as suggested.
Ten years earlier, Anwar Ibrahim, then the opposition leader, claimed that both Japanese and Malaysian officials were in possession of “evidence” that the money was sent to the government but did not go through the Treasury.
He said he was sure of this since he was the finance minister then.
It is estimated that 30,000 Malaysians who were forcefully recruited to build the Thai-Burma “Death Railway” died.
Source : FMT
Audit report that Japan paid Dr Mahathir’s govt RM207 Billion
R.S.N Rayer (Jelutong-PH) has called on the Auditor-General’s Department to look into the RM207 billion awarded by the Japanese government to Putrajaya in 2004.
The Jelutong MP explained that the money was the Japanese government’s compensation for the atrocities committed during the construction of the Death Railway.
“I want to take this opportunity to ask the Auditor-General’s Department whether an audit can be performed on a report highlighting that RM207 billion was paid by Japan to the Malaysian government when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister.
“This is a big amount. If this is true, what happened to the money?” Rayer asked the Dewan Rakyat today.
In 2013, reports surfaced that the Japanese embassy in Kuala Lumpur had stated that it never confirmed RM207 billion was paid to the Malaysian government as compensation for the victims of the Death Railway.
The statement by the Japanese embassy was in response to a Harakah Daily article published the same year titled “Embassy confirms huge compensation paid to Malaysian government”.
Meanwhile, during his debate on the Auditor-General Report 2021, Rayer took further swipes against Dr Mahathir, demanding the former prime minister refrain from attacking the royalty.
The Jelutong MP then urged the government to withdraw Dr Mahathir’s “Tun” title if he continued his attacks.
“I want to appeal to Dr Mahathir to stop attacking our royal institutions.
“The prime minister, YB Tambun, please make sure police do not compromise and take appropriate action against Mahathir.
“Furthermore, after his proclamation, Dr Mahathir might work with Pagoh MP Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who had betrayed him earlier, to further destroy this nation,” he said.
On June 2, it was confirmed that police questioned Dr Mahathir over the Malay Proclamation at Yayasan Al Bukhary.
According to police secretary Datuk Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin, investigations were initiated against Dr Mahathir as his statements allegedly insulted the royal institution.
Source : The Vibes
‘Death railway’: Mahathir, tell us what happened to the ‘RM207bn compensation’? It was blood money, we have a right to know!
Some 30,000 ethnic Indians and others, including my grandfather, were forcibly rounded up and bundled off to work on the 415km Burma-Thailand “death railway” project during World War Two.
Most of them were lost forever, never to return and never to be part of the families they left behind!
Most of them died in a foreign land under miserable conditions in a hostile environment. They were subjected to harsh and brutal treatment by Japanese forces.
My grandfather was a strict vegetarian. I don’t suppose the Japanese officers would have bothered to cater for his special diet or the needs of the other vegetarians. We don’t know how many of them starved to death.
My grandfather wouldn’t have compromised on his diet. Sometimes I wondered if he starved to death. Worse, when you are weak without food, emaciated and malnourished, you are no use to any workforce. What did the Japanese officers do to them? Did they bury them while they were still alive and wasted?
How many were buried alive? We will never know! But that could have been the fate of many.
How many died of disease without medical treatment? Was there a scarcity of medicine? We will never know. Saving them would have been costly for the Japanese forces – they wouldn’t have bothered. It would have been easier to replace them by forced recruitment at no cost! This was what could have happened. The sick and starving would have been got rid of quite easily by the ruthless Japanese officers.
There has been no closure for these poor souls who perished in miserable conditions. There were no funeral ceremonies or traditional burials for these Indians and others. There were no rites to bring closure – they sadly died alone and lonely, unsung and unwept.
Were they thrown into a huge grave for multiple burials? We will never know. All we know is they were lost forever to their loved ones. Their own descendants must have died over the years receiving no compensation for the deprivation they suffered, and many of them died without leaving behind details of their kith and kin.
All these many questions come to mind on and off; they torment us to no end any time we recall their memories. I was just a kid and could, to this day, visualise my grandfather, forlorn and unsmiling, sitting on a ledge at the back of the lorry that took him away.
