Podcasts about patani

Hey before I begin I just want to thank all of you who have joined the patreon, you guys are awesome. Please let me know what other figures, events or other things you want to hear about in the future and I will try to make it happen.   If you are a long time listener to the Pacific War week by week podcast over at KNG or viewer of my youtube channel you have probably heard me talk about Tomoyuki Yamashita, the Tiger of Malaya quite often. It goes without saying when it comes to Japanese generals of WW2 he stands out. Not just to me, from the offset of the war he made a large impression on westerners, he achieved incredible feats early on in the war. Now if you look up books about him, you will pretty much only find information in regards to his infamous war crimes trial. Hell it was so infamous the legal doctrine of hierarchical accountability for war crimes, whereby a commanding officer is legally responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by his subordinates, was created. This is known as the command responsibility or “the Yamashita standard”. His court case was very controversial, he remains a controversial figure, certainly to the people of territories he campaigned in, but I think what can be said of him the most is he was special amongst the Japanese generals. Anyways lets get the show on the road as they say.   So who was Yamashita? When he was 59 years old commanding forces in the Philippines against General Douglas MacArthur, he weighed 220 ls and stood 5 feet 9 inches. His girth pressed out against his green army uniform. He had an egg shaped head, balding, wide spaced eyes and a flat nose. He wore a short mustache, sort of like Hitlers, until it grayed then he shaved it off. He was not a very attractive man, Filipinos referred to him as “old potato face” while Americans called him “a florid, pig faced man”.   Tomobumi Yamashita was born in 1885, he was the second son of Dr. Sakichi Yamashita and Yuu Yamashita in Osugi village, on Shikoku island. Like most males of his day he was indoctrinated into military preparatory school from a young age. Yamashita had no chosen the army as a career, in his words ‘my father suggested the idea, because I was big and healthy, and my mother did not seriously object because she believed, bless her soul, that I would never pass the highly competitive entrance examination. If I had only been cleverer or had worked harder, I would have been a doctor like my brother”Yamashita would graduate from the 18th class of the IJA academy in november of 1905, ranked 16th out of 920 cadets.    In 1908 he was promoted to the rank of Lt and during WW1 he fought against Imperial German and Austro-Hungarian forces in the famous siege of Qingdao, which if you are interested I did an episode over on my Youtube channel about this battle. Its a very overlooked battle, but many histories firsts occurred at it like the first carrier attack. In 1916 he was promoted to captain and attended the 28th class of the Army War college to graduate sixth in his class that year. He also married Hisako Nagayama in 1916, she was the daughter of the retired General Nagayama.    It seems Yamashita's brush against the Germans in 1914 had a huge influence on him, because he became fascinated with Germany and would serve as assistant military attache at Bern and Berlin from 1919-1922. He spent his time in Germany alongside Captain Hideki Tojo, both men would run into each other countless times and become bitter rivals. Both men toured the western front, visiting Hamburg and witnessed first hand the crippling inflation and food prices that came from Germany's defeat. Yamashita said to Tojo then “If Japan ever has to fight any nation, she must never surrender and get herself in a state like this.” He returned to Japan in 1922, was promoted to major and served a few different posts in the Imperial Headquarters and Staff College. Yamashita became a leading member of the Kodoha faction, while Tojo became a leading member of the rival Toseiha faction. In 1927 Yamashita was sent again to Europe, this time to Vienna as a military attache. Just prior to departing he had invested in a business selling thermometers starting by one of his wife's relatives, the business failed horribly and Yamashita was tossed into debt, bailiffs literally came to seize his house. As told to us by his biographer “For a regular officer to have contracted such a debt, however innocently, was a disgrace. He felt he should resign his commission.” Yamashita's brother refused to allow him to quit, instructing him to leave for Vienna, while he resolved his debts. His days in Vienna were the best of his life, professed Yamashita. He studied economics at Vienna university and made friends with a Japanese widow, who introduced him to a German woman named Kitty and they had an affair. This would spring forward his reputation as an eccentric officer. Yamashita was obsessed over hygiene,and refused to eat fruit unless it was thoroughly washed. He avoided ice water, hated dancing and never learnt how to drive a car. One of his most notable quirks was his habit of falling asleep often during meetings where he legendarily would snore. Like I may have said in previous podcast and youtube episodes, this guy was quite a character, often described as a big bear.    Now this is not a full biography on Yamashita so I cant devolve to far into things, such as his first fall from grace. During the February 26th coup incident of 1936, Yamashita was a leading member of the Kodoha faction and helped mediate a peaceful end to the standoff, however in truth he was backing the coup. He simply managed to not get caught red handed at the time doing too much for the mutineers, regardless he lost favor with the outraged Emperor and many young captains whom he loved like sons killed themselves in disgrace. If you want to know more about the February coup of 1936, check out my series on Emperor Hirohito or General Ishawara, they both talk about it in depth and touch upon Yamashita's role a bit.    The coup led to the dissolvement of the Kodoha faction and the dominance of the Toseiha, led by Tojo. Yamashita tried to resign from the IJA, but his superiors dissuade him. He was relegated to a post in Korea, which honestly was a punishment. Yamashita would say “When I was posted to Korea, I felt I had been given a tactful promotion but that in fact my career was over. Even when I was given my first fighting company in North China, I still felt I had no future in the Army, so I was always on the front line, where the bullets flew the thickest. I sought only a place to die.”  He had some time to reflect upon his conduct while in Korea, he began to study Zen Buddhism. He was promoted to Lt General in November of 1937 and when the China war broke out he was one of those speaking out that the incident needed to end swiftly and that peaceful relations must be made with the UK and US. He received a unimportant post in the Kwantung army and in 1938 was assigned command of the IJA 4th division. He led the forces during in northern china against insurgents until he returned to Tokyo in July of 1940. His fellow officers lauded him as Japan's finest general. Meanwhile Tojo had ascended to war minister and one of his first moves was to send a delegation to Germany. Tojo considered Yamashita a ruthless and forceful commander and feared he would become a powerful rival against him one day. Yamashita would go on the record to say then “I have nothing against Tojo, but he apparently has something against me.” You see, Yamashita had no political ambitions, unlike Tojo who was by nature a political monster. “My life, is that of a soldier; I do not seek any other life unless our Emperor calls me.” In late 1940, Tojo asked Yamashita to lead a team of 40 experts on a 6 month train tour of Germany and Italy, a move that kept him out of Tokyo, because Tojo was trying to solidify his political ambitions. This is going to become a looming theme between the two men.   