Chinese sources estimate the total number of military and non-military casualties, dead and wounded, at 35 million. Most Western historians estimated the total number of victims to be at least 20 million. Operation Sook Ching was a Japanese military operation aimed at purging or eliminating anti-Japanese elements from Singapore's Chinese community. From February 21 to March 4, 1942, Chinese men aged 18 to 50 were summoned to various mass screening centers and those suspected of being anti-Japanese were executed. The reasons for Operation Sook Ching is a Chinese term meaning “purge by cleansing”. .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay The Japanese term for the operation was Dai Kensho, meaning “great inspection”. There were several possible reasons why the Japanese military carried out the operation Firstly, the Japanese military was wary of the Chinese in Singapore due to long-standing tensions between Japan and China and their own experience fighting against the Chinese in China since 1937. Second, many Japanese commanders and soldiers were veterans of the campaigns. in other parts of Asia where violence and executions were regularly used as tools to keep the civilian population under control. Third, the Japanese wanted to prevent anti-Japanese elements from interfering with their occupation of Singapore after experiencing resistance from Chinese volunteers and guerrillas during the war. Malaya campaign (1941-1942). Directive. Shortly after the Japanese occupied Singapore, Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita issued a directive ordering the Chinese population to report to designated areas for screening. The directive targeted five main categories of Chinese5: (1) members of the volunteer forces; (2) communists; (3) looters; (4) property owners; and (5) those whose names appeared on anti-Japanese suspect lists maintained by Japanese intelligence services. In accordance with the directive, instructions were given to the Japanese officers on how the operation was to be conducted. Japanese officers were instructed to screen all "anti-Japanese elements", separate them and dispose of them in secret. How the operation took place. After the directive was issued, notices and posters were posted informing Chinese men aged 18 to 50 to report to designated testing centers. Men also moved around with loudspeakers to broadcast the news. These control centers were located throughout the island, particularly in neighborhoods like Chinatown where many Chinese resided. Control was primarily carried out by the Kempeitai (Japanese military police) in urban areas and by the Imperial Guard Division in other districts. Initially, the operation was planned to take place from February 21 to 23, 1942. It was then extended until March 4. The selection process was unsystematic and disorganized. Decisions about anti-Japanese were based on the whims of the people doing the screening. Oral accounts from eyewitnesses describe different screening methods used at different centers. In some centers, victims were selected based on their profession, their answers to questions or whether or not they had tattoos. In other centers, hooded informants named men suspected of being criminals or anti-Japanese elements. The men who were lucky enough to pass the.