Japan must pay countries occupied during WW II
Japan must pay countries occupied during WW II
JAKARTA (JP): Japan, which occupied Indonesia from 1942 to 1945, still has a moral obligation towards the peoples it conquered during World War II, a Japanese scholar said here yesterday.
Aiko Kurasawa-Inomata, a professor from the Graduate School of International Development at Nagoya University, Japan, told The Jakarta Post that Tokyo had neglected to discharge its moral obligation to the people who suffered under Japanese rule.
"Japan has paid war reparations but we still have to pay our moral obligation," Kurasawa said during seminar on Japanese occupation in Southeast Asia. The seminar was held at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
At the height of World War II in 1942, Japanese imperial forces defeated the Allied forces in Southeast Asia and forced the Dutch to flee from Indonesia.
This ushered in a new era, fueling the expansion of nationalism and promoting the use of the Indonesian language.
It also provided an opportunity for Indonesian youths to become competent soldiers through their participation in Japanese-styled student regiments.
The three-year occupation was also one of the bleakest periods in Indonesian history, with the people being exploited and oppressed. Atrocities were also widely committed by the occupying Japanese.
For its actions, the Japanese government paid US$223 million in war reparations over a 12-year period, between 1958 and 1970.
The money was used for several projects, such as the construction of a dam on the Brantas river, East Java, and the Sarinah and Wisma Nusantara buildings on Jl. M.H. Thamrin.
Kurasawa believes that this is not enough and there is a bigger moral debt that remains unpaid.
The issue of reparations for "comfort women" has gained much attention in many Asian countries recently, particularly in the Philippines and Korea.
Kurasawa warns that, although people do not openly express anger towards Japan, they may continue to harbor a sense of animosity unless these obligations are duly met.
She could not specify how the Japanese government should go about discharging its duties, since the Tokyo government has only recently begun to wrestle with the problem.
"It is only now that Prime Minister Murayama is raising the question," Kurasawa said, referring to a recent offer made by the Japanese premier to donate funds for the establishment of an education center, in response to the complaints of former Filipino comfort women.
Kurasawa adds that for Japan it is also important to truly recognize and learn a lesson from the suffering caused by the war.
"We are still lacking in that," she remarked, adding that only through such a lesson can the Japanese people address their moral responsibility for the war.
"One of the first steps is through education. This is very important," she said.(mds)