Rōmusha

Rōmusha (労務者) is a Japanese language word for "laborer", but in English tends to refer specifically to forced laborers during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in World War II.^{[citation needed]} The U.S. Library of Congress estimates that in Java, between 4 and 10 million rōmusha were forced to work by the Japanese military,^[1] many of whom toiled under harsh conditions and either died or were stranded far from home. However, the term was not closely defined by either the Japanese or the Allies and the numbers stated sometimes encompass both the kinrōhōshi unpaid laborers, as well as native auxiliary forces, such as troops of the Japanese-supported Indonesian volunteer army Pembela Tanah Air (PETA) and voluntary transmigrants to other islands in Indonesia.^[2]

Overview[]

The rōmusha were unpaid conscripted laborers, mobilized in Sumatra and eastern Indonesia as well as Java. Some ten percent were women.^[2] Their tenures of service ranged from one day to the time required to complete a specific project. The types of work required were very diverse, ranging from light housekeeping work to heavy construction. As a general rule, the rōmusha were mobilized within each regency and were able to walk to work from home. However, for very large construction projects, the rōmusha could be sent to other regencies. When their specified period was up, they were returned home and replaced with new workers.^[2] However, some were sent away from Indonesia to other Japanese-held areas in Southeast Asia. These included some 270,000 Javanese laborers, of whom only 52,000 were repatriated to Java, suggesting a high death rate or post-war migration.^{[citation needed]}

History[]

The practice of unpaid corvée labor had been common during the colonial period of the Dutch East Indies. Although the fact that rōmusha were paid was an improvement, their wages failed to keep pace with inflation, and they were often forced to work under hazardous conditions with inadequate food, shelter or medical care. The general Japanese treatment of labourers was poor. The rōmusha were supplemented by true unpaid laborers, the kinrōhōshi, who performed mostly menial labour. The kinrōhōshi were recruited for a shorter duration than the rōmusha via tonarigumi neighborhood associations and were theoretically voluntary, although considerable social coercion was applied to "volunteers" as a show of loyalty to the Japanese cause. In 1944, the number of kinrōhōshi in Java approximately amounted to 200,000 people.^[2] The brutality of the rōmusha and other forced labour systems was a key reason for the considerably high death rates among Indonesians under the Japanese occupation. A later UN report stated that four million people died in Indonesia as a result of the Japanese occupation.^[3] In addition to this, around 2.4 million people died in Java from famine during 1944–45.^[4]

From 1944, the PETA also utilised thousands of rōmusha for the construction of military facilities, and in economic projects to help make Java more self-supporting in the face of Allied blockades.^[2]

The Japanese military made very extensive use of such forced labour during the construction of the Burma-Thailand Railway during 1942–43, and the Sumatra Railway in 1943–45.^[5] The death rate among rōmusha from atrocities, starvation, and disease far outstripped the death rate among Allied prisoners of war.

Footnotes[]