Ethelin Teo dressed as a boy for years to avoid becoming a 'comfort woman' | THE LAST SURVIVORS

The Last Survivors is an interactive video project by R.AGE to document the stories of Malaysia's WWII survivors, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Japan's final surrender in Kuala Lumpur.

If you have a WWII survivor's story to share, leave it in the comments! And if you're in Malaysia, we just might drop by to shoot an episode of The Last Survivors with you.

[MealforOne]

my grandma did the same, cutting hair short and dressed as a boy to avoid getting snatched to become comfort woman. History is far, but the realness never fade

[soul]

My mother met a Chinese Catholic nun who wouldn't speak to Japanese nun. Mom asked her why. Chinese nun told my mom that when she was a little girl, she witnessed Japanese soldiers tossing many Chinese babies up on the air, and when babies' body was on the way down, Japanese soldiers pierced so many Chinese babies' body with a long samurai sword laughing at the same time as they were killing innocent Chinese babies. It traumatized her so much that she feared Japanese people until the day Chinese nun passed on. Japan should own up to their WWII crime and sincerely apologize to the victims instead of trying to cover up their crime by lying non-stop and fabricating the true history. The world is so sick of their continuous lies about their horrendous crimes.
Comfort Women is another Japanese effort to cover up and lie.

[CB-yrhq]

It's a shame her kids weren't interested on their own history. I ask my parents what their parents had to go through during WW2 because I find their stories to be interesting but also sad.

[khvrnv]

My grandmother was only 12 when she got married just simply bcs they were trying to prevent her from being snatched away by the japanese.

[miffysayshello]

Why is it so hard for them to apologize for what they've done?

[perlivous]

I now feel sorry for my grandma. She was only 14 when WW2 started. She was almost found by the Japanese, and was hiding. I know this video was posted 1 year ago, but I’ll just share this.

[JayneBeremasBrooks]

Malaysia and other affected SEA countries need to fight for these comfort women along with South Korea . Until this day, the Japanese government hasn't publicly acknowledge and apologise to the victims. They only paid compensation to the South Korean victims which was unacceptable. No matter how hard their government tries to deny the incident, many know what they shamefully did.

[oceanwhisperer]

I don't know if this is true but the other name is called Jugun Ianfu. Japan too raid my country, Indonesia. And women joined Jugun Ianfu thinking that they would be fighting alongside them. But, what they didn't know is that these women were all assigned as sex workers. They work to fulfill the sex needs of the Japanese soldiers. Some of the girls were still 12-16 years old, I believed. When Japan left Indonesia, some the women never returned or even were banished from their villages for what they have done. My teacher were one of the people who make a social experiment on how the Jugun Iafu has effected these women. And the result is truly horrifying. When they heard the sound of soldiers' boot steps that was played on speaker, they freaked out. Like literally freaked out. They were trying to get out of the room and were screaming in panic. Some finally gave up and she took off her clothes and just sat there in the corner, curled up. Even years after it was all over, the terror is still there and you can imagine how they feel back then. If today they still remember the exact feeling and the trauma of it, how do they even able to cope with it back then? I'd rather kill myself than being a sex doll for men.

[astrangerwhostaysforawhile]

This is my first time heard about comfort women in Malaysia. I really need more of this

[SwitchbackCh]

Must be really awkward if anyone knew the McDonald's they're eating at was built over a mass grave...

[khairunnajwamdsaid]

This video reminds me of my late grandma. She loves to tell us stories during Japanese era where she have to hide inside of tempayan whenever Japanese ppl came to her house. She also still remember the japanese national song and will sing it when we asked her to do so. I really miss her. 😢

[maym]

Estelita Dy from the Philippines. She is an activist for comfort women fighting for their stories to be acknowledged as Japan continues to deny the atrocities they have committed to so many women.

[hkic]

my mother told me about my grandma and her little sister hiding from Japan army when come to my mom's village in Tasikmalaya, Indonesia. They're hiding behind the wall, burned down every photo about them to make Japan army believe our family don't had any girls. Because my great grandma and grandpa was a teacher in Sekolah Rakyat, japan army not bring my great grandma back then. My grandma and great grandma was very lucky because the rest of other people lost their children and their wives to become jugun ianfu or romusha. Unfortunately my grandma and great grandma are passed away as a real witness who saw cruelness of Japan colonization. Many victim who become jugun ianfu and romusha passed away but they're never get any compensation or apologize from Japan Government properly.

[pennyngu]

I’m actually very surprised that Japanese didn’t realised what their ancestors did in WW2. The whole world experienced their cruelty and even my grandpa refused to visit Japan because of this.

[asdfkie]

very good interview, young people should know about these things so that they wont happen again.

[PadecMaybeReal]

This is god damn horrifying. I've always eaten at the McDonald's, now i won't be able to view Teluk Cempedak as it used to be...

[kysha.w]

My grandma is 89 years old and has gone through WWII and the Japanese occupation.

[brendapeterson]

She escaped a horrible fate by dressing like a boy. I’ve seen Various videos in confront women and you can’t even wrap your mind around the horrible things they went through.

[TheFaal]

Thank you for making this to our new generation 😭

[juncruz]

My great grandfather witnesses Japanese atrocities, my great grandfather almost killed by the Japanese, luckily his life was saved because the Filipino collaborator to the Japanese can't clearly pronounce his name, they accusing my great grandfather of being a traitor. He also witness those women that being made as comfort women, they choose girl who are beautiful in their eyes.