Gunseikanbu assigned to manage Japanese-occupied Singapore

After the Japanese captured Singapore in February 1942, the Gunseikanbu (Central Military Administration) was assigned to manage the island.^[1] The Gunseikanbu was one of the branches of the Japanese 25th Army and it was headed by a military administrator. The Gunseikanbu had direct control over the administration of Singapore even though it worked alongside a Supreme Consulting Adviser and Civil Governor of Malaya, and was under the chain of command extending from the General Inspection Bureau of the Imperial Army in Tokyo to the Military Administration Bureau of the Southern Army in Saigon.^[2]

The headquarters of the Gunseikanbu was located in Fullerton Building and its command included both Malaya and Singapore. Upon assuming control of Singapore, the immediate priority of the Gunseikanbu was to restore law and order as well as public utilities. It launched a programme to “Japanise” the local population, introduced measures to acquire and secure resources vital to the Japanese war effort, and established economic self-sufficiency for the areas under its command.^[3]

The Gunseikanbu controlled Singapore until the Japanese surrendered in September 1945. It had five military administrators during this period. The first administrator was General Manaki Takanobu, who held the post for only two months from February to March 1942 before being replaced by Colonel Watanabe Wataru.^[4] Watanabe headed the Gunseikanbu from March 1942 to March the following year, and is remembered for his hard-line stance against the Chinese community in Singapore. He coerced the community to donate 50 million yen as a gift to atone for their anti-Japanese activities, and adopted policies that resulted in fatal consequences for non-complying Chinese.^[5]

Watanabe’s harsh treatment of the Chinese coupled with a lack of continuity in policies and administrative styles due to the frequent changes in the Gunseikanbu leadership were factors that led to an inefficient Japanese administration. The rivalry between the Gunseikanbu and the Tokubetsu Shi, which was the Municipal Administration looking after non-military matters, further increased the inefficiency of the former administration.^[6]

References
1. Murfett, M. H., et al. (2011). Between two oceans: A military history of Singapore from 1275 to 1971 (p. 270). Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions. Call no.: RSING 355.0095957 BET.
2. Lee, G. B. (2005). The Syonan years: Singapore under Japanese rule 1942–1945 (pp. 138-139). Singapore: National Archives of Singapore and Epigram. Call no.: RSING 940.53957 LEE.
3. Tan, B. L., & Quah, I. (1996). The Japanese occupation 1942-1945: A pictorial record of Singapore during the war (p. 76). Singapore: Times Editions. Call no.: RSING 940.5425 TAN.
4. Lee, 2005, pp. 139–140.
5. Akashi, Y. (2008). Colonel Watanabe Wataru: The Architect of the Malayan Military Administration, December 1941 – March 1943 (pp. 39–42). In Yoshimura, M., & Akashi, Y. (Eds.). New perspectives on the Japanese Occupation in Malaya and Singapore, 1941–1945. Singapore: NUS Press. Call no.: RSING 940.5337 NEW.
6. Tan & Quah, 1996, p. 76.