He was presented to Adolf Hitler in January of 1941, passing along messages from Tojo and publicly praising the Fuhrer, though privately he was very unimpressed by the man  “He may be a great orator on a platform, with his gestures and flamboyant way of speaking. But standing behind his desk listening he seems much more like a clerk.” Hitler pressed upon him to push Japan to declare war on Britain and the US. At the time of course Japan was facing China and had two major conflicts with the USSR, thus this was absolutely not in her interest. “My country is still fighting in China, and we must finish that war as soon as possible. We are also afraid that Russia may attack us in Manchuria. This is no time for us to declare war on other countries.” Yamashita hoped to inspect Germany's military techniques and technology to help Japan. Hitler promised open exchanges of information stating “All our secrets are open to you,”, but this would prove to be a lie. “There were several pieces of equipment the Germans did not want us to see. Whenever I tried to persuade the German General Staff to show us things like radar—about which we had a rudimentary knowledge—the conversation always turned to something else.”   Yamashita met with field Marshal Hermann Goring who gave him an overview of the war in europe. Goring would complain about Yamashita falling asleep during lectures and meetings and he believed the man was drunk often. Yamashita met Benito Mussolini in June of 1941 receiving a similar rundown to what he got in Germany. Yamashita visited Kitty in Vienna for a quick fling, but overall the trip deeply impacted Yamashita's resolve that Japan should stay out of the Europeans war and that Germany made a grievous error invading the USSR in June of 1941. This is what he said the members of the commission “You know the results of our inspection as well as I do. I must ask you not to express opinion in favor of expanding the alliance between Japan, Germany and Italy. Never suggest in your report that Japan should declare war on Great Britain and the United States. We must not and cannot rely upon the power of other nations. Japan needs more time, particularly as there may be aggression against us from Russia. We must have time to rebuild our defense system and adjust the whole Japanese war machine. I cannot repeat this to you often enough.” His report was similar, and it really pissed off Tojo who was trying to develop plans for a war against America. Yamashita would then get exiled to Manchuria in July of 1941, but Tojo's resentment towards him could only go so far, because Yamashita was one of their best generals and in his planned war against Britain and America, he would need such a man.   Yamashita's time in Europe reshaped his views on how to conduct war. He saw first hand blitzkrieg warfare, it seems it fascinated him. He consistently urged the implementation of new proposals calling for the streamlining of air arms; to mechanize the Army; to integrate control of the armed forces in a defense ministry coordinated by a chairman of Joint Chiefs of staff; to create a paratroop corps and to employ effective propaganda. Basically he saw what was working for the Germans against the allies and wanted Japan to replicate it. Tojo did not like many of the proposal, hated the fact they were coming from Yamashita, so he obviously was not keen on making them happen. Luckily for Yamashita he would be given a chance to implement some of his ideas in a big way.   On November 6th of 1941, Lt General Yamashita was appointed commander of the 25th Japanese army. His orders were to seize the Malay Peninsula and then the British naval base at Singapore. The Malaya Peninsula snakes 700 miles south of Thailand, a rugged sliver of land that constricts at its narrowest point to about 60 miles wide. It hold mountains that split the peninsula in half, some going as high as 7000 feet. During this time Malaya produced around 40% of the worlds rubber, 60% of its tin, two resources vital for war. At its very southern tip lies Singapore, a diamond shaped island connected to the mainland by a 1115 stone causeway. Singapore's largest asset was its naval base guarding the passage from the Pacific and Indian oceans. Together Malay and Singapore represented the key to controlling what Japan called the Southern Resource Area.   Singapore was known as the gibraltar of the east for good reason. It was a massively fortified naval base. The base had been developed between 1923-1938 and cost 60 million pounds, around 2 billion pounds today. It was 21 square miles, had the largest dry dock in the world, the 3rd largest floating dock and enough fuel tanks to support the entire royal navy for 6 months. She was defended by 15 inch naval guns stationed at the Johre battery, Changi and Buona vista battery. And despite the infamous myth some of you may have heard, these guns were fully capable of turning in all directions including the mainland. For those unaware a myth perpetuated after the fall of Singapore that her large 15 inch guns could not turn to the mainland and that this spelt her doom, no it was not that, it was the fact they mostly had armor piercing shells which are using to hit ships and not land targets. Basically if you fire an armor piercing shell at land it imbeds itself then explodes, while HE shells would have torn any Japanese army to pieces. Alongside the 15 inch monsters, there were countless other artillery pieces such as 9.2 inch guns. By December of 1941 Malaya and Singapore held 164 first line aircraft out of a total of 253 aircraft, but many of the fighters were the obsolete Brewster F2A Buffalo, a pretty slow, fat little beast that could take a licking as it was armored, but against the Zero fighter it was unbelievably outmatched in speed and maneuverability.    The Japanese acquired a major gift prior to the outbreak of war. On november 11th, 1940, the SS Automedon, a German raider attacked the HMS Atlantis which was carrying documents intended for the British far east command. The documents indicated the British fleet was not going to help Singapore; that Britain would not declare war if Thailand was invaded and that Hong Kong was expendable. The Germans gave the documents to the Japanese who were very excited by the information.    Starting in January of 1941, Colonel Masanobu Tsuji led the Taiwan Army Research section based on Formosa to investigate how a campaign could be waged in Malay and Singapore. His findings on the defenses of Malay and Singapore were summed up in these 3 points: 1. Singapore Fortress was solid and strong facing the sea, but vulnerable on the peninsular side facing the Johore Strait;  Newspaper reports of a strong Royal Air Force (RAF) presence were propaganda;  Although British forces in Malaya numbered from five to six divisions (well over 80,000 men), less than half were Europeans.    Now just a little bit about Tsuji as he was to become the chief of staff operations and planning under Yamashita. Tsuji was extremely insubordinate and a political schemer. He was a Toseiha faction fanatic, loyal to Tojo and thus definitely an enemy to Yamashita. Yamashita wrote of Tsuji in his war diary “is egotistical and wily. He is a sly dog and unworthy to serve the country. He is a manipulator to be carefully watched.” Tsuji would go on to have a infamous reputation for ordering atrocities in the name of his superiors, often without them knowing and this would be very much the case under Yamashita. Now using Tsuji's intelligence Yamashita began plans at his HQ at Samah, a port on Hainan island, starting in November of 1941 on how to launch the campaign. He was initially offered 5 divisions for the invasion, but he felt he could accomplish the objective with only three. There are a few reasons why he believed this; first, Tsuji's research suggested the peninsula roads would be the center of the battlefront and that the flanks would extend no more than a km or so to the left or right due to the dense jungle terrain (in fact Yamashita was planning to assault from the jungle specifically); 2nd intelligence indicated the defending troops were not of the highest caliber (the British were busy in Europe thus many of the