As an Indonesian, I automatically perceive Arabic chants as Islamic. Well I don’t speak Arabic, so when I listened the above hymn it is very very hard for me to accept that it is a part of Christian tradition. I have to listen very carefully for any word I am familiar with; I think I heard some “Kyrie”s there. Also, I live with a Protestant family, and the neighbour next door is a Muslim family, so I am wondering if they think I am listening to an Islamic prayer, as IMO Orthodox Christianity, let alone the Coptic rite, is not widely known in this part of the world. But I have loved Arabic chants for a few years already, and somehow listening to this song makes me want to attend a Coptic service someday.

Update: I played the video again and realised that the video actually begins in English (…and forgive us our sins)! Gosh, it does take time!

Another update: not only does the video begin in English, but the first half of the video seems to be entirely in English! So I can confirm that my Indonesian ears are more sensitive to the Arabic tone than the actual prayer.

I have been watching the six of these episodes about the wartime food when Singapore was under the Japanese occupation. As fellow citizens of southeast Asian countries, I can definitely relate myself to the movie. My grandparents, most of whom have already passed away, as well as my parents, used to tell me how suffering it was under the Japanese occupation. Indonesian school textbooks say, despite occupying Indonesia only for 3.5 years, the Japanese brought us much much greater misery than what the Dutch gave in three hundred something years. Food was very scarce, and rice was a luxury. Clothing was rare, and a lot of people wore “bagor” or gunny sack. Another thing is, of course, the romusha, or the forced labourers, who are also featured in a later episode of the series. Some hundreds of thousands people from Java were sent to different parts of Indonesia as well as neighbouring countries, and received terrible treatment. I don’t remember my parents or grandparents telling me about any family member who became romusha, so I guess we were quite lucky with that. Instead, if I remember correctly, my paternal grandparent and his siblings and cousins participated in the war against the…I forget, whether against the Japanese or against the Dutch after we proclaimed our independence.

This situation did not end after Japan surrendered. I remember my father telling me about how common it was for toddlers to die because of some plague early in our independence. My mother also told me how when she was a kid, her family used to share a bowl of meatballs for their big family (she has 5 siblings), and this was well in the 1960s. There are other stories as well, but anyway nowadays it becomes so much more peaceful for the people in my generation that we often fail to appreciate the things we commonly have but were luxuries during their times.

During my period here in Singapore, I meet people of different nations. Among them are, of course, Singaporeans. They have their own share of the story, about how the Japanese would look for suspicious people, accuse them of being communists or treason, and execute them in front of the firing squads, in Changi, in Punggol, in Sentosa. I read somewhere (sorry I forget the link), that even until now people sometimes still find the skulls and bones of the people who were executed, especially in beaches at those places. I also meet Chinese nationals, and they told me also the Japanese atrocities during the wartime, and about the comfort women.

In spite of writing this here, I have one theoretical question. Are you able to tell these stories to Japanese people? I, of course, also meet some Japanese, and the only time I told a Japanese about this is about the then Japanese soldier who deserted from the army and took side with the locals in my hometown. After the war ended, he decided to become Indonesian and integrate to our culture. Again, if my memory doesn’t fail me, he lived in the highland in my province, was about 100 years old a few years ago, and one of his descendants is my father’s friend. There are a couple of other Japanese soldiers who did this. [Ando-kun] told me that during the war, Japanese civilians also suffered from lack of food and other basic necessities. It is my understanding as well that apart from that, a lot of boys and men in their families were also sent to war and never came back. So I guess it must be grievous moment as well for them.

I would love to see similar documentaries about Indonesia under the Japanese occupation.

Why did you reappear here when the candle is already put out,
when the shack is already dark,
and nobody is here anymore

I am already out here hunting bears for dinner

You look redder than you used to be,
but although this time I lent you my axe
white Yukon snow didn’t turn to warm bright spring
like in yesteryear
when I only saw you from BC

Or maybe it will

If so, that remains to be seen

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frozen_Liard_River_-a.jpg