Did the Japanese occupation changed the way people viewed Singapore ?

The Japanese occupation had affected many countries in southeast Asia .
It lasted for 3 years in Singapore from 1942-1945. It was a short but very important
event and period marked in Singapore's history . It was the time when it marked
the control of the Japanese causes a challenge up for the British Rules that us
Singaporeans came to break. It has come to us that whether if the Japanese occupation
had changed the ways of how we think and view things back then . In order to find out ,
we examine the lifes of those who survived the Japanese Occupation ,
and here is one of the source gathered :

Lee Kin Lin Lee Kin Lin was born into a well-known Straits-Chinese family .
Before the Japanese occupation , he did care much for his studies , and he was not really concerned

about the political developments of Singapore .During the Japanese occupation , he had to stop schooling as all the secondary schools were forced to shut down and thus , he began working for the first time in his life .

As he started working , he faced a lot of new different problems and many changes .
one of the changes and problems he had faced was that he always did not have enough food to
keep him full and he had to live in constant fear for his life . He also have to pick up a new language .
After the end of Japanese Occupation , he was relieved as he thought that his life would return to the way it was before the Japanese came .

But , this was not to happen , things would never be the same for Lee again . The experiences Lee had been through changed him entirely . He returned to his school a whole new entirely changed person. He excelled in his studies and became a leading architect .The Japanese occupation showed Lee that the British rules could be challenged , and one should not rely on it to protect their interests .
Thus , he became concern about the Political developments of Singapore , the future of it and how would Singapore be ruled .

this source showed us that the Japanese occupation had changed Lee Kin Lin ,
but what about the others ? lets use the views of local-born people to find out .
views of local-born people of Singapore before the Japanese
occupation .
Many local-born people and people who had lived in Singapore for a very long time think of Singapore as their permanent home as Singapore was where their family and friends are .
for example , the source below :

my family has been in Singapore for two generations . We do not know exactly where my forebears
originated , but it was somewhere in southern India . I never know much about my father's background and my mother was very malay in her style of dress. India did not figure at all in out lives .

- adapted from an accunt by S.R. Nathan , who was born in Singapore in 1924 and 18 years old when he was interviewed .
^ the source above shows that the local-born people and the ones who live in Singapore for a very long time did not care to find out about their origins even though they did not know much about it .
this shows that the people had thought of Singapore as their home and they do not care to find about their origins .

another important subject about the British as rulers of Singapore .
The British were given more privileged treatment than the well-qualified local people .
thus some , questioned the unequal system and wanted to negotiate with the colonial government for changes .The local non-official members tried to negotiate with the colonial government to increase the number of non-official members in the legislative council .
Some people also formed associations , such as the straits Chinese British Association , to improve the lives of the people .

Singapore as an impregnable fortress
in the 1930s Japan became increasingly aggressive . It invaded and occupied Manchuria in 1931 .
in 1937 , japan began to invade the rest of china . The USA and other western powers opposed this invasion . To force Japan to end the war , USA cut off its oil  supplies to Japan in 1938. But Japan refused to end the war , it began to look for other sources of raw materials .

southeast Asia offered a solution for Japan's problem . The dutch indies had abundant oil , and Malaysia had rubber and tin. Singpore lacked natural resources , but it has a strategic location that could Japan lauch attacks on the Dutch Indies .

Britain recognized the Japan was a rising power . Later than the British realized that Japan could be a threat to the British Empire and started to prepare to resist Japanese invasion . They decided to build a naval base in Singapore to protect British colonies in Southeast Asia , Hong Kong , Australia and new Zealand . This naval base was a important part of making Singapore a " impregnable fortress " .
a number of big guns were placed around the coasts of Singapore to protect against any Japanese invasion by sea .

Many people believed that Singapore was safe as it was well-protected by the British .
as the british controlled the largest empire in the world in 1941 and were known for their naval
power .But the belief of the " white man " race was superior to others was soon to challenged .