Abstract
Local responses to the trial of Japanese war criminals in Malaya and Singapore after the end of the Second World War tended to divide along communal lines. Having suffered particularly harsh treatment at the hands of the Japanese, it was the Chinese who exhibited greatest interest in the proceedings of the war crimes courts. With a few notable exceptions, however, the trials caused relatively little public controversy. On the whole they were seen as fair, and other issues materialized in the post-war years to supplant the war crimes trials as foci of attention. Moreover, by contrast with the Indian National Army (INA) trials in India, proceedings against Japanese war criminals did not become a major issue in local politics.
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