troops in southeast asia were poorly trained, half were british regulars the rest were Australian, Indian and Malayan); 3rd Yamashita was aware “the Japanese army were in the habit of flinging more troops into the battle than could possibly be maintained” boy oh boy tell that one to the future boys on Guadalcanal. Thus he calculated 3 divisions was the maximum to be fed, equipped and supplied. Based on his recommendations the 25th army was created with 3 divisions; the 5th under Lt General Takuma Matsui; 18th under Lt General Renya Mutaguchi and the Imperial guards division of Lt General Takuma Nishimura. Supporting these would be two regiment of heavy field artillery and the 3rd tank brigade. Something that made Yamashita's campaign quite interesting was the usage and amount of tanks. He was invading with around 200 or so tanks consisting of the Type 95 Ha-Go light tank, type 97 Chi-Ha and Type 89 I-Go medium tanks and Type 97 Te-Ke tankettes. For aircraft he had the 3rd Air division, 459 aircraft strong with an additional 159 aircraft from the IJN to support them. The 3rd air division had a variety of aircraft such as Nakajima Ki-27 Nate's, Nakajima ki-43 Oscars, Kitsubishi ki-51 Sonia's, Kawasaki ki-48 Lily's, Mitsubishi ki-21 sally's, Mitsubishi ki-30 Ann's, Mitsubishi ki-15 babs and Mitsubishi ki-46 dinahs. For the IJN it was the 22nd air flotilla using Mitsubishi G3M1 Nell's, Mitsubishi A5M4 Claudes and some A6M Zeros. To say it was a lot of firepower at his disposal is an understatement, Yamashita was packing heat, heat he could use in a blitzkrieg fashion.   His staff at Samah identified 5 operational objectives: 1 Simultaneous capture of Singora and Patani, Thailand and Kota Bharu, Malaya.  2 Capture of all enemy airfields in southern Thailand and Malaya.  3 Occupation of Kuala Lumpur, Malaya.  4 Occupation of Johore Bahru, and control of Johore Strait.  5 Conquest of Singapore.    Colonel Tsuji, appointed Chief of Operations and Planning for the 25th Army, proposed the following plan which was readily approved:  Land the main strength of the 5th Division simultaneously and without warning at Singora and Patani, and at the same time land a powerful section of the 18th Division to attack Kota Bharu.  The troops disembarked at Singora and Patani to press forward immediately to attack the line of the Perak River Hand capture its bridge and the Alor Star aerodrome.  The troops landed at Kota Bharu to press forward along the eastern coast as far as Kuantan.    The landing at Kota Bharu, the only one in Malaya was expected to be opposed and quite risky. But if it was successful, it would create a useful diversion away from the main force landings in Thailand.   The landings took place around 2:15am local time on December 8th, about an hour and 20 minutes before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The landings went largely unopposed, except at Kota Bahru where the Japanese saw heavy resistance. The British had anticipated this landing point and created operation Matador, a plan to pre-emptively invade southern thailand to secure defensive lines against the Japanese, however this plan was never accepted by British high command for obvious political reasons. But on December 5th, with a Japanese invasion looking certain, suddenly London gave permission to the Far east commanders to decide if Operation matador should be activated or not. The commander in Malaya, General Arthur Percival recommended forestalling it, fearing to violate Thai sovereignty, which ultimately would be the doom of a defense for Malaya.   At the battle of Kota Bharu, the 9th infantry division of Major General Barstow attempted holding off the Japanese from taking the important Kota Bharu airfield. The 8th brigade of Billy Key had fortified the beaches with pillboxes, barbed wire and land mines. The Japanese took heavy losses, but they were able to find gaps and fill them up until Brigadier Key had to ask permission to pull out. The royal air force at Kota Bharu tossed Hudson bombers to hit the troop transports, but it was a suicide mission to do so. Meanwhile the IJA 5th division landed at Pattani and Songkhla in Thailand while the Imperial guards division marched over the border from French Indochina. The Japanese encountered very little resistance, the leader of Thailand Plaek Pibulsonggram had been trying to get assurances from the allies and Japanese all the way up until the invasion, once the Japanese landed he knew his best option was to play nice and sign an armistice. This basically spelt doom for malaya as the Japanese were given access to Thailand's airfields which they used to smash the forward airfields in Malaya.   The first day of aerial encounters were a catastrophe for the British. General Percival would comment “The rapidity with which the Japanese got their air attacks going against our aerodromes was quite remarkable. Practically all the aerodromes in Kelantan, Kedah, Province Wellesley, and Penang, were attacked, and in most cases fighters escorted the bombers. The performance of Japanese aircraft of all types, and the accuracy of their bombing, came as an unpleasant surprise. By the evening our own air force had already been seriously weakened.” Brigadier Key withdrew after causing an estimated 800 casualties upon the Japanese while taking roughly 465. While Kota Bharu was being fought over, Percival unleashed Operation Krohcol, a 2.0 of Matador seeing British forces cross into Thailand to intercept the incoming enemy. It was an absolute disaster, the British attackers were defeated not only by the Japanese 5th division, but some Royal Thai police also defended their territory. The operation had basically become a race to who could seize the important focal point first and the Japanese took it first thus winning decisively. To add to that misery, force Z, consisting of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales,, battlecruiser Repulse and 4 destroyers tried to intercept the Japanese invasion fleet only to be utterly destroyed by overwhelming Japanese airforces.   Within 4 days of the landings, the 5th division advanced from Singora through the town of Jitra to capture the RAF airfield at Alor star, around 100 miles away. Yamashita managed this using flanking techniques that saw his army take town after town and airfield after airfield. There were numerous natural obstacles to the advance such as dense jungles, very long supply lines, torrential rain and heat, but he had a secret weapon, bicycles. At Jitra Percival made his first major stand. Holding Jitra would safeguard the northern airfields of Malaya, but it was a folly to do so as the airfields in question were not provided adequate aircraft and the British lacked something extremely important to be able to defend themselves, tanks. Colonel Tsuji saw the fighting at Jitra first hand and reported “Our tanks were ready on the road, and the twenty or so enemy armored cars ahead were literally trampled underfoot … The enemy armored cars could not escape by running away, and were sandwiched between our medium tanks … It was speed and weight of armor that decided the issue.” The British had spread themselves far too thinly across a 14 mile front with jungle on their right flank and rubber plantations and mangrove swamps to their left. Yamashita used a innovative blitzkrieg like tactic, he combined his air, artillery, tanks and bicycle infantry to punch holes in concentrated attacks forcing allied defenders to withdraw. As Percival would write later in his memoirs “This withdrawal would have been difficult under the most favorable conditions. With the troops tired, units mixed as the result of the fighting, communications broken and the night dark, it was inevitable that orders should be delayed and that in some cases they should never reach the addressees. This is what in fact occurred … the withdrawal, necessary as it may have been, was too fast and too complicated for disorganized and exhausted troops, whose disorganization and exhaustion it only increased”    Yamashita had ingeniously thought of employing large numbers of bicycles for his