Prisoners Executed at Outram Road Prison and buried in Bukit Brown

1470 prisoners died in Outram Road civilian gaol or Outram Road Prison during the Japanese Occupation. Of this, 141 were executed and the rest died of "other causes". In February 1946, a comprehensive list of this war victims were published in the Straits Times on 23, 25 and 26 February 1946. The list was kept secretly by 2 people employed in the goal and written in English.

The newspaper published starting first with the known list of 127 Chinese executed at Outram Road Goal from 14 May 1943 till the time the Japanese surrender in 1945. The other, list the rest who died of "other causes". 

The first batch of Chinese executed in Outram Road Prison in the newspapers were as follows;

When i saw this list, it got me thinking - where are this war victims buried ? My suspicion was they were likely to buried in unmarked graves in Bukit Brown as they were Chinese and Bukit Brown from experience was an active cemetery during Japanese occupation with many people buried in communal trenches. The theory proved correct when i found corresponding evidence in the Bukit Brown burial registy records that matches the name, age and date of execution of this civilian war victims. 

Executed on 14 May 1943 

• Tan Ah Beng (25 years old) 
• Tay Gee Peng (19 years old)
• Tan Kim Hock (24 years old
• Tan Sin Long (26 years old) 
• Soon Siow Peng (23 years old)
• Peh Ai (33 years old)
• Toh Wye Tan (34 years old)
• Chung Ah Chiong (28 years old)
• Chee Ah Tze (31 years old)

What is also interesting was an Indian person by the name of Kanupayah (age 35 years) was buried in the same communal trench on the same day and share the same burial receipt (No: 1575). I suspect that Kanupayah was from the same prison and shared the same fate as the 9 chinese executed in Outram Road Prison.  Unfortunately for the burial registrar record currently online, the cause of death and place of residence have been blanked off, but with the names, age and date of death, i can still make the match. 

Executed on 1 June 1943

• Cheng Lah Seng (41 years old)
• Teh Ah Leng (50 years old) 
• Hiah Buck Joo (43 years old)

Executed on 18 June 1943

• Tay Peng Kuang (41 years old)
• Fon Tah Shin (25 years old)
• Yap Hon Kong (22 years old)

Executed on 10 July 1943

• Leong Ah Poh (female -35 years old)
• Ong Eng Thuan (30 years old)
• Lee Chin Peng (34 years old)
• Wang Choon Chit (23 years old)
• Cheng Teow (25 years old)
• Tan Chee Phong (37 years old)
• Tay Chee Pheng (30 years old)
• Ng Ah Seng (36 years old)

Executed on 16 July 1943 

• Tan Kee Seng (26 years old)
• Lim Yak Seng (40 years old)
• Cheong Ah Fook (33 years old)
• Ng Kim Lai (34 years old)
• Ang Gim Chuan (24 years old)
• Tang Kim Wah (19 years old)
• Lee Kwek Phin (22 years old)
• Chew Poh Nang (26 years old)
• Tay Hock Pin (19 years old)
• Tham Han Guan (23 years old)
• Lim Nen Joon (18 years old)
• Tay Kee Hong (19 years old)
• Lim Seng (40 years old)
• Tan Toh Seng (27 years old)
• Lim Ah Seng (24 years old)
• Kho Cho Kuan (24 years old)
• Lee Ah Boon (27 years old)

The location for all the above is the same - Bukit Brown and location of plot again is listed as Communal Trenches. Unfortunately we will not know the exact location of this Communal Trenches for this war victims as the actual location was never mentioned. 

Next was finding out for what reasons were this people hanged for? I found some of this reasons from the Oral Interviews in the National Archives of Singapore and also from the digital newspapers article published in Australia and Singapore's NewspaperSG. 

The execution of Lim Choon Seng and Soh Yew Chai on 22 December 1943. 

The oral interview of Liau Thai Chuan gave me insight of what happened in Outram Prison with Liau Thai Chuan narrowly escaping being sentenced to death by hanging, when 8 people (Lim Choon Seng, Soh You Chye (Soh Yew Chai), Liau Thai Chuan, Wong Fook Wah, Ng Gee Choon, Tan Say Liau, Chee Lee, Ah Guan) were rounded and appeared at the High Court, hand cuffed in the presence of 5 Military Judges and a interpreter who spoke in Japanese and Hokkien. They were accused of harboring 4 Caucasians  (British soldiers) and were rounded up at their village on 7 May 1943 brought to the Central Police Station, interrogated and beaten up for 4 months before sent to Outram Road Prison. 

Out of the 8, 4 were sentenced to death (including Liau Thai Chuan). The 4 sentenced to death were given an opportunity to plead for lesser sentence. Lim Choon Seng was a businessman and kampong chief (a village head) and therefore unable to escape the death sentence. As for Soh Yew Chai, he was accused to be a clerk working for the British army and harbored 4 soldiers and therefore labelled a spy. The other 2 (including Liau Thai Chuan) had their sentenced reduced and therefore avoided death by hanging. Lim Choon Seng pleaded for reduced sentence has his children was all young but that was rejected. From the newspaper article, i can see that the both of them were eventually hung on 22 December 1943. Their families were not even informed of their death sentence and their untimely death. 

In an article published by the Morning Bulletin described the hangings as follow;

The hangings were clumsy affairs. The Japanese could not properly work the

 triple gallows and many bodies were mutilated. 

The executions were always watched by Japanese officers seated on

chairs, laughing and joking.

