A Trial of Time- India/US Transference.

Chapter 7.5: Syonan-to or Singapore? V2

[DISCLAIMER: This chapter is what occurred before the events of Chapter 7, observing what lead to the mentioned chapter] 

Syonan-to (Japanese Occupied Singapore), Singapore Naval Base.

"Welcome to Syonan, your excellency." Lt.General Takuro Matsui said with a smile. He stepped forward and grasped the outstretched hand presented to him by the Indian Minister of External Affairs dressed in a business suit topped with a red turban.

On cue the IJA Military band began playing a welcoming tune for the Delegation.

Another man to join General Takuro was Rash Bihari Bose, a leading figure from the Indian Independence League, a Japanese supported political organisation led by Indian expatriates, and Indian nationalists in-exile.

Bose couldn't contain his joy as he also shook the hands of the Indian Minister of External Affairs. He couldn't contain his tears as he heard the news of his homeland's liberation from the British scourge. As requested by the Imperial Japanese government, he joined the Japanese delegation and was immediately flown to Syonan (Singapore) to set up for the meeting. His job in the delegation was simple: to convince the new Indian government to support the Japanese, and their ideals of Pan Asianism, to unite against the Europeans and make Asia free of European and American domination.

As introduction and pleasantries were exchanged, Bose wondered about the head of the delegation from his homeland. He felt a bit odd when he heard the man's name. From what he knew, there was no one called Upinder Singh in the higher echelons of the Indian National Congress who were leading the freedom struggle back home. This individual not only was leading the delegation but was holding the post of the Minister of External Affairs in the Indian Government. This again confused him. After all, he could think of people such as Jawaharlal Nehru or Lal Bahadur Shastri who would serve this role much better. Ultimately, Rash Behari Bose decided that he was being too harsh towards a person he hadn't known for more than an hour. He concluded that the man must be a well-educated, former employee of the Imperial Civil Service.

But Rash Behari Bose was not the only one confused. Like him, his Imperial Japanese colleague was also similarly confused as he shook hands with an older Japanese man called Ishitami Taiga who was oddly also part of the Indian delegation. From what he understood following the short introduction, Taiga-san represented the Japanese diaspora living in India.

Meanwhile photojournalists from the IJA and IJN took pictures of the ceremony, primarily focusing on General Takuro, Bose and head of the delegation. An IJA Camera crew filmed the entire event from atop a flatbed truck. Specifically taking wider shots of the advanced looking Cruise ship with the name "Agariya" the Indian Delegation had used to sail from India.

The film crew also took blurry shots of Agariya's Naval escorts from the supposed new Indian Navy, which remained at a considerable distance from the Port.

"Thank you, Lieutenant General Matsui and Mr. Bose, for the warm welcome." Singh said with a diplomatic smile as he masked his astonishment at one of the great revolutionaries, Rash Bihari Bose, standing in front of him, and shaking his hands. Bose nodded and smiled back, and Matsui did the same after his translator translated Singh's words for him.

"And we, the proud subjects of the emperor and the liberated people of Syonan, also express our delight in welcoming the delegates from a nation which has shown its mettle by breaking the shackles of Western Imperialism with its own force of arms."

After a few more photographs were taken by the press and a shower of flowers from leading civilian figures and supporters, primarily from the Indian diaspora in Singapore. The Delegation along with their security detail were escorted to the cars that were waiting for them. For the Indians, these were expensive vintage models from the 1940s. The motorcade soon moved out of the port and into the streets of Singapore. The motorcade took the scenic route through the occupied city as the Japanese knowingly avoided going through the damaged sections of Singapore.

This was clear for Minister Singh as Taiga-san quietly briefed him about the Japanisation process of Singapore that had already begun. Chief of them being the Sook Ching Massacre masterminded by Colonel Masanobu Tsuji. On the surface level, not only did was the name of the city changed, every civilian establishment the motorcade passed was flying the flag of the rising sun Additionally, Hundreds of Singaporeans had lined up on the sidewalks waving the Japanese flag, but everyone part of the Indian Delegation could tell that something was off. Minister Singh could tell that all of this was just a charade being put upon by the Japanese. Being a career diplomat and a politician, he could see right through the facade, Singaporeans were forced to be here, very few of them were genuinely happy. Those were only the Indian residents and migrants.

However, the mood changed as the motorcade drew closer to the Governor's Palace. Minister Singh's eyes widened in shock as the flag waving common citizenry had been replaced by the Commonwealth Prisoners of War who had surrendered to the Japanese forces when Singapore fell. They were being made to stand at either side of the road and behind them, the Indian delegation could clearly see soldiers of the IJA pointing their bayonet-affixed rifles at the backs of the POWs

They were all made to stand in attention regardless of their physical condition. The Indian delegation was finding it to be very hard to watch even men with one leg being forced to join as well. Later on, when Singapore was liberated and the surviving Commonwealth POWs were rescued, it would be discovered that these men were given two choices: Stand to greet the delegation of Indian Rebels and bear the humiliation or die. Those who refused were beheaded or shot and thrown in ditches outside POW camps in Malaya in full view of the others as a warning about the price of defiance.

Meanwhile in the present, Minister Singh quickly took out the smartphone, which he had been given by RAW (many of whom were also part of the delegation under the cover of bureaucrats of the Ministry of External Affairs) and began recording. R.B Bose, who was also sitting with him in the car, raised an eyebrow when he noticed the contraption in Minister Singh's hand and wondered what he was holding.

He thought to himself "Is that some kind of spy camera?"

Despite the camera being openly handled by the Sikh gentlemen, he concluded that it was a new and expensive American gadget of some kind and External Affairs Minister Singh had to be wealthy and influential enough to get those.

'If possible, I should get one as well' R.B. Bose thought to himself.

At the same time a team of Indian journalists that were attached to the delegation and were travelling with the security detail on their truck, took their sweet time filming and documenting everything on the way, skillfully capturing the faces of despair of many Singaporeans from all walks of life and the sorry state the POWs were in. It was taking their full willpower to not make any loud comments or express their disbelief at what they were seeing.

Arriving at the Grand Government House, the delegation made their way inside and were shown to the conference hall where the Imperial Japanese Delegation was waiting for them. Many Scholars and Historians in the future would consider this summit as a historic event where the fate of Southeast Asia and the Japanese Hegemony in the region was decided upon.