infantry so they could keep up momentum and speed with his mechanized forces. Oh and he didn't bring thousands of bicycles over to Malaya, the real genius was that they were there ready for him. His intelligence prior to the invasion indicated nearly all civilians in malaya had bicycles, so when the Japanese came over they simply stole them. Half of Yamashitas troops moved in motor vehicles while the rest road on 18,000 bicycles. As noted by Tsuji “With the infantry on bicycles, there was no traffic congestion or delay. Wherever bridges were destroyed the infantry continued their advance, wading across the rivers carrying their bicycles on their shoulders, or crossing on log bridges held up on the shoulders of engineers standing in the stream.” They Japanese overwhelmed the defenders who were forced to fight, flee into the jungles or flee along the roads where they were simply outsped by the faster Japanese. The defenders left numerous stores of food, abandoned vehicles, and supplies that Yamashita's men would dub “churchill's allowance”. British Lt Colonel Spencer Chapmanwas forced to hide on the sides of roads watching Japanese pedal past remarking “The majority were on bicycles in parties of forty or fifty, riding three or four abreast and talking and laughing just as if they were going to a football match.” The Japanese had the ability to carry their gear on the bicycles, giving them an enormous advantage over the allies fleeing on foot. The Japanese could travel faster, further and less fatigued. When the British destroyed 250 bridges during their flight, “the Japanese infantry (to continue) their advance, wading across the rivers carrying their bicycles on their shoulders, or crossing on log bridges held up on the shoulders of engineers standing in the stream”. The British could not escape the bicycle blitzkrieg as it became known, countless were forced to surrender under constant pressure and relentless pursuit.    Alongside the bicycle warfare, whenever Yamashita faced terrain unsuitable for his tanks, he ordered amphibious landings further south to outflank the enemy's  rear.   Meanwhile the war in the air went equally terrible for the allies. The RAF had pulled back its best pilots and aircraft to deal with the war for Britain against the Luftwaffe. 21 airfields were in Malaya and Singapore, few of them had modern facilities, only 15 concrete runways. The heavy rain made the grass airstrips unusable. All the airfields were allocated around 8 heavy and 8 light anti aircraft guns. Quality radar units were completely inadequate. The Super Spitfires and Hyper Hurricanes were mostly in Britain fighting the Germans, while Buffaloes were allocated to Malaya. The Japanese airforces easily overcame the allied opposition and established air superiority quickly. Launching from airfields in Vietnam, they bombed all the airfields into submission and continuously applied pressure to Singapore. . The aerial dominance of the Zero and ‘Oscar' fighters served to undermine the morale of the British infantryman on the ground. As historian H. P. Wilmot has observed, “in the opening phase of the war the Zero-sen was just what the Japanese needed, and the Allies were devastated by the appearance of a ‘super fighter.' To add insult to injury, every airfield taken starting at the most northern going further and further south towards Singapore offered the Japanese new launching points to make for faster attack.   Yamashita's forces reached the southern tip of the peninsula in just 8 weeks, his men had covered some 700 miles, about 12 miles a day on average. They fought 95 large and smaller battles doing so. Multiple lines of defense were erected one after another to try and halt the Japanese advance, to kill their momentum. Starting at the beach landings, to Jitra, then to Kampar, over the Slim river, then Johor. The British failed to employ “leave behind forces” to provide guerilla warfare in lost territories leading not only the Japanese to easily consolidate their gains, the Thai's also came down and grabbed some territory. At the battle of Muar Major General Gordon Bennet deployed the allied defenders south of the Muar River and it was widely believed here they would finally halt the Japanese. Then the Imperial Guards division outflanked them performing an amphibious landing and advancing down the coastal route. The 5th Japanese division followed a parallel route through the center and the 18th division landed near Endau. The allies were thus surrounded and took heavy casualties, countless were forced to flee through swamps and thick jungle abandoned their stuff. Gordons 45th brigade were absolutely shattered, effectively disbanded and left north of the Muar river as the rest of the allies fled south. The defeat at Muar broke the British belief they could hold even a toehold on Malay. Percivals strategy to fight delaying actions until the arrival of reinforcements to Singapore had fatally undermined his troops ability to hold onto defensive positions. As the British governor of the Johore straits settlement, Sir Shenton Thomas would say on January 6th ‘“We … have gone in for mechanized transport to the nth degree. It is a fearsomely cumbersome method. We have pinned our faith to the few roads but the enemy used tracks and paths, and gets round to our rear very much as he likes.”” Yet alongside the conquest came a series of atrocities.    At the Parit Sulong Bridge south of the Muar, Captain Rewi Snelling was left behind with 150 wounded Australian and Indian soldiers not able to trek south. The Imperial guards division herded them into buildings, denied them medical treatment, many of the Indians were beheaded, others shot. This become known as the parit sulong massacre. Its hard to saw what Yamashita would have known about this incident, it technically was under the command of Takuma nishimura. On January 22nd, Nishimura gave the orders for prisoners to be forced outside, doused with petrol and set on fire. Nishimura would be sentenced to life in prison by a Singapore court, but on a flight back to Japan he was hijacked by Australian military police in Hong Kong who grabbed him and held a trial for the Parit Sulong massacre, finding him guilty and hanging him on june 11th of 1951.    When the Japanese reached the straits of Johore, Yamashita took several days to perform reconnaissance, allowing his forces to regroup and prepare to attack the massive fortress. His plan for the invasion would see the Imperial guards perform a feint attack on the northeast side of Singapore, landing on the nearby Palau Ubin island on february 7th. The 5th and 18th division would remain concealed in the jungle until the night of the night of the 8th when they would cross the Johore and hit the northwest side of Singapore. The causeway to Singapore had been blown up by the retreating British, but the ability for Singapore to defend itself from a northern attack was lackluster. When Churchill was told by Wavell the Japanese sat on the other side of the Johore strait ready to attack the fortress he said ““I must confess to being staggered by Wavell's telegram. It never occurred to me for a moment that … Singapore … was not entirely fortified against an attack from the Northwards …””   With barely enough supplies or logistical support for his campaign, Yamashita's rapid advance down the Malay peninsula walked a tightrope of what was possible. His 70,000 men of which 30,000 were frontline troops had overcome a British force double their number. In Japan he garnered the epithet “Tiger of Malaya”, which ironically he was not too happy about. Later on in the war he would bark at a German attache “I am not a tiger. The tiger attacks its prey in stealth but I attack the enemy in a fair play”.   By this point Singapore had swollen from a population of 550,000to nearly a million. Percival had a total of 70,000 infantry of mixed experience plus 15,000 clerks and support staff to man lines if necessary. 