Taiwan
Brief History of Taiwanese Internment
During the Japanese colonial period, the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) was a major immigration destination for the Taiwanese. Annual statistics compiled by the Japanese authorities showed that a sizable Taiwanese population of more than 500 was living in the Dutch East Indies before World War II broke out.
Immediately after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war against the Netherlands in December 1941, the Dutch authorities took swift action to intern all Taiwanese – together with other Japanese nationals – across the Dutch East Indies as ‘enemy aliens’. Soon after, the Dutch made arrangements with Australian authorities and transferred all internees to Australia.
In addition, during the war a significant number of Taiwanese serving in the Japanese military were captured as prisoners of war (POWs) in battlefields across the Pacific, and many were sent to be interned in Australia. Together, the number of Taiwanese interned in Australia exceeded 1,000. They were kept in several different camps across Australia, until they were released and repatriated ‘involuntarily’ back to Taiwan in March 1946.
A number of Taiwanese died during internment. They were first buried in the respective camps, then their remains were relocated to the Japanese War Cemetery in Cowra.
Author:
Shi-Chi Mike Lan
Shi-chi Mike Lan is an associate professor at the Department of History at the National Chengchi University, Taiwan. Previously, he taught at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and held visiting positions at University of Tokyo, Rikkyo University, and University of Kyoto in Japan. His research interests include Modern East Asian History, World War II, historical memory, and history of migration. He also served as history consultant on projects related to World War II, including the award-winning documentary ‘From Island to Island’ 由島至島 (Director Lau Kek Huat, 2024).
Art/Work(s):
When I Call Your Name [Composition and lyrics by Masaki Baba]
When I Call Your Name Song and Video
This video honours the 11 Taiwanese buried in Cowra, Australia and one Taiwanese who was given a sea burial, their families, and Pacific War victims. Created with Masako Kinoshita’s painting ‘Listen to the Sea’ and my song ‘When I Call Your Name’, it responds to the project When You Call My Name. Recording was supported by Stan / The Battery Band. English translation of the lyrics by Mayu Kanamori. Composition and lyrics by Masaki Baba.
My island home is far away
across the vast ocean
in a dream I see my mother
winds in the sugarcane fields
The sound of the sea
drowns out my thoughts
The southern cross
is shining in the sky
I call your name
as proof that you have lived
I engrave it here and now
Artist:
Masaki Baba
Masaki Baba is an actor, singer songwriter, author, and radio personality based in Taipei, Taiwan. After holding executive positions at The Japan Foundation in Beijing and in Sydney and at the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, Masaki now works as an actor across stage, film, and television, and appears weekly on Radio Taiwan International. He also writes film scores and performs as part of a trio – The Battery Band, also as a solo musician. Masaki facilitated the creation of artworks for the 12 Taiwanese civilians who died during internment for the When You Call My Name Project.
Art/Work(s):
Artist:
Dai-rong Wu
Dai-Rong Wu currently serves as the Chairperson of the Graduate Institute of Arts and Humanities Education, as well as an Associate Professor at the Taipei National University of the Arts. Her research concentrates on socially engaged art as pedagogy, and what/how knowledge is produced in the process of both art-making and artistic learning. As an artist-teacher, Wu launched the pedagogical art project When A Home Becomes A Museum at the Taipei Veterans’ Home, which has been in effect since 2014. Additionally, she is the principal investigator of Experience as Arts, an aesthetic education project, commissioned by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan. She has lead her students at the Taipei National University of the Arts to create artworks of the internees from Taiwan.
Art/Work(s):