It has been nearly 80 years now since these unfortunate poor souls were taken to Burma to build the railway to Thailand. Their relatives and those closely associated with them who were left behind in wartime Malaya would have died in adversity over time, and they would have been buried in this land, which was their home. They themselves would have been forgotten by their descendants with the passage of time. How sad!
Those who suffered and struggled when the sole breadwinners in their households were forcibly taken away, led a very hard life. Roles had to be reversed, and they slogged to feed their families and struggled to care for them over the years. Don’t they deserve some compensation for the hardship they endured? This is the least one can expect and deserve in the name of common decency, humanity and, above all, justice!
Several years ago, the local press reported a claim that the Japanese government had given compensation – to be exact RM207bn. It was a huge sum, yes – but it couldn’t bring back the dead.
If that money had been distributed to those who had lost and suffered when their beloved grandfathers, fathers, husbands, brothers, uncles and nephews were forcibly taken away from them, it would have served as solace of sorts. It would have been some sort of compensation for the heavy price paid by those who were left behind helplessly to fend for themselves.
But there was neither distribution of any kind nor any sign of the money received from the Japanese government. It seemed it had disappeared into thin air!
How could that happen? How is it possible? Both the Malaysian and Japanese government officials could have vouched for the compensation given and received. But the money did not go into the Treasury! ‘How can’?
The Japanese government is morally bound to provide details to clear this mystery. How was this money transmitted [if at all it was]? Was there a formal occasion to make public that Japan was going to compensate Malayans for the loss of lives of those forcibly taken to serve them by constructing the Burma-Thailand railway? If compensation was indeed given, was there a Malaysian representative present to grace the occasion when the compensation was announced and paid? Who represented Malaysia?
The Japanese government is hard-pressed to provide details that it indeed compensated Malaysia. [In 2013 the Japanese embassy in Malaysia reportedly denied it had confirmed the RM207bn compensation by the Japanese government to Malaysia.]
If the Japanese government is not able to provide any evidence that such payment was made, then we will have to conclude that no payment was made at all.
Consequently, any claim by the Japanese government that it paid compensation would be treated as a false claim in the absence of any tangible evidence to convince us it had made such a payment.
The Japanese government has a moral duty to clear the air and throw light on this burning issue. If there is no evidence of payment, then we have to press the Japanese government to pay the compensation as a mark of retribution.
If the compensation was indeed given, then the Malaysian prime minister and the finance minister at the time would have been privy to the payment. They would owe us a duty to explain what happened to this whopping sum of RM207bn.
If the payment did not go into the Treasury in the 1990s [when Anwar Ibrahim was the finance minister], where did it go? Why wasn’t it routed through the Treasury? Was this money hijacked quietly and stored away in some foreign land?
We need to know. Any such compensation is blood money. It is due to us. We cannot be robbed of it. It is the rightful inheritance of those who lost their loved ones. It is their compensation.
Source : Aliran
Can we just have the truth?
By MT Webmaster On Jan 6, 2013
Although the ‘loss’ of this RM207 billion is a good election issue and very favourable to the opposition, the opposition faces the danger that if this allegation is, in fact, true and if the government were to release information or documents to prove that Anwar had a hand in the matter or had knowledge of what happened to the money and yet he chose to remain silent then this issue could backfire badly on the opposition.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Ex-Health Minister Chua Jui Meng has raised a very pertinent point in his letter/statement published in Free Malaysia Today (which you can read below). What happened to the RM207 billion that Japan paid Malaysia back in the 1990s?
As what Lim Kit Siang, the Opposition Leader in Parliament in the 1990s said, both the Finance Minister as well as the Prime Minister need to be accountable for any wrongdoings and transgressions.
This statement is consistent with the call by the opposition that Tun Daim Zainuddin, the one-time Finance Minister of Malaysia, should be held accountable for wrongdoings and transgressions during his watch and he can’t just wash his hands and shift the blame solely to the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
As what Lim Kit Siang said in Parliament in 1994, Anwar Ibrahim, the Finance Minister from 1991 to 1998, has to be accountable for whatever happened during his watch. Prior to that, from 1984 to 1991, Tun Daim was the Finance Minister and was reappointed Finance Minister in 1998 after Anwar was sacked.