38 battalions, 17 Indian, 13 British, 6 Australian and 2 Malayan. He placed his weakest troops west of the causeway, near the abandoned naval base rather than nearby the airfield which he considered was going to be Yamashita's thrust. He placed his best forces over there, which would prove fatally wrong as Yamashita hit west of the causeway. Yamashita meanwhile could only muster 30,000 troops, he was outnumbered 2:1 and amphibious assaults called for the attacker to hold a 2:1 advantage for success. Yamashita's men were exhausted, they had suffered 4565 casualties, roughly 1793 deaths in their 55 day advance south. Worse yet, Yamashita had a critical supply issue. He had greatly exceeded his supply lines and had been surviving on the abandoned churchill stores along the way. His ammunition was critical low, it is said he was down to 18 functional tanks, allowing his men to fire 100 rounds per day, the fuel ran out, and as Yamashita put it “My attack on Singapore was a bluff—a bluff that worked. I had 30,000 men and was outnumbered more than three to one. I knew that if I had to fight for long for Singapore, I would be beaten. That is why the surrender had to be at once. I was very frightened all the time that the British would discover our numerical weakness and lack of supplies and force me into disastrous street fighting.” He told his men of the 5th and 18th division not to build any cooking fires so they could conceal their positions in the jungle as he gathered hundreds of collapsible boats and other crafts to ford the strait. He gathered 40 divisional commanders and senior officers to a rubber plantation and with a flushed red face read out his attack orders while pouring them Kikumasamune (ceremonial wine). He made a traditional toast and said “It is a good place to die; surely we shall conquer”. He had to get the British to surrender quickly, he had to essentially ‘bluff” his enemy. He had to make the British think he was fully armed and supplied for a prolonged siege, how could he do so? He fired his artillery like a mad man, knowing full well they would run out of shells.   Starting on February 3rd,  Yamashita's artillery supported by aerial bombings hit Singapore for 5 days. On the night of the 7th, 400 Imperial Guards crossed to the Ibin island performing their feint attack. Percivals attention was grabbed to the east successfully, while on the night of the 8th the 5th and 18th divisions assembled carefully at the water's edge. At 8:30pm the first wave of 4000 Japanese troops crossed the Johore strait aboard 150 small vessels. The noise of their engines was drowned out by artillery. The thinly spread Australian lines, 3000 or so men led by Major General Bennet were breached fast leading to pockets of surrounded australian troops. As Lewis Gunner cliff olsen recalled “We were horribly spread out and it was pitch black and they [Japanese troops] were very hard to see. They walked through us half the time.” A beachhead was formed, a soon 14,000 Japanese had crossed by dawn.    Communications broke down for the allies, Percival unwilling to believe the Japanese's main thrust was in the west declined to send reinforcements there. When he did finally realize the main thrust was in the west he began to withdraw troops from quiet sectors and built up a reserve. The Japanese held air supremacy and their artillery was fierce. The big 15 inch guns of singapore held mostly armor piercing shells designed to hit ships, there were few HE shells available. When they fired upon the Japanese the shells would hit the ground they would embed deeply before exploding doing little damage. The defenders had no tanks, basically no more aircraft. The last departing ships fled the scene as everything was burning chaos around them. Morale was breaking for the defenders. By the 9th, Japanese bombers were raining bombs on allied positions unopposed. Bennet was forced to pull men back to a new line of defense from the east of the Tengah airfield to the north of Jurong. Poor communications hampered the northern sector of Brigadier Duncan Maxwell whose troops actually battered the hell out of the Imperial Guards who had landed at 10pm on the 9th. The Imperial guards gradually managed a foothold on a beach, but Maxwell feared encirclement and withdrew his men against direct orders of Bennet. The retreat opened up the flank of the 11th indian division who were overrun. All of the beaches west of the causeway fell to the enemy, when they did Yamashita brought over his tanks to smash the new Jurong line. The Japanese could have potentially stormed the city center at this point, but they held back, because in reality, Percival had created a formidable reserve in the middle. The Australian 22nd brigade took the brunt of the fighting.    Yamashita was running out of reserves and his attacks were reaching their limit, but he needed the battle to end swiftly. Yamashita was shocked and shaken when he received a report that the British troop strength within the city was twice what they believed. With covert desperation, Yamashita ordered his artillery to fire until their last rounds and sent Percival a demand for surrender. “In the spirit of chivalry we have the honour of advising your surrender. Your army, founded on the traditional spirit of Great Britain, is defending Singapore, which is completely isolated, and raising the fame of Great Britain by the ut¬ most exertions and heroic feelings. . . . From now on resistance is futile and merely increases the danger to the million civilian inhabitants without good reason, exposing them to infliction of pain by fire and sword. But the development of the general war situation has already sealed the fate of Singapore, and the continuation of futile resistance would only serve to inflict direct harm and in¬ juries to thousands of non-combatants living in the city, throwing them into further miseries and horrors of war. Furthermore we do not feel you will in¬ crease the fame of the British Army by further resistance.”   Singapore had received another order prior to this from Churchill “It is certain that our troops on Singapore Island greatly outnumber any Japanese that have crossed the Straits. We must defeat them. Our whole fighting reputation is at stake and the honour of the British Empire. The Americans have held out on the Bataan Peninsula against far greater odds, the Russians are turning back the picked strength of the Germans, the Chinese with almost complete lack of mod¬ ern equipment have held the Japanese for AVi years. It will be disgraceful if we yield our boasted fortress of Singapore to inferior enemy forces. There must be no thought ofsparing troops or the civil population and no mercy must be shown to weakness in any shape or form. Commanders and senior officers must lead their troops and if necessary die with them. There must be no question or thought of surrender. Every unit must fight it out to the end and in close contact with the enemy. ... I look to you and your men to fight to the end to prove that the fighting spirit that won our Empire still exists to enable us to defend it.”   What was Percival to do? The Japanese had seized control over Singapore water reservoirs, the population would die of thirst within 2-3 days. Japanese shells were causing fires and death everywhere. People were panicking, trying to get on the very last boats leaving the port, even though that surely meant death to the IJN. An American sailor recalled “There was a lot of chaos and people killed on the docks during these bombardments. Everywhere you looked there was death. Even in the water there were dead sharks and people floating all around.” Defeatism was endemic. Australian troops were overheard saying “Chum, to hell with Malaya and Singapore. Navy let us down, air force let us down. If the bungs [natives] won't fight for their bloody country, why pick on me?” Sensing a complete collapse Percival formed a tight defense arc in front of the city, and by the 13th his commanders were telling him they believed Singapore was already doomed. Wavell was asked for approval for surrender, but he replied  “to continue to inflict maximum damage on enemy for as long as possible by house-to-house fighting if necessary.” Percival then told him the water reservoirs were taken, so Wavell sent back “YOUR GALLANT STAND IS SERVING A PURPOSE AND MUST BE CONTINUED TO THE LIMIT OF ENDURANCE”   On the 15th, Percival held a morning conference reported there was no more fuel, field gun nor bofor ammunition. In 24 hours their water would be done. He told them he would ask for a ceasefire at 4pm, by the end of the day Wavell gave him permission to surrender. Over at his HQ on the Bukit Timah heights, Yamashita was staring at a Union Jack fluttering over Fort Canning. Then a field phone rang, and a frontline commander reported the British were sending out a flag of truce.   