Palauan resolution
2018–10–6
“To forgive but not to forget”, that’s the important thing,” said our local guide pointing at the Japanese rising sun flag in at Peleliu WWII Memorial Museum. I couldn’t help but feel a chill looking at the flag in memorial of the Japanese war “heroes” knowing that the flag is what causing the utmost controversy between Korea and Japan right now: Korea is banning Japanese Navy attending Korea’s international fleet review event(“the international navy festival”) in hanging the imperial flag which is the equivalent of Nazi’s Swastika.
Exhibition — Peleliu WWII Memorial Museum
I started wondering how the Palauans made peace with the rising sun flag. Palau is an independent country in Micronesia with just 21,000 population which was discovered and owned by the Spanish then sold to the Germans and then taken over by the Japanese after the WWI. It was under the US’s influence after the WWII when the bloodiest battle between Japan and the US took place in the southern island of Peleliu in Nov. 1944.
Battles of Pacific War — Peleliu WWII Memorial Museum
On the one hand, there could be a thousand reasons why the Palauans can be more tolerant with the rising sun flag; first of all, they were conquered by the Europeans before; secondly, the Japanese laid groundwork for most of the islands’ industry and infrastructure; and unlike the Koreans, Chinese and Philippinoes, most of the natives did not directly suffer physical abuse and were not forced into labor or battle. On the other hand, the native Peleliu people were forced to evacuate their home to have it completely destroyed during the battle; and after the surrender, the Japanese soldiers were forced to repatriate back to Japan, leaving their native mistresses and extra-marital children behind.
There perhaps are too many incalculable factors that it is pointless to compare history horizontally. However, from a story I heard from a native dive master, I could feel where the true power of the Palauan resolution lies. “After the war, the Japanese soldiers and laborers were repatriated but hundreds of abandoned mistresses and children left behind. The Palauan villagers took these women and children, especially the mixed Japanese-Palauan descent back in as one of their own and treated them equally.” Throughout the years the Japanese-Palauans formed Sakura-Kai, an organization to assist abandoned Japanese-Palauans and Japanese youths to search for their families back in Japan. According to a survey by the Japanese embassy, when they were given a choice to move to Japan, most chose to remain in Palau.
The maturity of a society is determined by how it treats the under-privileged. And forgiveness is an expression of a mature society that may be the only way to reach a complete resolution. From what I learned from the Palauans on the road, forgiveness is embracing differences rather than fighting or compromising them; embracing the victims and their children not for propaganda means or charity case but as equal members of a community. True understanding and trust within a community may only be achieved through accepting these children as members of their own and raising them just like a mother would care for her wounded child. Once the trust is built, it will lead the community to evolve and heal themselves and hopefully someday, the invaders as well.
Although I myself can not embrace the imperial flag at least at the moment, I would very much like to try to understand and possibly help the abandoned, the left-behind and the forgotten for my own resolution. I am not sure if Japan will ever take down the rising sun flag from their naval ships or apologize to the 27 surviving “comfort women”, but I am more looking forward to our communities heal through embracing the descents of anti-colonization activists, forced laborers and immigrants. From all single-parented children to North Korean defectors, Syrian refugees and DRC’s child soldiers, hope the same goes for all the victims of man-made horrors. There’s a lot of homework to do.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_settlement_in_Palau
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women
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