 Singapore , renamed Syonan @-@ to ( 昭南島 Shōnan @-@ tō , " Light of the South Island " in Japanese ) , was occupied by the Japanese from 1942 to 1945 . The Japanese army imposed harsh measures against the local population , with troops , especially the Kempeitai or Japanese military police , particularly ruthless in dealing with the Chinese population . The most notable atrocity was the Sook Ching massacre of Chinese civilians , undertaken in retaliation against support of the war effort in China . The Japanese screened citizens ( including children ) to check if they were " anti @-@ Japanese " . If so , the " guilty " citizens would be sent away in a truck to be executed . These mass executions claimed between 25 @,@ 000 and 50 @,@ 000 lives in Malaya and Singapore . The rest of the population suffered severe hardship throughout the three and a half years of Japanese occupation . The Malay and Indians were forced to build the " Death Railway " , a railway between Thailand and Burma ( Myanmar ) . Most of them died while building the railway . The Eurasians were also caught as POWs ( Prisoners of War ) . 
