Anwar Ibrahim today confirmed that RM207 billion Death Railway compensation was sent to the Malaysian government but added that the money did not go through the Treasury.
“Why you have to ask the former finance ministers to explain? If the money came to the Treasury, I would surely have been informed.
“During my time as finance minister, it was not sent through the Treasury.
“But they (both Japanese and Malaysian officials) have evidence that it was sent to the government.
“So I think the then Prime Minister (Dr Mahathir Mohamad) needs to explain. What is the present Prime Minister (Najib Tun Razak) is doing?
“Najib should conduct a full investigation,” Anwar said, adding that the issue had been raised in Parliament by one of the Pakatan Rakyat MPs.
Anwar was commenting on the ‘missing’ RM207 billion paid by the Japanese government as compensation to the Malaysian government over the ‘Death Railway’ project in the 1940s.
The money was meant to be distributed to some 30,000 Malaysians who had been taken as prisoners of war and used as forced labour by the Japanese to build the Thai-Burma rail link.
According to PAS, the Japanese Embassy had recently revealed that it had in the 1990s paid a compensation of RM207 billion to the Malaysian government for families of the victims.
Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin had called for former finance minister Anwar and Daim Zainuddin, along with Mahathir, to explain the whereabouts of the RM207 billion.
Source : Malaysiakini
Source : FMT
Reveal outcome of probe into RM207bil ‘Death Railway’ compensation, govt told
A DAP MP has urged the government to reveal the findings of a police investigation into the alleged RM207 billion compensation paid by the Japanese government to Malaysia for the loss of lives in the construction of the infamous “Death Railway” during World War II.
M Kula Segaran (PH-Ipoh Barat) had asked the finance ministry yesterday to explain the status of the payment, following claims that victims and their next of kin have not received the compensation.
Today, Kula told the Dewan Rakyat he has received a written reply from the ministry saying it has issued two official statements, on Jan 15 and 19 of 2013, refuting the “false claim”.
The ministry also said a police report had been lodged over the matter in September 2012 for further investigation.
“From 2012 until now, it has been about 11 years, surely there was an outcome from the police investigation. Why was the outcome not revealed?
“I hope the ministry can give a comprehensive answer for this matter so that the issue can be resolved once and for all,” said Kula.
The ministry also said it has requested for the issue of the compensation from the Japanese government not to be raised in the Dewan Rakyat again.
In response, Kula said it is the right of the people to raise any issues in the Dewan Rakyat in accordance with the law and rules of Parliament.
In recent years, the mainstream and social media had reported claims that the Japanese government had paid Malaysia the RM207 billion in the 1990s, when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister.
However, in a TV interview with the Tamil news site Vanakkam Malaysia on May 23, Mahathir denied receiving any compensation on behalf of the Malaysian victims or their families, as suggested.
Ten years earlier, Anwar Ibrahim, then the opposition leader, claimed that both Japanese and Malaysian officials were in possession of “evidence” that the money was sent to the government but did not go through the Treasury.
He said he was sure of this since he was the finance minister then.
It is estimated that 30,000 Malaysians who were forcefully recruited to build the Thai-Burma “Death Railway” died.
Source : FMT
Audit report that Japan paid Dr Mahathir’s govt RM207 Billion
R.S.N Rayer (Jelutong-PH) has called on the Auditor-General’s Department to look into the RM207 billion awarded by the Japanese government to Putrajaya in 2004.
The Jelutong MP explained that the money was the Japanese government’s compensation for the atrocities committed during the construction of the Death Railway.
“I want to take this opportunity to ask the Auditor-General’s Department whether an audit can be performed on a report highlighting that RM207 billion was paid by Japan to the Malaysian government when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister.
“This is a big amount. If this is true, what happened to the money?” Rayer asked the Dewan Rakyat today.
In 2013, reports surfaced that the Japanese embassy in Kuala Lumpur had stated that it never confirmed RM207 billion was paid to the Malaysian government as compensation for the victims of the Death Railway.
The statement by the Japanese embassy was in response to a Harakah Daily article published the same year titled “Embassy confirms huge compensation paid to Malaysian government”.
Meanwhile, during his debate on the Auditor-General Report 2021, Rayer took further swipes against Dr Mahathir, demanding the former prime minister refrain from attacking the royalty.
The Jelutong MP then urged the government to withdraw Dr Mahathir’s “Tun” title if he continued his attacks.
“I want to appeal to Dr Mahathir to stop attacking our royal institutions.
“The prime minister, YB Tambun, please make sure police do not compromise and take appropriate action against Mahathir.
“Furthermore, after his proclamation, Dr Mahathir might work with Pagoh MP Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who had betrayed him earlier, to further destroy this nation,” he said.
On June 2, it was confirmed that police questioned Dr Mahathir over the Malay Proclamation at Yayasan Al Bukhary.
According to police secretary Datuk Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin, investigations were initiated against Dr Mahathir as his statements allegedly insulted the royal institution.