Hence three people would be privy to what happened to the RM207 billion — Dr Mahathir, Daim and Anwar. Hence, also, one of these three people must explain what happened to this RM207 billion.
The question of who authorised the ‘mismanagement’ of this money is one issue. The more important question is: does any of the three — Dr Mahathir, Daim and Anwar — have knowledge about the matter?
Anwar can settle this easily by stating that he has absolutely no knowledge of this matter or, if he does, that the money was ‘hijacked’ at the behest of Dr Mahathir and that the matter was totally beyond his control although he was the Finance Minister.
Although the ‘loss’ of this RM207 billion is a good election issue and very favourable to the opposition, the opposition faces the danger that if this allegation is, in fact, true and if the government were to release information or documents to prove that Anwar had a hand in the matter or had knowledge of what happened to the money and yet he chose to remain silent then this issue could backfire badly on the opposition.
From my dealings with the Finance Ministry since 1977 — soon after Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah became the Finance Minister in 1976 — I am aware that the Finance Ministry has certain autonomy and has been known to override the wishes of the Prime Minister. Maybe Ku Li can confirm this because he knows what I am talking about (and he was once the President of the Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
I remember back in the days when I was a central committee member of the Malay Chamber of Commerce and we had a meeting with Dr Mahathir to complain about Bank Negara. We felt that certain policies of Bank Negara were not favourable to the Bumiputera businessmen and actually dampened the investment climate.
Dr Mahathir replied that the Bank Negara Governor then, who was Dr Mahathir’s brother-in-law, never listens to him and reports to the Finance Minister and not to the Prime Minister. Hence the PM was having a big ‘headache’ with Bank Negara. Dr Mahathir then suggested we meet up with the Finance Minister and try to get them to make Bank Negara more receptive to the Malay Chamber of Commerce.
In one meeting we had with the Secretary General of the Finance Ministry, the Sec-Gen related the story of a meeting he and the Governor had with Dr Mahathir where the Governor ‘scolded’ the Prime Minister regarding certain policies that were not favourable to the country.
My personal experience in dealing with the Prime Minister’s Department, the Finance Ministry, and Bank Negara, back in the 1980s was that each unit was very protective of its turf and they were very careful about infringing each other’s territory.
In the many meetings we had in the late 1980s to thrash out the Tabung Pemulihan Usahawan (TPU), it was clear that Bank Negara was quite independent of the Prime Minister’s Department (by virtue of the ‘strength’ of the Governor) and the Finance Ministry would override certain things that the Prime Minister wanted.
In one meeting that we had with the Prime Minister where we raised certain displeasures concerning government policies, Dr Mahathir was exasperated and told us to go meet the Finance Minister because this was a Finance Ministry decision and he cannot interfere in the matter.
I am speaking from my 20 years experience in dealing with the government as a businessman and central committee member of the Malay Chamber of Commerce. Our frustration was about after meeting the Prime Minister and getting him to agree to a certain matter, the Finance Minister would not ‘play ball’. We had to, again, try to get the Finance Minister to agree to what we wanted although the Prime Minister had already agreed to the matter.
Our experience with Tun Daim was even worse. While Anwar was a politician and would be more diplomatic in how he handled us, Tun Daim, who was not a politician, would tell us that if the Prime Minister had agreed to it then ask the PM to approve it because he refuses to do so.
In one meeting we had with Tun Daim, he pulled out a letter from his drawer and waved it in front of us. “This is my pre-signed and undated resignation letter,” he told us. “If the PM is not happy with me he can have my resignation.”
That was a clear message that the Finance Minister decides and he will not take instructions from the Prime Minister and if the PM is not happy with that he (Tun Daim) is prepared to resign. We even met the Prime Minister to complain about this but Dr Mahathir told us that we had to sort it out with Tun Daim.
