Surrender of Japanese

The Surrender of the Japanese

It was on September 12 1945 that the Japanese had finally surrended after years of occupation . The formal signing of the surrender instrument was held at the Municipal Hall on September 12, 1945. And after the surrender there was a celebration at the padang. The reason for the Japanese surrender was due to the attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These made the Japanese lose their will to continue the war. The British then set up a provisional Goverment called the British Millitary Administration also know as BMA . They took charge of Singapore until the 1st of april 1946. They faced a very difficult task of rebuilding Singapore and maintaning the law and order . There were still many problems after the war . The people faced problems like overcrowded living conditions , poor sanitation , lack of health services and unemployment. The most serious problem was the shortage of food and lack of housing. There was also a shortage of water and electricity, the telephone lines were also distrupted. The Japanese soldies were then put to work to restore gas , electricity and other essential services. The British removed ship wrecks in the sea and mines laid by the japanese . The docks were also repaired and warehouses were constructed to store items that were brought into Singapore . These also allowed the ships transporting food to enter the port. The British raised the amounth of food given to each person and also Peoples restraunt were open to the public . They Sold food at a reasonable price . There were still several problems the British had to handle like the shortage of housing . The rents for housing then was very high and majority could not afford it , these people were forced to live in small overcrowded cubicles and squatters . A law was also issued to stop landlords from raising the house rents. The Goverment also constructed flats but they were still not enough for the population. Also Banana notes became useless after the war