Japanese politicians scrambled to distance themselves from mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, after he said forced recruitment of Asian women to work in military brothels had been necessary to maintain discipline among soldiers. "If you want them to get some rest, a comfort women system was necessary," he told reporters. "That's clear to anyone." That may be clear to him, just as "Gang rape is democracy in action" was crystal clear to MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, Zainudin Nordin.
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Tell that to Swee Lian, author of "Tears of a Teen-age Comfort Woman", a 16 year old from Jesselton (Kota Kinabalu) forced to be a "jugun-ianfu" (army comfort women). After her parents were imprisoned and tortured to death for supporting the China Relief Fund to fight the Japs, while cowards were working for them as translators and policemen, Swee Lian was raped by the Kempeitai and sent to the army brothel as girl number 23. The inmates were referred to as "sisters" and told they were members of a "patriotic women's army" who came from Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and the "newly liberated territories in Southeast Asia".
"Work" started at nine o'clock, with a lunch break, followed by the "afternoon session" which lasted until six in the evening. One girl estimated her "team" had to "entertain" about 600 soldiers - allowing 10 minutes per session and a 10 minute "interval" between each session - over a period of 8 hours. The math nauseated Swee Lian.
Fortunately her boyfriend, who was a member of the anti-Japanese guerrillas taking the fight to the jungles of Borneo, managed to rescue her from the brothel and found her a sanctuary in a Buddhist nunnery in Singapore, where she hid until Japan's surrender on 15 August 1945.
Prime Minister Abe was among several senior politicians who distanced themselves from Hashimoto's remarks. Meanwhile, Hashimoto attempted to justify his remarks, telling reporters that he had been referring to the atmosphere of the times, just like someone trying to put in context the outrageous quote of Terry Goodkind.
"Work" started at nine o'clock, with a lunch break, followed by the "afternoon session" which lasted until six in the evening. One girl estimated her "team" had to "entertain" about 600 soldiers - allowing 10 minutes per session and a 10 minute "interval" between each session - over a period of 8 hours. The math nauseated Swee Lian.
Fortunately her boyfriend, who was a member of the anti-Japanese guerrillas taking the fight to the jungles of Borneo, managed to rescue her from the brothel and found her a sanctuary in a Buddhist nunnery in Singapore, where she hid until Japan's surrender on 15 August 1945.
Prime Minister Abe was among several senior politicians who distanced themselves from Hashimoto's remarks. Meanwhile, Hashimoto attempted to justify his remarks, telling reporters that he had been referring to the atmosphere of the times, just like someone trying to put in context the outrageous quote of Terry Goodkind.