The execution of Woon Chit Lok, Woon Teck Seng and Woon Chit Toi on 29 July 1943

Woon Chit Lok (34 years old), Woon Teck Seng (29 years old) and Woon Chit Toi (32 years) were sentenced to death by Mr. Justice M.V. Pillai in the Syonan Kotohoin on the 23 July 1943 for the brutal attack and murder of Cecil Reuben who was stabbed 14 times at his office in de Souza Street on the afternoon of 15 January 1943 in an argument. The 3 were hanged on 29 July 1943. 

Death Sentence Passed on Young Chinese 

For the first time in a public court under the new regime, sentence of death was passed on 31 March 1943 in the Syonan Kotohoin. The prisoner, a young man by the named Toh Whye Tan murder his in-laws  at their own home at Changi on 2 October 1942 after a quarrel with a parang. Toh Wye Tan was hanged on 14 May 1943. 

Conditions in Outram Prison 

Mr. Lam Thye Mee in his oral interview described that they always had not enough of food and if they were to fall sick, the chances of them dying was high. Mr. Lam Thye Mee had a cell all on his own with a thin blanket and nothing else. He was cut off from the outside world with no visitation rights and food was a little bit of rice, some papaya and some tapioca until a few months later where his family was allowed to visit and provide some food. On the opposite row of his cell were the Australian Prisoners of War.  On days were they had to work (which is not everyday), it started around 7 - 8 in the morning and work was usually with the compounds of the prison. Lam Thye Mee was detained at the end of 1944 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Fortunately the Japanese surrendered and he was freed on August 1945. 

His oral got me researching on how this prisoners may look like and i found a photo of a civilian prisoner by the Lim Seng who survived the similar ordeal looking malnourished and only in a loin cloth.

Lim Seng - a local civilian detained by the Japanese
Interned in Outram Prison, after his release (18 August 1945)
(source: National Archives, Singapore)

Who kept this "list" of names ?

So who kept this list of names of those who died in the Outram Road goal that was eventually published. It was reported from 1 source that a Pte A. K. Mitchell, of Seymour (Victoria) and a British doctor copied death records on the pages of a Bible belonging to a friendly Chinese gaol records clerk. As from the oral interviews we know that many died due to starvation and disease. For those who were hanged, Pte. Mitchell described the hanging of the Chinese as shocking. Most of the Chinese hanged were young men and boys. Some were hanged for listening to Chungking broadcasts. One boy of 17 was hanged because he had donated 50 cents to the British Spitfire fund before the Japanese invaded.

War Crimes Tribunal

During the Japanese Occupation, half of the prison was used to hold military prisoners or prisoners-of-war, while the other half was for civilian prisoners. A total of 1,470 prisoners, mostly Chinese, died at the Outram Prison during the war – 141 were executed while the rest died of torture, starvation or diseases. Only 400 survived upon liberation in September 1945. Forty-three Japanese military men were tried for war crimes committed while they were in charge of the Outram Road jail (source: Infopedia).

During the war crimes trial for the Outram Road Civil Gaol Crimes, the name of the prison clerk who had saved the register of the prisoner with its grim record of 1,000 deaths was made known.  He was Mr Benjamin Cheah,  Chief Records Clerk at Outram Road Gaol, (Mr. Benjamin Cheah story is well documented in a Bukit Brown article on:- The clerk that saved the prison's death register (published on 6 May 2018) and from a Singapore War Crimes Portal that shared about Benjamin Cheah Chun Hoi.

Koshiro Mikizawa was the Governor of the civil section of the Outram Road Prison from 1 November 1943 till the end of war. Takeshi Noda was the Administrative Officer from 15th May 1944 till end of war and was briefly second-in-command to Mikizawa. They were charged for the ill-treatment and neglect of prisoners, causing the death of about 1,000 prisoners and physical suffering to others. Inadequate food and medical attention were provided. There was overcrowding in the cells with inadequate blankets, bed-boards and sanitation. Prisoners were also sent out to work without proper clothing or footwear. Warders subjected the prisoners to physical abuse, which the accused sometimes participated in. Koshiro Mkizawa was on 22 December 1946 sentenced to life imprisonment while Takeshi Noda was sentenced to 5 years. 

Outram Prison (source: National Archives Singapore)

The story still continues as Bukit Brown communal trenches was also the place they buried those who died from "other causes" in the Outram Road Prison. It is very likely majority of the Chinese civilian Prisoners who died in prison were eventually buried in Bukit Brown. 

[research on-going]

References 

Death Sentence Passed on Young Chinese. (1943, 1 April). Syonan Shimbun, page 2

Chinese who died in Outram Road Gaol.(1946, February 23). The Straits Times, page 4

Deaths in Outram Road Gaol during Japanese Occupation. (1946, February 25). The Straits Times, page 4 

Outram Road Goal Deaths. (1946, February 26). The Straits Times, page 4

Prisoners' Stories Of Singapore Gaol Horros" "Blackest Spot Of All". (1945, September 12). Morning Bulletin

LIAU Thai Chuan 廖泰泉. (reel 3).Oral History Interviews. National Archives Online. 

LIAU Thai Chuan 廖泰泉. (reel 2).Oral History Interviews. National Archives Online. 

LAM Thye Mee 蓝大美. (reel 4). Oral History Interviews. National Archives Online. 

https://www.singaporewarcrimestrials.com/

[ Trial against Mikizawa Koshiro and noda Takeshi ] Trial Report. ICC Legal Tools Database.