As 200 mourners paid homage at a war memorial in Kuala Lumpur yesterday to remember those killed in the Japanese invasion during World War II, a young journalist staged a silent protest at the Japanese Embassy.

Hoo Wing Siong, 24, told malaysiakini that he felt the need to do something to express his outrage after he heard news that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had visited Yasukuni Shrine a day before.

"I felt cheated because earlier the ruling Liberal Democratic Party headed by Koizumi gave its words that there would be no visit to the war shrine," said Hoo.

He added that Koizumi's visit to the shrine was tantamount to "piercing the Asian people with a knife again" and could spark a revival of Japanese militarism.

The controversial shrine in Tokyo is the place where Japanese war died, including 14 Class-A Japanese war criminals, were deified and honored.

Most Japanese paid their respects to their war dead on Aug 15, the 56th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.

Wartime atrocities

Hoo said none of his family members was killed during the Japanese occupation.

However, he began to feel strongly against the wartime atrocities committed by troops of the Japanese Imperial Army after he visited a museum in China early this year which documented the 1937 Nanjing massacre.

He added that he was also inspired by South Korea's members of parliament who protested at the Japanese embassy in Seoul against a controversial textbook which whitewashed the history of Japan's military aggression.

The textbook, written by a nationalist group called Society for History Textbook Reform, claimed that Japan "entered and exited", instead of "invaded" Asian countries to give the locals courage and inspiration to free themselves from their colonial masters.

As for the massacre of some 400,000 people, mostly Chinese in Malaya and Singapore, the textbook explained that the mass killing was done in self-defense against "stubborn guerillas" who conspired with "white people" in order to frustrate the effort to gain independence for these countries.

Issues such as the use of Asian women as sex slaves, or commonly known as 'comfort women' by Japanese troops, were downplayed in the book.

Moral support

Yesterday, a group of Malaysians - including students, family members of victims, community leaders and politicians from the government and opposition - demanded an apology from the Japanese government for wartime atrocities at a war memorial.

On return from the war memorial, many of them stopped at the Japanese embassy to give Hoo moral support.

Hoo, who sat outside the embassy for an hour around noon, also attracted the attention of foreign media, including those from Japan.

Placards which read 'What is the meaning for Koizumi worshiping ghosts', 'Say 'No' to militarism' and 'Don't forget the cold-blooded past' were displayed.

According to Hoo, many supporters offered him water, flowers and even umbrellas. A slight commotion erupted between embassy guards and photojournalists when they were told that they could not take pictures showing the embassy building.

Asked how he felt after the protest, Hoo said, "Helpless, as our society at large still does not care about the issue."

He lamented that the Malaysian government has not done enough to pressure the Japanese government to confront its history, mainly because of economic concerns.

However, he said such concerns are uncalled for because there are many peace-loving Japanese who are ready to face their past.

"Economics is one thing, history is another thing. They should not be mixed together," said Hoo.

Despite two former prime ministers' elusive official apologies to the Asian countries for Japan's military aggression, academics and writers argued that post-war Japan has not really broken from its militaristic past.

They warned of a nationalist revival in Japan, as illustrated by the releasing of the new school history book in April.