By April 1942, shops had run out of supplies. The Japanese heavily promoted the idea of self-sufficiency and encouraged people to make their own essentials, such as clothes and toilet articles. Trade shows and competitions were organised to display innovative designs for home-made products. One exhibition held at Great World Amusement Park featured over 1000 home-made products, such as canvas made from pineapple fibres and a compact lifebuoy made from rubber.
This led to the rise of several local industries, but the average person still faced severe shortages of necessities. As the war progressed, rations were further reduced, and even then, people were not able to obtain their weekly rations due to shortages.
Read more about the food-related measures implemented by the Japanese.
Soap
Soap substitutes were made using ash. Lim Heng Lee’s father, who distributed rations, recalled people exchanging firewood ash for oil rations. These ashes were then used by the Japanese authorities to make soap. According to the book Wartime Kitchen, locals also make their own soap substitutes by burning coconut shells or wood, then mixing the resultant ash with palm oil and lime. They would add a mixture of leaves, flowers and cinnamon bark to give the soap a lovely fragrance.
Madam Zainab’s family used charcoal ash to scrub their dirty pots as soap was difficult to come by. They also used charcoal ash as a toothpaste by rubbing it on their teeth, which reportedly made their teeth very white. Soap was purchased in long bars and shared within the village - each family would receive a sliver.
Tobacco
Cigarettes became a rationed item during the Occupation, with queues forming the night before they were due to be distributed. The high demand for cigarettes led to the establishment of multiple factories producing them. In Carl Francis de Souza’s National Archives of Singapore (NAS) oral interview, he recalled people plucking yellow papaya leaves, sunning them, and then mixing them with gula melaka, cloves, and cheroot. This mixture was chopped up and used as 'improvised tobacco.' The best wrappers for cigarettes were thin pages from bibles sold on the black market.
Brushes
For toothbrushes, people would use twigs with frayed fibres. Coconut fibres could also be turned into brushes with stiff bristles.
Clothes Washer
Kathleen Soh’s family created a clothes washer using a large kerosene tin. Dirty clothes were placed into the tin, which was balanced on two stacks of bricks, each stack consisting of 3-4 bricks. The tin would be filled with water, and a fire would be started under it using driftwood. A bit of soap would be added to the heated water, and Kathleen’s family would stir the submerged clothes with a stick.
Rubber Latex
Tan Kia Meng lived near a rubber plantation where latex was harvested from the sap of rubber trees. To collect the sap, incisions were made on the tree by rubber tappers, and a small cup was attached to the tree to collect the dripping liquid. Tan Kia Meng used the sticky sap to patch his clothes, as clothing were difficult to come by.
BBQ Grill & Utensils
As part of the kelong fishermen community, Madam Zainab’s father would cook for the other fishermen using a self-made BBQ grill. He would place a zinc sheet on top of a wood fire and then barbecue slices of seafood or seafood pieces on a wooden skewer. This was called bakar satay.
The utensils which the fishermen used were simple yet ingenious. Coconut husks served as scoops. To make a large scoop, similar to a ladle, they would drill a hole in the coconut husk and insert a stick. This tool was used for stirring food and also imparted a pleasant flavour.
Bamboo sticks were cut in half, and the top ends would be tied together to make barbecue tongs or chopsticks
Dough Moulds
Kathleen Soh‘s grandmother made improvised moulds for the kitchen with large biscuit tin covers. To make a chendol mould, she used a sharp nail to puncture holes into a tin cover. She would then push the dough through the punctured cover, and it would come out in thick strips.
She also used a tin cover as an improvised hot water bath to make chee cheong fun (a steamed roll made from wide rice noodles). The cover would float on a heated wok of hot water, and the thin mixture would be poured into it. Ingredients would be added to the mixture, and as the mixture thickened, it would be rolled up.
Wells
In the pre-war years, drinking water was mostly obtained from public water pipes or by collecting rainwater. Madam Zainab’s family would collect rainwater in a large clay pot. They also drew water from a well in the kampong. When there wasn’t enough water in the well, a fellow villager would go down the well and dig for more water. The source of the water in the well was called “mata air” or the eye of the water. If the water was muddy, it would be filtered with a cloth.
Cheng Siew Kee’s father built a communal well with the help of his neighbours. They dug deep into the ground and covered the sides of the well with stones. Banana leaves were used to cover the top, and a pail was used to draw water.