Meanwhile back on February the 14th, Japanese forces reached the Alexandra Barracks hospital at 1pm. At 1:40pm a British Lt greeting them waving a white flag and was bayoneted on the spot. The Japanese stormed the hospital and murdered the staff and patients. 200 male staff and patients, badly wounded were bound over night and marched to an industrial estate half a mile away. Anyone who collapsed was bayoneted. The survivors of the march were formed into small groups and hacked to death or bayoneted. For a few days over 320 men and women were massacred. Only 5 survivors would give recounts of the event. It is suspected by historians that Tsuji was the architect of the Alexandra hospital massacre. This is because he was the instigator of countless atrocities he ordered unbeknownst to his superior commanders such as Yamashita.    Percival was ordered to go to the Ford motor factory to where he met with Yamashita. Yamashita was hiding his surprise that the surrender party came and as he glanced at the surrender terms he said through his interpreter “The Japanese Army will consider nothing but surrender,” Yamashita knew his forces were on the verge of running out of ammunition and he still held half troops Percival did, he was anxious Percival would figure it out. Percival replied “I fear that we shall not be able to submit our final reply before ten-thirty p.m.,” Percival had no intention of fighting on he simply wanted to work out specific details before signing the surrender. Yamashita was sure Percival was stalling. “Reply to us only whether our terms are acceptable or not. Things must be settled swiftly. We are prepared to resume firing.Unless you do surrender, we will have to carry out our night attack as scheduled.”” Percival replied ““Cannot the Japanese Army remain in its present position? We can resume negotiations again tomorrow at five-thirty A.M”. Yamashita screamed “Nani! I want the hostilities to cease tonight and I want to remind you there can be no arguments.” Percival replied ““We shall discontinue firing by eight-thirty p.m. Had we better remain in our present positions tonight?” Yamashita said yes and that firing would cease at 8:30pm and that 1000 allied men could keep arms to maintain order within the city. Yamashita stated “You have agreed to the terms but you have not yet made yourself clear as to whether you agree to surrender or not.” Percival cleared his throat and gave a simple nod. Yamashita looked at his interpreter “There's no need for all this talk. It is a simple question and I want a simple answer.” He turned to Percival and shouted, “We want to hear ‘Yes' or ‘No' from you! Surrender or fight!” Percival finally blurted out  “Yes, I agree. I have a request to make. Will the Imperial Army protect the women and children and British civilians?”Yamashita replied  “We shall see to it. Please sign this truce agreement”. At 7:50 the surrender was signed off, 40 minutes later Singapore was in the hands of the Japanese. In 70 days Yamashita took at the cost of 9824 casualties, had seized Malaya and Singapore, nearly 120,000 British surrendered. It was the greatest land victory in Japanese history.   Churchill called the fall of Singapore to the Japanese "the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history" Churchills physician Lord Moran wrote The fall of Singapore on February 15 stupefied the Prime Minister. How came 100,000 men (half of them of our own race) to hold up their hands to inferior numbers of Japanese? Though his mind had been gradually prepared for its fall, the surrender of the fortress stunned him. He felt it was a disgrace. It left a scar on his mind. One evening, months later, when he was sitting in his bathroom enveloped in a towel, he stopped drying himself and gloomily surveyed the floor: 'I cannot get over Singapore', he said sadly   With the fall of singapore came another atrocity, the Sook Ching massacre. After February 18th, the Japanese military began mass killings of what they deemed undesirables, mostly ethnic Chinese. It was overseen by the Kempeitai and did not stop in Singapore, but spread to Malaya. It seems the aim of the purge was to intimidate the Chinese community from performing any resistance. According to postwar testimony taken from a war correspondent embedded with the 25th army, Colonel Hishakari Takafumi, he stated an order went out to kill 50,000 Chinese, of which 20 percent of the total was issued by senior officials on Yamashita's operations staff, most likely Tsuji. It is certain at the behest of Tsuji the orders were extended to Malay. The death toll is a tricky one, the Japanese went on the record to admit to 6000 murders, the Singaporean Chinese community and the Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew allege 70,000-100,000. Historians analyzing the scale of discovered mass graves after some decades think around 25,000-50,000. How much Yamashita knew of the massacre is debatable, the orders came from his office after all, but it seems Tsuji had orchestrated it. Many of Japan's generals wanted Yamashita to be appointed war minister, a move that obviously threatened then Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who feared his rival. Tojo retaliated, ordering Japan's new war hero back to Manchuria. On the surface, the assignment appeared worthy as Yamashita would serve as the first line of defense against a possible Soviet invasion. But since the two nations had signed a neutrality pact in April 1941, and Soviets were bogged down fighting the Germans, immediate war appeared unlikely. In reality, Tojo had parked Yamashita on the war's sidelines. Tojo went even further, he barred Yamashita any leave in Tokyo, preventing him from visiting his wife as well as from delivering a speech he had written for the emperor. No worries though, an aide of Yamashita's sent him three geishas. Allegedly he said this “I know they want to please me with these girls. But send them back—and don't forget to tip them.” The Tiger of Malaya would maintain a low profile in Manchuria where he received a promotion to full General. As months fell to years Yamashita sat on the sidelines helpless to aid the Japanese forces. His exile would come to an end in 1944 when Tojo was outed and the Tiger was required to try and save the Philippines from General Douglas MacArthur.

Rocket off

