page_title: Johor
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Johor / History / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: AWM: Malaya: Johore, Muar Area, Bakri . A two pounder Anti-Tank Gun of the 4th Anti-Tank Regiment, 8th Australian Division, AIF, directed by VX38874 Sergeant (Sgt) en:Charles James Parsons, of Moonee Ponds, Vic, in action at a road block at en:Bakri on the Muar-Parit Sulong Road. In the background is a destroyed Japanese en:Type 95 Ha-Go Medium Tank. The Anti-Tank Gun was known as the rear gun because of its position in the defence layout of the area. Sgt Parsons was later awarded the en:Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for his and his crew's part in destroying six of the nine Japanese tanks during this engagement. This photograph also appears as negative no 068592. IWM: An Australian 2-pdr anti-tank gun of the 2/4th Australian Anti-Tank Regiment, commanded by Sgt Charles Parsons (left), firing on Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go tanks as they try to pass trees felled across the Muar - Parit Sulong road, near Bakri in Malaya, 18 January 1942. Nine tanks were destroyed by two 2-pdrs in this engagement, part of the battle of Muar, which took place around the Gemensah bridge and the Muar River in Johore. It was the last major engagement of the campaign.
context_page_description: Johor, formerly known as Johore, is a state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the northwest. Johor shares maritime borders with Singapore to the south and Indonesia to both the west and east. Johor Bahru is the capital city and the economic centre of the state, Kota Iskandar is the seat of the state government, and Muar serves as the royal town of the state. The old state capital is Johor Lama. As of 2017, the state's population is 3,700,000. Johor has highly diverse tropical rainforests and an equatorial climate. The state's mountain ranges form part of the Titiwangsa Range, which is part of the larger Tenasserim Range connected to Thailand and Myanmar, with Mount Ophir being the highest point in Johor.
  An early Johor-centred kingdom had early contact with Funan based on the exchange of gifts. After the demise of the kingdom, much of the Malay coast fell under the jurisdiction of Siam and later Majapahit. Several decades later, with the emergence of the Malaccan Empire, Islam spread throughout the Malay Archipelago.
context_section_description: Since the 1910s, Japanese planters had been involved in numerous estates and in the mining of mineral resources in Johor as a result of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. After the First World War, rubber cultivation in Malaya was largely controlled by Japanese companies. Following the abolition of the Rubber Lands Restrictions (Enactment) in 1919, Gomu Nanyo Company (South Seas Rubber Co. Ltd.) began cultivating rubber in the interior of Johor. By the 1920s, Ibrahim had become a personal friend of Tokugawa Yoshichika, a scion of the Tokugawa clan whose ancestors were military leaders (shōgun in Japanese) who ruled Japan from the 16th to the 19th centuries. In the Second World War, at a great cost of lives in the Battle of Muar in Johor as part of the Malayan Campaign, Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) forces with their bicycle infantry and tanks advanced into Muar District (present-day Tangkak District) on 14 January 1942. During the Japanese forces' arrival, Tokugawa accompanied General Tomoyuki Yamashita's troops and was warmly received by Ibrahim when they reached Johor Bahru at the end of January 1942. Yamashita and his officers stationed themselves at the Sultan's residence, Istana Bukit Serene, and the state secretariat building, Sultan Ibrahim Building, to plan for the invasion of Singapore. Some of the Japanese officers were worried since the location of the palace left them exposed to the British, but Yamashita was confident that the British would not attack since Ibrahim was also a friend to the British, which proved to be correct.
  On 8 February, the Japanese began to bombard the northwestern coastline of Singapore, which was followed by the crossing of the IJA 5th and 18th Divisions with around 13,000 troops through the Straits of Johor. The following day, the Imperial Guard Division crossed into Kranji while the remaining Japanese Guard troops crossed through the repaired Johor–Singapore Causeway. Following the occupation of the whole of Malaya and Singapore by the Japanese, Tokugawa proposed a reform plan by which the five kingdoms of Johor, Terengganu, Kelantan, Kedah-Penang and Perlis would be restored and federated. Under the scheme, Johor would control Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Malacca while an 800-square-mile area in the southern part of Johor would be incorporated into Singapore for defence purposes. The five monarchs of the kingdoms would be obliged to pledge loyalty to Japan, would need to visit the Japanese royal family every two years, and would assure the freedom of religion, worship, employment and private ownership of property to all people and accord every Japanese residing in the kingdoms with treatment equal to indigenous people.
  Meanwhile, Ōtani Kōzui of the Nishi Hongan-ji sub-sect of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism suggested that the sultan system should be abolished and Japan should rule the Malay kingdoms under a Japanese constitutional monarchy government. Japanese War Minister Hideki Tōjō, however, had already reminded their government staff in Malaya to refrain from acting superior to the sultan and to pay respect so the sultan would co-operate with the gunsei (Japanese military organisation). In May, many high-ranking Japanese officials returned to Tokyo to consult with officials of the War Ministry and General Staff on how to deal with the Sultan. Upon their returning to Singapore in July, they published a document called "A Policy for the Treatment of the Sultan", which was a demand for the Sultan to surrender his power over his people and land to the Japanese emperor through the IJA commander. The military organisation demanded the Sultan surrender his power in a manner reminiscent of the way the Tokugawa shogunate surrendered their power to the Japanese emperor in 1868. Through the Japanese administration, many massacres towards civilians occurred with an estimate of 25,000 ethnic Chinese civilians in Johor have perished during the occupation. In spite of that, the Japanese established the Endau Settlement (also known as the New Syonan Model Farm) in Endau for Chinese settlers to ease the
caption: Two Australian 8th Division members firing on Japanese Type 95 Ha-Gō tanks on the Muar-Parit Sulong road during the Battle of Muar, 18 January 1942
exif: {}