My Longkang

(Illustration borrowed from http://www.sendai-shi.com/don_hammel/a_peddler.htm)

Ah San remembered walking together with a group of men and women along Jalan Datuk Keramat. He remembered crying, begging, pleading to be released. Many men and women were openly crying and wailing too. It all seemed so hopeless. Many people saw this curious procession as they walked to what is today called Jalan Batu Gantung.

He told me he was once at a friend’s flat at F Block Rifle Range Flats and looked down from the balcony and became choked with emotion. From this , I presume the site is visible from F Block Rifle Range Flats or in its immediate vicinity.

It was early morning. Everybody was asked to dig a hole until it became deep and big enough for them to form a circle around it in layers. Some were digging, some were carrying the soil out. There were no slackers. It was believed that if you worked hard, perhaps the Japanese might realize they need you and you might have another day left to live.

People who were not in the hole were asked to kneel down. It was hopeless to struggle as they were all bound hand and foot but not to each other. Sounds from that morning haunt Ah San for the rest of his life.

Ah San was praying the men digging would faint. Or some British soldiers would come and rescue them.Or it would rain and the soldiers would change their minds. But he was praying to God..to give him a second chance. He said he prayed and believed that if there were a God there would be no way God would have failed to hear his prayer. There was just the silence. The sun kept getting higher and higher and it became unbearably warm. There were a few soldiers. One of them he remembered was smoking. The prisoners had stopped crying and wailing already. They all knew the hopelessness of the situation.

He could now feel the tension in the air. There was the last minute futile attempts by a few to avoid the unavoidable. Ah San pushed himself to the very edge of the pit. He was ready to die but did not want a painful death. Then a thought crossed his mind.

At the moment just before the shots were fired, he dropped into the hole. Many soon tumbled in after him. Some were dead, most were still in their last moments. He remembered he vomitted. The soldiers prodded the bodies to make sure all were dead before they moved on.

He fell asleep. Late at night he climbed out of the hole which was left uncovered. By route of present day Rifle Range Road, Hu Ti (present day Taman Air Itam), and past present day Race Course Garden which was farm land at that time ….past deserted streets he finally made it back to 5th Street ( Go Tiaw Lo)..badly bruised, shaken but alive.