C'est une guérilla dont on parle peu. Dans la longue pointe sud de la Thaïlande, à la frontière de la Malaisie, loin des caméras, les provinces thaïlandaises de Yala, Pattani et Narathiwat sont en proie à un conflit entre l'État central de Bangkok et un groupe armé séparatiste musulman. Bilan : plus de 7 700 morts depuis 2004. Le massacre, cette année-là, de manifestants musulmans d'origine malaise, toujours impuni, a laissé des traces. Elle continue de hanter toute la région. En témoigne la résurgence des violences meurtrières depuis le début de cette année. De notre correspondant à Bangkok,Des dizaines d'hommes, torse nu, mains ligotées, sont jetés un à un par des militaires dans une benne d'un camion. Entassés les uns sur les autres, ils reçoivent des volées de coups à mesure que l'arrière du véhicule se remplit. Puis le silence. Le moteur démarre. Durant le trajet qui semble interminable, on entend gémir, suffoquer. Avant que les cris s'estompent peu à peu. À nouveau, le silence. En cette soirée tiède, un court métrage diffusé en plein air aux abords du Patani Artspace, un centre culturel à Pattani, dans l'extrême sud de la Thaïlande, retrace la tragédie survenue il y a 20 ans, jour pour jour, à Tak Bai. Le 25 octobre 2004, devant le commissariat de cette ville paisible, une manifestation virait au drame. Et devenait le symbole le plus brutal des violations des droits de l'homme perpétrées dans le « Sud profond » de la Thaïlande, où vivent une majorité de musulmans d'ethnie malaise (minorité musulmane au sein d'une nation thaïlandaise de 71 millions d'habitants à plus de 90% bouddhiste). Ce jour-là, pour disperser la foule, l'armée intervient : 7 manifestants musulmans malais tombent sous les balles. Et 1 300 autres sont interpellés. Ligotés. Puis jetés à l'arrière de fourgons militaires, empilés comme des bûches. Pendant le trajet qui les mène à une base militaire, 78 d'entre eux meurent asphyxiés. Deux décennies plus tard, devant le film, les visages sont fermés. Certains trahissent quelques larmes qui coulent pendant le générique, où des archives défilent sur fond d'une chanson évoquant le massacre de Tak Bai. « La douleur est encore vive aujourd'hui », confie Maliki Doloh, debout grâce à deux béquilles et vêtu du Baju Melayu, costume traditionnel. L'homme, qui avait 27 ans à l'époque, a cru voir la mort. Ce survivant repense encore à ses semblables, écrasés par le poids des corps, et dont la respiration s'est tue, lentement. « C'était le Ramadan », se souvient-il, indiquant avoir rompu le jeûne en léchant la sueur qui dégoulinait sur son visage, avant de s'évanouir. À son réveil, les médecins lui ont dit qu'il fallait l'amputer. Le massacre de Tak Bai a soufflé sur les braises d'une insurrection séparatiste née des années plus tôt et plongé la région dans un conflit entre l'État central et le BRN (Barisan Revolusi Nasional), le principal groupe armé actif.  Véhicules piégés, fusillades, assassinats ciblés : depuis le tournant de 2004, ce conflit peu médiatisé a fait plus de 7 700 morts et près de 15 000 blessés, principalement des civils, recense l'ONG Deep South Watch. La mort d'une fillette tuée par balle et celle d'un jeune moine, il y a peu, rappelle que les habitants des trois provinces de Yala, Pattani et Narathiwat, tout au sud du royaume, vivent dans la violence permanente. À Yala, une femme au foulard pastel dont la silhouette présage l'arrivée prochaine d'un second bébé décrit ses angoisses de jeune mère. « J'en ai marre ! Parfois, je perds espoir, témoigne Azura Cheaauma, 35 ans. J'ai peur que quelque chose arrive à mes enfants. J'aimerais qu'ils grandissent dans un environnement sûr, où ils pourront jouer, étudier, sans avoir à entendre résonner le bruit des armes ». Les trois provinces à la pointe sud de la Thaïlande sont ainsi soumises à une loi martiale et à l'état d'urgence, prolongé maintes fois depuis 2004, lorsque 75 000 soldats, policiers et paramilitaires ont investi la région pour endiguer les violences. Les forces de sécurité sont tombées au nombre de 50 000, indique BenarNews, mais leur omniprésence continue d'être une source de tension. Les points de contrôle militaires quadrillent les villes, bordent les routes. Ici, un véhicule blindé, là une tour de guet. Sur la ligne de train qui relie Yala à Sungai Kolok, dernier arrêt avant la Malaisie, des soldats, mitraillettes sous le bras, sont stationnés à chaque village doté d'une gare. Souvent, ils montent à bord pour fouiller, interroger. Ici, « les violations des droits de l'homme sont nombreuses », affirme la militante Anchana Heemina. Visage connu de tous, elle a fondé en 2010 Duay Jay, une ONG locale qui, depuis sa création, a recensé 168 cas de torture et 444 exécutions extrajudiciaires. L'an passé, l'un de ses bénévoles a été abattu dans d'étranges circonstances : « Voilà les risques auxquels sont confrontés les défenseurs des droits humains dans le sud ». Loin des caméras, ce conflit insurrectionnel s'enracine dans le passé. Régie des siècles durant par des Rajahs musulmans, la région fut jadis le prestigieux sultanat de Patani. Avant d'être attachée de force en 1902 au royaume de Siam, ancien nom de la Thaïlande. Mais « la véritable rupture entre l'État central et les Malais du Sud intervint toutefois plus tard, sous la férule des gouvernements ultranationalistes de Phibun Songkhram [premier ministre et dictateur militaire de la Thaïlande de 1938 à 1944, puis de 1948 à 1957, ndlr] », écrivait le spécialiste du royaume et ancien correspondant de RFI Arnaud Dubus dans l'ouvrage Thaïlande : histoire, société, culture (2011). « Avides d'imposer à l'ensemble du pays une même identité thaïe, ajoutait-il, les agents du gouvernement central interdirent aux Malais — dont la plupart ne parlaient pas thaï — d'employer leur langue dans leurs démarches administratives, les forcèrent à quitter le sarong pour la nouvelle ‘tenue nationale' et obligèrent les enfants musulmans à se prosterner devant des statues de Bouddha ». Pour Don Pathan, expert sécuritaire à The Asia Foundation, il s'agit d'un conflit « ethno-nationaliste », qui « découle de l'échec de la politique d'assimilation visant à transformer les Malais en quelque chose qu'ils ne sont pas ». Lancé en 2013 et supervisé par la Malaisie voisine, le processus de paix entre le gouvernement thaïlandais et le BRN patine. Coups d'État, destitutions, dissolutions de partis et successions de gouvernements : l'instabilité politique de la Thaïlande, liée à la prédominance de l'armée, n'aide pas. Parmi les militants du Sud, nombreux sont conscients que le combat pour la paix ne se mène pas seul : « On doit participer, plus largement, à la démocratisation de la Thaïlande ! Le pays a besoin de changements structurels », soutient Arfan Wattana, qui reçoit dans le café qu'il tient à Sungai Kolok. Avec The Patani, l'organisation pacifique qui milite pour l'auto-détermination de la région dont il fait partie, ce père de famille souhaite retenir la jeunesse tentée de rallier le groupe armé séparatiste : « L'un des défis majeurs sur lequel on travaille, ce sont les jeunes qui soutiennent l'indépendance via des modes d'action violents. On leur dit que ce chemin n'est possible qu'à travers la non-violence. »« C'est notre responsabilité de dialoguer avec les groupes armés, les gens en colère contre les injustices qu'ils subissent et de leur dire que la violence ne nous fera pas gagner », abonde Artef Sokho, président de The Patani. ONG et pacificateurs s'efforcent de discuter avec toutes les parties prenantes du conflit. « Mais c'est loin d'être facile », concède ce militant, que le spécialiste Don Pathan qualifie de « Mandela du Sud de la Thaïlande ». En cette année 2025, la résurgence d'attentats, embuscades et tueries n'augure en effet rien de bon. Les perspectives de paix semblent encore s'éloigner. 

François DérocheHistoire du Coran. Texte et transmissionCollège de FranceAnnée 2024-2025Colloque - Le livre dans le monde musulman. Histoire et techniques : Qur'anic art in Southeast Asia: Localising the Sulawesi diaspora geometric styleAnnabel GallopThe British Library, LondresRésuméLa grande majorité des manuscrits enluminés du Coran provenant d'Asie du Sud-Est, y compris ceux des styles d'enluminure d'Aceh, de Patani et de Terengganu, peuvent être datés de la fin du XIXe siècle. À partir de la seconde moitié du XVIIe siècle et tout au long du XVIIIe siècle, le nombre beaucoup plus restreint de beaux manuscrits du Coran connus ne laisse entrevoir que deux principaux lieux d'activité, dont l'un est centré sur la cour de Banten, à l'extrémité occidentale de l'île de Java. La seconde école artistique a été appelée « style géométrique de la diaspora de Sulawesi » en raison du caractère fortement géométrique des cadres doublement décorés, qui sont composés de lignes droites provocantes et de formes partiellement circulaires. Treize exemplaires de ce style ont été identifiés, datant de 1677 à 1804 ; ils ont été trouvés et produits dans des lieux dispersés à travers l'archipel.Cette communication explorera l'impact artistique de ce style distinctif d'art coranique en documentant la localisation du style géométrique de la diaspora de Sulawesi dans le monde malais de l'Asie du Sud-Est au cours du XIXe siècle, de Sumatra à Java et de Madura à Mindanao.