Source : The Vibes
‘Death railway’: Mahathir, tell us what happened to the ‘RM207bn compensation’? It was blood money, we have a right to know!
Some 30,000 ethnic Indians and others, including my grandfather, were forcibly rounded up and bundled off to work on the 415km Burma-Thailand “death railway” project during World War Two.
Most of them were lost forever, never to return and never to be part of the families they left behind!
Most of them died in a foreign land under miserable conditions in a hostile environment. They were subjected to harsh and brutal treatment by Japanese forces.
My grandfather was a strict vegetarian. I don’t suppose the Japanese officers would have bothered to cater for his special diet or the needs of the other vegetarians. We don’t know how many of them starved to death.
My grandfather wouldn’t have compromised on his diet. Sometimes I wondered if he starved to death. Worse, when you are weak without food, emaciated and malnourished, you are no use to any workforce. What did the Japanese officers do to them? Did they bury them while they were still alive and wasted?
How many were buried alive? We will never know! But that could have been the fate of many.
How many died of disease without medical treatment? Was there a scarcity of medicine? We will never know. Saving them would have been costly for the Japanese forces – they wouldn’t have bothered. It would have been easier to replace them by forced recruitment at no cost! This was what could have happened. The sick and starving would have been got rid of quite easily by the ruthless Japanese officers.
There has been no closure for these poor souls who perished in miserable conditions. There were no funeral ceremonies or traditional burials for these Indians and others. There were no rites to bring closure – they sadly died alone and lonely, unsung and unwept.
Were they thrown into a huge grave for multiple burials? We will never know. All we know is they were lost forever to their loved ones. Their own descendants must have died over the years receiving no compensation for the deprivation they suffered, and many of them died without leaving behind details of their kith and kin.
All these many questions come to mind on and off; they torment us to no end any time we recall their memories. I was just a kid and could, to this day, visualise my grandfather, forlorn and unsmiling, sitting on a ledge at the back of the lorry that took him away.
It has been nearly 80 years now since these unfortunate poor souls were taken to Burma to build the railway to Thailand. Their relatives and those closely associated with them who were left behind in wartime Malaya would have died in adversity over time, and they would have been buried in this land, which was their home. They themselves would have been forgotten by their descendants with the passage of time. How sad!
Those who suffered and struggled when the sole breadwinners in their households were forcibly taken away, led a very hard life. Roles had to be reversed, and they slogged to feed their families and struggled to care for them over the years. Don’t they deserve some compensation for the hardship they endured? This is the least one can expect and deserve in the name of common decency, humanity and, above all, justice!
Several years ago, the local press reported a claim that the Japanese government had given compensation – to be exact RM207bn. It was a huge sum, yes – but it couldn’t bring back the dead.
If that money had been distributed to those who had lost and suffered when their beloved grandfathers, fathers, husbands, brothers, uncles and nephews were forcibly taken away from them, it would have served as solace of sorts. It would have been some sort of compensation for the heavy price paid by those who were left behind helplessly to fend for themselves.
But there was neither distribution of any kind nor any sign of the money received from the Japanese government. It seemed it had disappeared into thin air!
How could that happen? How is it possible? Both the Malaysian and Japanese government officials could have vouched for the compensation given and received. But the money did not go into the Treasury! ‘How can’?
The Japanese government is morally bound to provide details to clear this mystery. How was this money transmitted [if at all it was]? Was there a formal occasion to make public that Japan was going to compensate Malayans for the loss of lives of those forcibly taken to serve them by constructing the Burma-Thailand railway? If compensation was indeed given, was there a Malaysian representative present to grace the occasion when the compensation was announced and paid? Who represented Malaysia?
The Japanese government is hard-pressed to provide details that it indeed compensated Malaysia. [In 2013 the Japanese embassy in Malaysia reportedly denied it had confirmed the RM207bn compensation by the Japanese government to Malaysia.]
If the Japanese government is not able to provide any evidence that such payment was made, then we will have to conclude that no payment was made at all.
Consequently, any claim by the Japanese government that it paid compensation would be treated as a false claim in the absence of any tangible evidence to convince us it had made such a payment.
The Japanese government has a moral duty to clear the air and throw light on this burning issue. If there is no evidence of payment, then we have to press the Japanese government to pay the compensation as a mark of retribution.
If the compensation was indeed given, then the Malaysian prime minister and the finance minister at the time would have been privy to the payment. They would owe us a duty to explain what happened to this whopping sum of RM207bn.
If the payment did not go into the Treasury in the 1990s [when Anwar Ibrahim was the finance minister], where did it go? Why wasn’t it routed through the Treasury? Was this money hijacked quietly and stored away in some foreign land?
We need to know. Any such compensation is blood money. It is due to us. We cannot be robbed of it. It is the rightful inheritance of those who lost their loved ones. It is their compensation.
Source : Aliran
The Coverage Malaysia
