Christmas Message of Peace on Earth

Message of Peace on Earth

When Jesus Christ was born two thousand years ago into abject poverty to homeless refugees on the outskirts of a brutal empire, the story goes that angels appeared in the sky to impoverished shepherds singing, "Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth!"

Message of peace on earth on Christmas Day on December 25 when Jesus Christ was born.

Jesus Christ is not a Christian.  He spreads the message of peace in the gospel to mankind.

Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuni is not a Buddhist.  He spreads the message of peace in the teaching of Dharma to mankind.

Prophet Muhammad is not a Muslim.  The Islamic prophet spreads the message of peace in the Koran teachings to mankind.

The teachers of all mainstream religions on earth spread the message of peace to everyone in the world.  The world leaders of all peace-loving countries which belong to the United Nation also spread the message of peace to their citizens.

Why then not all countries in the world are peaceful in the 21st century?

Watching the TV daily on the news in the world, we are aware the security threat to live with the dangers of terrorist attacks in world cities?

News of World War Two The related blog on the "Beginning and the End of World War II" is available here .

 

The memories and reflections of the hardships faced by those who lived through the darkest years of Singapore's modern history have been captured befittingly in a permanent exhibition, 'Syonan Years: Singapore Under Japanese Rule 1942-1945' at the Old Ford Factory, Bukit Timah Road, Singapore.




On 15 February 1942 after a week of intense fighting, the British Lieutenant General Arthur E. Percival surrendered Singapore to the Japanese forces under the command of Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita to sign the surrender instruments at the Japanese HQ in the Ford Factory in Bukit Timah, Singapore.

My heritage friend SC Chia sent me this audio recording from his 78 rpm vinyl record from his personal rare heritage collectibles.  I am pleased to post this to YouTube to share on the blog.  With thanks to my old-time friend, Chew Kee Boon for the conversion of the audio file to YouTube.

1.  The announcement of 5 or 6 languages by the Japanese propaganda team to broadcast in 5 or 6 languages on the day of the surrender of Singapore in 1942.  "Singapore has fallen, Singapore has fallen ..."  The "great victory" was announced to the whole world.

2.   The speech of General Yamashita, the "Tiger General" of Malaya from Japan.

The War Crime of Tomoyuki Yamashita

 

Meanwhile, please watch the YouTube videos to see the other side of the coin during World War II.

Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima - CBS Radio on 8 July, 1945



Hiroshima and Nagasaki After the Atomic Bombings | US Army Documentary on the Aftermath. Courtesy of "The Best Film Archives " on YouTube here .

Memorials were held Thursday in Japan to mark 70 years since the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. CBS News correspondent Seth Doane reports.

This is a home recording of the bombing of Hiroshima in Japan that took place on August 6, 1945. The report describes some of the event and mentions the origin for the name of the modified B-29.

August 6 1945, during the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.

Hear first-hand accounts from the air and ground, re-telling every memory from the day the world first witnessed the horrors of atomic warfare. Watch more Hiroshima from BBC Worldwide…

The purpose of featuring the war stories of Singapore and juxtaposed with the war stories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which changed the world to realize the importance to live in peace with all the countries in the world, regardless of their religious or political ideologies or preachings to the peoples of the world.

Lets pray that there be peace in the world.  We only have one world, many countries.  Would the Gods and gods allow the world to be blown up to pieces, no more lives in a nuclear war which cannot play computer war games for excitement for thrill. 

A nuclear bomb in the world would be "Game Over" for all earthlings.  Are the Martians are coming?

Collective memories to share with heritage friends

In a time of ever-accelerating change, memory still provides important threads of identity and connection to the past.  While famous people and great events get written about in history books, whole areas of social history risk being obliterated from memory altogether.  In Southeast Asia, as elsewhere, millions of ordinary people lived extraordinary lives over the course of the twentieth century, being caught up in historical events that were beyond their control.  Often they witnessed great political changes, from the era of colonialism to World War II and the Japanese Occupation, to struggle for independence and the subsequent building of new nation-states.  In the process of all these transformations, so many aspects of everyday life have changed beyond recognition .....

It takes a lot of luck for memories to be successfully transmitted.  The amazing wealth of photographs preserved in this volume could so easily have been lost, throw away, or simply decayed beyond recovery in a story to tell must not only feel like telling it, but must also find a receptive audience at the right moment.

To enter into that story takes an effort of imagination on the part of a listener from a younger generation, whose own life is already so much changed that they might find it hard to relate to such tales from the past.

- Excerpts from the Foreword by Roxana Waterson in "Life Beyond the Big Top" by Adele Wong:  Stories of the Tai Thean Kew Circus.

President Tony Tan  Visit Japan: Singapore-Japan 50 (SJ50)

Singapore and Japan enjoy a close and enduring friendship, visiting President Tony Tan Keng Yam said on Wednesday (Nov 30, 2016) as he offered a toast to Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at a state banquet to mark half a century of bilateral ties.

The ties have been forged through frequent exchanges between leaders starting from late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, whose contributions have been recognised by Japan with the posthumous conferment of its top honour for a foreign dignitary , the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers.