KOTA BARU: Kelantan's Former Japanese Forced Labourer Association (Warisan) hopes the government will resolve issues related to the RM207 billion of compensation payout claimed to have been made by the Japanese government for victims of the infamous Death Railway.
Its patron Datuk Shahul Hamid Abdul Rahim said the families and relatives of the 30,000 Malaysians who died in Thailand during the Japanese Occupation, had been waiting for the payments for nearly 60 years.
They hoped the government especially Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob would provide them a `clear explanation' on the issue.
Shahrul said Warisan had sent a letter to the prime minister on Sept 26, asking the country's premier to look into this issue.
"For so long, many of the Death Railway victims' family members and relatives have been waiting for the compensation payments.
"They either had their fathers or male relatives persecuted during the Japanese Occupation.
"The association has made numerous attempts to help them. Apart from sending letters to the government, we have held several meetings with the relevant authorities in the government including the deputy ministers," he told a Press conference here today.
Also present were the association's president Hassan Mahmood and several of its committee members.
Shahul said the association was set up in 2018 and so far has nearly 300 members.
"Our members represent the former labourers during the Japanese Occupation. Many of the labourers have died, but few are still around, who are in their 90s and most of them are bedridden," he added.
He expressed hope that the government would take this matter seriously so that the family of the Malaysians who died during the Japanese Occupation, would not be left in the dark.
"If there is a progress over the issue, we just need the government to keep us informed," he added.
It is learnt that tens of thousands of Indians, Chinese and Malays were forcibly recruited to work on the Siam-Burma border, with only about half of the number returning home, albeit sick and heavily injured.
Others perished during the construction of the Death Railway due to hunger, thirst, malaria, snake bites and as a result of the harsh and cruel treatment by then Japanese soldiers.
It was estimated that there were 30,000 Malaysians who were forced labourers, died in Thailand during the Japanese Occupation.
Following bilateral discussions with the Malaysian government, it was agreed that RM207 billion would be paid to 30,000 families; those who lost their loved ones in Thailand.
In 2013, a local Malay-daily reported that the Japanese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur had confirmed that the money was handed to the Malaysian government in 2004.
The report stated that the money had yet to be distributed to families of the estimated 30,000 Malaysians who were forced labourers of the project between 1942 and 1946.