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Banker-turned-author tells forgotten story of Indian prisoners in Singapore during World War II
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Author Gautam Hazarika interviewed descendants of former war prisoners for his book, The Forgotten Indian Prisoners Of World War II: Surrender, Loyalty, Betrayal And Hell.
ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
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- Gautam Hazarika's book explores the forgotten history of Indian WWII prisoners in Singapore, highlighting their agency and fate under Japanese Occupation.
- 20,000 Indian troops joined the Japanese-sponsored INA, while others faced brutality. Hazarika argues all were patriots who "played their best hand".
- Hazarika seeks descendants of those who aided escaped soldiers, aiming to honour their bravery and uncover further wartime memories and documents.
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SINGAPORE – Most histories of Indian soldiers during World War II start and end with the vexed anti-colonial nationalist hero Subhas Chandra Bose. But a new book by Singapore-based banker-turned-author Gautam Hazarika turns to the fate of forgotten leaders and prisoners of war (POWs) in Singapore to paint a fuller picture.
In The Forgotten Indian Prisoners Of World War II: Surrender, Loyalty, Betrayal And Hell (2025), Hazarika makes the case for unearthing this buried history. Despite there being 67,000 Indian troops who defended Singapore and Malaya at the start of WWII – amounting to about half of the Allied army – little is known about their agency and fate under the Japanese Occupation.