In another meeting that we had with Tun Daim where we raised a certain issue and told him that Dr Mahathir does not agree to what we want, Tun Daim phoned Dr Mahathir in front of us and told the PM that he has agreed to what the Malay Chamber of Commerce wanted. Tun Daim overrode Dr Mahathir and not the other way around.
In one meeting that we had with Anwar, who was by then the Finance Minister, Anwar phoned Tun Daim in our presence to ask Tun Daim to inform Dr Mahathir that he has agreed to what we wanted.
From my personal experience, the relationship of the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Economic Adviser to the government, and Bank Negara Governor, was a very complicated relationship and we never knew at each point of time who we should be talking to if we wanted things done.
One thing that was very clear, though, was that each was the boss of his own turf. And Chua Jui Meng and Anwar Ibrahim both know this and hence should go public on this so that Malaysians can get to the truth of the matter because RM207 billion is a lot of money and the truth should not remain hidden.
*******************************************
Who hijacked the Death Railway money?
The money – RM207 billion – is believed to have been transferred by the Japanese government to Malaysia in the 1990s. What has happened to it?
By Chua Jui Meng, Free Malaysia Today
Is Dr Mahathir Mohamad going to take the same “silence is golden” stand as Najib Tun Razak and his infamous diamond-loving wife Rosmah Mansor when cornered by an issue?
The revelation by the Japanese Embassy that it had paid compensation to the Malaysian government for families of victims of the so-called “Death Railway” project in the 1940s is shocking.
The sum of RM207 billion or whatever the amount must be revealed by Mahathir. He was close to the Japanese government and corporate sector when he promoted his Look East Policy aimed at enhancing trade with Japan.
The money, believed to be amounting to RM207 billion, was meant to be distributed to some 30,000 Malaysians who had been recruited as forced labourers by the Japanese to build the Thai-Burma rail link.
This means each affected family is entitled to receive between RM2.8 million and RM3 million as compensation.
The stinking part of the Umno-led Barisan Nasional federal government is that the public is today unaware of the compensation payment by the Japanese.
We would have thought Mahathir would have brought the money back from Japan in triumph, like a victorious Roman general.
Umno would have organised a huge gathering of the victims or their families and distributed the money. No, it was all covered in secrecy.
National probe needed
The money rightfully belongs to the victims of the “Death Railway” project and their families and to rob them is despicable.
The money is believed to have been transferred by the Japanese government to Malaysia in the 1990s. This means it happened during Mahathir’s 22-year reign.
Who then has hijacked or stolen the money?
It is no small sum and surely Mahathir cannot expect us to accept his infamous “I cannot remember” or “I am unaware of such compensation money from Japan”?
This time, Malaysians cannot accept his “selective loss of memory” or “selective amnesia”.
Whoever stole the money from the 30,000 dead Malaysians is/are worse than animals, hitting the depths of greed.
The government must immediately set up a national probe team to track down the thief/thieves to recover the money and for prosecution.
Surely there are paper trails, beginning with the transfer/s from the Japanese to the Malaysian government.
Meanwhile, Japan can do further justice to the 30,000 Malaysian forced labourers who died in the “Death Railway” project by revealing their identities so that their families are traced.
Ultimate danger
And, as for Mahathir who said five years of Pakatan Rakyat-rule is dangerous because BN will have no chance to return to power, I say, “Good riddance”. After 55 years of misrule, it is time to retire Umno permanently.
With mounting and rising federal debts at RM620 billion or 74% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), meaning the BN is operating way above the 55% federal debt ceiling, that is more dangerous to Malaysians and the country.
If, for some reason, our oil wells suddenly run dry, we will immediately be deemed a bankrupt nation and untold misery would befall all Malaysians.
Also, a point to show why Pakatan is more dependable is that the financial management of the Pakatan states, debuting in 2008, has been acknowledged by the Auditor-General as more superior than the states governed by the BN.
And Mahathir’s silence over reports of his allegedly US$44 billion (more than RM132 billion) in accumulated wealth is even more dangerous.
And with him now seemingly trying to engineer his son, Mukhriz, to rise as prime minister by or before the 14th general election, it is the ultimate danger for Malaysians and Malaysia. - MALAYSIAToday
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