Senaka Weeraratna

In 1939 there were only there were only two countries in Asia that were not under direct Western occupation, namely Japan and Thailand. 

The rest of the hate speech was directed towards the losers i.e., Axis powers, Germany, and Japan, and demonizing one of them i.e.Japanese, as cannibals and savages that characterized the WW2 narrative. 

The people of Asia no longer accept the Western-sponsored narratives on the Gospel truth. There is increasing resistance to propaganda masquerading as historical fact.

The Society for Dissemination of Historical Fact based in Japan is a striking illustration of such resistance. 

People of several former European colonies are now demanding accountability for rapacious colonialism.  

India had calculated its total losses resulting from the British occupation of India i.e., from 1765 -1938, as  $ 45 trillion.

Unfortunately, the conversation in Asia having an international impact is an echo of conversations that are manufactured and manipulated in the West.

It is being corrected however slowly. The most dramatic correction is the recent elevation of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose to the No. 1 position in India’s narrative on how freedom was won. The highly revered Mahatma Gandhi has been demoted to the No. 2 rank. 

While the West glorifies their military commanders as national heroes their admiration for Asians and Africans is limited more or less to the likes of Gandhi, Mandela, and Martin Luther King of the non-violent creed. These are people who have never won a single battle on the battlefield. 

If non-violence is the right way to settle the conflict, why that is not promoted to douse the fire raging in Ukraine Russia, Israel, and Hamas remains a mystery. Those who wanted a ceasefire and return to the negotiating table during the 30-year civil war in Sri Lanka are the very countries that are now pouring fuel to the raging fires in Eastern Europe, Israel, and Hamas at the expense of the innocent lives of both countries. 

Acknowledging Japan

Japan helped Subash Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army(INA) to attack British military bases and occupation of India.

The battles for India’s independence fought by INA with the support of the Japanese 15th Army at Kohima and Imphal are part of the National Story of India today. Though the combined liberation forces comprising Japanese soldiers and INA lost to superior enemy forces in numbers and military equipment, the ramifications of the daring war efforts led eventually to the grant of independence beginning with India and later other South Asian countries like Burma and Ceylon. 

Indian Children learn the valour

of their Netaji at their mother’s knee.

But that is another story.

Japan was the only non-European country that defeated imperial Western countries in battle by sea, land, and air. That itself was inspiring for those who could only stand and watch in dismay at their nations being conquered and occupied for centuries by Western imperial nations.

Japan awakened the enslaved people of Asia and Africa and bewildered them with daring military exploits. 

That is the true legacy of the Japanese during WW2 in respect of which expression of gratitude is long overdue from Asian countries that benefited unmistakably from the former’s efforts. 

Senaka Weeraratna