The Japanese government must reject 'revisionist' wartime history textbooks and stop official visits to the Yasukuni Shrine dedicated to the memory of Imperial Japan's soldiers, including convicted war criminals.

These were the demands made in three separate protest meetings and World War Two memorial services held yesterday in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Seremban involving some 438 civil groups.

According to Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (SCAH) chief executive officer Tang Ah Chai, the meeting in Kuala Lumpur also called on the Malaysian government not to support any proposal to allow Japan to become a permanent member of the United Nations' Security Council.

"A verbal apology by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, although welcomed, is not sufficient", he said.

On Friday, Koizumi offered Japan's 'deep remorse' and 'heartfelt apology' over its past colonial aggression and wars in Asia.

The Kuala Lumpur protest was called by SCAH and co-sponsored by influential and nationwide community groups such as the United Chinese School Committees Association (Dongzong) and United Chinese School Teachers' Association (Jiaozong).

SCAH's protest memorandum was signed by 328 groups, including chambers of commerce, trade associations and graduate and alumni societies.

During the meeting, a history booklet on the organisations and operations of the underground resistance was sold. The booklet was penned by Singapore-born historian Chen Jian @ CC Chin.

Ordeal recalled

Also attending the Kuala Lumpur meeting was Soon Kian Seng, 70, whose father and many family members were killed by Japanese soldiers in a massacre in Kampong Parit Tinggi, near Kuala Pilah in Negri Sembilan in 1942.

Holding an enlarged photograph of a pile of human skulls said to be the victims of the massacre in his village, Soon recounted his ordeal.

"I was seven when I saw what happened The Japanese soldiers came to the village and said they just wanted to check our identity papers Our village headman welcomed them into the village and even hosted a luncheon for them but after the meal, they began rounding up every adult, both men and women, and executed them," he said.

According to Soon, within two days from March 15 to 16, some 800 villagers were executed, including his father and other family members as well as relatives.

Last year, his memory of the massacre and his subsequent investigations into other atrocities committed by Imperial Japan's forces in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore was compiled and published in the form of a book by the Nanjing Massacre Research Centre in China. The publication of his book was also funded by Singapore's Lee Foundation.

Meanwhile, the 150 representatives attending the Ipoh protest meeting also paid respect to the Monument for Martyrs and Sacrificed Civilians located within the compound of the Yuk Choy Secondary School along Jalan Kuala Kangsar.

Thong Yi, the spokesperson of the Ipoh protest meeting, said the location of the monument and its surrounding area was 'a killing field' where many armed resistance fighters and civilians in Perak were tortured and executed during the 44-month Occupation.

He also expressed satisfaction that the number of civil organisations supporting the protest meeting increased from the original organising core of 20 to 60 yesterday.

Not sincere

Tong also opined that Koizumi's apology is 'not sincere' because a group of Japan's ruling members of parliament still continued their visit to the Yasukuni Shrine.

"You cannot say one thing and ask or allow your colleagues to do the opposite at the same time That is called lip service and the lip service has been repeated regularly for so many years in the past," he said.

In Seremban, about 200 representatives from 50 civil organisations in the state gathered at a monument dedicated to the victims of the Ee Lang Lang massacre and held a memorial service.

According to historical records preserved in the Chinese Malaysian community, 1,474 unarmed residents of the Ee Lang Lang Village in Titi near Seremban were rounded up and massacred by Japanese troops on March 18, 1942. The village was also razed to the ground.

The memorial service, called by the Negeri Sembilan Chinese Assembly Hall, also recited the history of the invasion and occupation of the state by Imperial Japan's 25th Army.

According to the regimental history of the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) published in Hong Kong in 1991, the armed resistance to the Japanese occupation was conducted by its 2nd Independent Regiment the core of which was formed by several graduates of the Singapore-based Special Training School (STS) 101 founded by the British wartime secret service, Special Operations Executive (SOE).

In a memorial service held in 2003 in Kuala Lumpur to honour the memory of 18 top communist leaders and commanders and soldiers of MPAJA killed by Japanese troops in Batu Caves near Kuala Lumpur on Sept 1, 1942, it was recalled that during the Occupation, about 70,000 people of all ethnic communities were killed and another 80,000 perished as a result of torture and imprisonment.

It was also recalled that an additional 300,000 died because of malnutrition and physical exhaustion due to hard labour.

Singapore's Civilian War Memorial records that some 50,000 unarmed Chinese in the city were rounded up and massacred in an operation that began on Feb 18, 1942, three days after the capitulation of British troops.

During the Occupation in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, the armed resistance was organised and operated by the underground Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) and its guerrilla forces - the10,000-strong MPAJA.