Kedah exco: Japanese ‘hero’ memorial gaffe not mine

The Kedah state government does not view the memorial for three Japanese soldiers in Alor Setar as one for “heroes”.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, Kedah state exco in charge of tourism Mohd Asmirul Anwar Aris said although he was invited to officiate an event, it didn’t mean that the state government endorsed the wording used to describe the soldiers.

He was responding to social media outrage over promotional material for the officiation ceremony for the restored Sultan Abdul Halim memorial bridge on Thursday. Critics had argued that the Japanese invaders should not be glorified.

The event was organised by the Consulate-General of Japan in Penang’s office, the Kedah chapter of the Malaysian Historical Society (PSMCK) and the Kedah State Museum.

He said the use of the word “wira” (heroes) in the promotional material as a “technical mistake” on the part of the PSMCK.

“To say that they are ‘heroes’ is only a technical mistake. We will not say that they are heroes,” he said.

The Consulate-General of Japan in Penang’s office had restored the 1.8m stone memorial at the northern side of the Sultan Abdul Halim bridge recently.

According to a tri-lingual sign next to the site, the memorial commemorates the act of Commander Platoon Lieutenant Hajima Asahi and two others.

The trio had died while attempting to secure what was then known as the Alor Setar bridge on Dec 13, 1941 during the early stages of Imperial Japan’s conquest of Malaya and Borneo.

Acknowledging that the tri-lingual sign referred to the trio as “heroes” (see photo below), Mohd Asmirul said this would be rectified.

“I will ask the contractor to fix it. Had it been ‘Japanese soldiers’ it would be fine… I will ask (for this) to be corrected soon,” he said.

Mohd Asmirul said he had previously sought for the words “No war, anti-war” to be included in the memorial, but he believed this request had been overlooked.

“I did give the instruction. Sometimes, requests don’t reach the contractors. I will remind them,” he said.

Mohd Asmirul clarified that the state government did not fund the restoration of the memorial. He added that the memorial was intended to attract tourists.  - Mkini