Rōmusha
Rōmusha (労務者) a.k.a “Japanese Corvée”, is a
Overview
The rōmusha were unpaid conscripted laborers, mobilized in Sumatra and eastern Indonesia as well as Java. Some ten percent were women.[2] Their tenures of service ranged from one day to the time required to complete a specific project. The types of work required were very diverse, ranging from light housekeeping work to heavy construction. As a general rule, the rōmusha were mobilized within each regency and were able to walk to work from home. However, for very large construction projects, the rōmusha could be sent to other regencies. When their specified period was finished, they were returned home and replaced with new workers.[2] However, many were sent away from Indonesia to other Japanese-held areas in Southeast Asia.
Although exact figures are unknown, M. C. Ricklefs estimates that between 200,000 and 500,000 Javanese laborers were sent away from Java to the outer islands, and as far as Burma and Thailand. Of those taken off Java, Ricklefs estimates that only 70,000 survived the war.[3] However, Shigeru Satō estimates that about 270,000 Javanese laborers were sent outside of Java, including around 60,000 in Sumatra. Satō estimates that 135,000 were repatriated to Java after the war by the Dutch and the British (not including those found in Sumatra). Apart from those repatriated, there were also those who returned by other means even before the Japanese capitulated. According to Satō, the proportion of rōmusha laborers who died or were stranded overseas amounts to about 15%.[4]
History
The practice of unpaid
From 1944, the PETA also utilized thousands of rōmusha for the construction of military facilities, and for economic projects to help make Java more self-sufficient due to Allied blockades.[2]
The Japanese military made extensive use of such forced labor for the construction of the Burma-Thailand Railway during 1942–43, and the Sumatra Railway in 1943–45.[7] The death rate among rōmusha from atrocities, starvation, and disease was much greater than the death rate among Allied prisoners of war.
Footnotes
- ^ Library of Congress, 1992, "Indonesia: World War II and the Struggle For Independence, 1942-50; The Japanese Occupation, 1942-45" Access date: February 9, 2007
- ^ a b c d e Post, The Encyclopedia of Indonesia in the Pacific War , pages 505, 578-579;
- ISBN 978-1-137-14918-3.
- ISBN 9781317452355.
- ISBN 0-394-75172-8).
- ^ Van der Eng, Pierre (2008) 'Food Supply in Java during War and Decolonisation, 1940–1950.' MPRA Paper No. 8852. pp. 35–38. http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/8852/
- ISBN 9789067183284.