Guerino Patani a 108 anni piange la morte del Papa, 'Doveva riguardarsi'. Ci racconta tutto Daniele Di Ianni.

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.10.28.514238v1?rss=1 Authors: Virdi, G. S., Choi, M. L., Evans, J. R., Yao, Z., Athauda, D., Strohbuecker, S., Wernick, A. I., Alrashidi, H., Melandri, D., Perez-lloret, J., Stroh, P. R., Sylantyev, S., Eaton, S., Heales, S., Kunath, T., Horrocks, M. H., Abramov, A. Y., Patani, R., Gandhi, S. Abstract: Mutations in the SNCA gene cause autosomal dominant Parkinsons disease (PD), with progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, and accumulation of aggregates of alpha-synuclein. However, the sequence of molecular events that proceed from the SNCA mutation during development, to its end stage pathology is unknown. Utilising human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) with SNCA mutations, we resolved the temporal sequence of pathophysiological events that occur during neuronal differentiation in order to discover the early, and likely causative, events in synucleinopathies. We adapted a small molecule-based protocol that generates highly enriched midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neurons ( greater than 80%). We characterised their molecular identity using single-cell RNA sequencing and their functional identity through the synthesis and secretion of dopamine, the ability to generate action potentials, and form functional synapses and networks. RNA velocity analyses confirmed the developmental transcriptomic trajectory of midbrain neural precursors into mDA neurons using our approach, and identified key driver genes in mDA neuronal development. To characterise the synucleinopathy, we adopted super-resolution methods to determine the number, size and structure of aggregates in SNCA-mutant mDA neurons. At one week of differentiation, prior to maturation to mDA neurons of molecular and functional identity, we demonstrate the formation of small aggregates; specifically, beta-sheet rich oligomeric aggregates, in SNCA-mutant midbrain immature neurons. The aggregation progresses over time to accumulate phosphorylated aggregates, and later fibrillar aggregates. When the midbrain neurons were functional, we observed evidence of impaired physiological calcium signalling, with raised basal calcium, and impairments in cytosolic and mitochondrial calcium efflux. Once midbrain identity fully developed, SNCA-mutant neurons exhibited bioenergetic impairments, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress. During the maturation of mDA neurons, upregulation of mitophagy and autophagy occured, and ultimately these multiple cellular stresses lead to an increase in cell death by six weeks post-differentiation. Our differentiation paradigm generates an efficient model for studying disease mechanisms in PD, and highlights that protein misfolding to generate intraneuronal oligomers is one of the earliest critical events driving disease in human neurons, rather than a late-stage hallmark of the disease. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.10.10.511318v1?rss=1 Authors: Balendra, R., Ruiz de los Mozos, I., Glaria, I., Milioto, C., Odeh, H. M., Wilson, K. M., Ule, A. M., Hallegger, M., Masino, L., Martin, S., Patani, R., Shorter, J., Ule, J., Isaacs, A. Abstract: An intronic GGGGCC repeat expansion in C9orf72 is a common genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. The repeats are transcribed in both sense and antisense directions to generate distinct dipeptide repeat proteins, of which poly(GA), poly(GR) and poly(PR) have been implicated in contributing to neurodegeneration. Poly(PR) binding to RNA may contribute to toxicity, but analysis of poly(PR)-RNA binding on a genome-wide scale has not yet been carried out. We therefore performed crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) analysis in human cells to identify the RNA binding sites of poly(PR). We found that poly(PR) binds to nearly 600 RNAs, with the sequence GAAGA enriched at the binding sites. In vitro experiments showed that polyGAAGA RNA binds poly(PR) with higher affinity than control RNA and induces phase-separation of poly(PR) into condensates. These data indicate that poly(PR) preferentially binds to polyGAAGA-containing RNAs, which may have physiological consequences. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by PaperPlayer

The Sultanate of Patani - now part of modern day Thailand - enjoyed a golden age during the reign of four successive queens, which commenced in 1584. Under their rule, the kingdom's economic and military strength greatly increased to the point that it was able to fight off four major Siamese invasions.In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb discovers more about these extraordinary rulers, their power and their influence, to Professor Stefan Amirell, President of the Swedish Historical Association and an expert in female political leadership in world history.The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >For your chance to win five non-fiction history books - including a signed copy of Dan Snow's On This Day in History - please fill out this short survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/survey-taken/?sm=IthGeoCcJUiKNx0R8Pv7Ogn50xYWgriQdyDMjMZwy8jmNE1jQh63NtWjK1DQdAssMjnsuFzX5eJOGw0w3NS4sgHthi59y72wWjesdfmNxyU_3DIf you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!To download, go to Android > or Apple store > Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

PATREON EXCLUSIVE. Extremely excited to share this bonus episode with you on the 4 queens of Aceh who ruled from 1641 to 1699, beginning with Sultanah Safiatuddin or Taj al-Alam Safiatuddin Syah. Unlike the four queens of Patani, this was not an unbroken lineage. EXCERPT: Khan argues that maintaining peace and stability so commerce could thrive was an even bigger challenge than the ones faced by the male predecessors of the Acehnese queens. During the time of the queens, although the VOC might have controlled a larger share of the international trade in this region by the end of the century, Aceh's regional trade continued to thrive and, as a trading port which served private traders from all over the world, Aceh's international commercial networks continued to be resilient. By the end of the reigns of these women sovereigns, Malay writing and literature in Aceh had developed to a height unrivalled till today: this could be said to constitute the real golden age in Acehnese history. Sorry, Iskandar Muda. The book really goes into detail so I recommend reading it, the text is already up in our resource library under Episode 19.

Welcome to TalkBricks Masters - A LEGO Masters Weekly Recap Podcast! This week Michael (from the LEGO YouTube channel TalkBricks) is joined by LEGO Masters contestants Paras Patani & Michael "Moto" Kanemoto!! We talk through everything from the harshest feedback Jamie every gave them to what song Paras sang for over 7 hours straight during a challenge!! Check out our social media to send along questions for our future guests - @TalkBricks on all social media platforms!

I spoke to Dr. Duncan McCargo, Director at the Nordic Institute of Asia Studies and the author of " Tearing Apart The Land: Islam and Legitimacy in Southern Thailand" Our discussion is on Patani, located in Southern Thailand it's one of the most misunderstood regions in all of Southeast Asia. Dr. McCargo and I discuss how Patani's fate was decided by the Kingdom of Siam & The British Empire, why the region of Patani has been so resistant to being part of Thailand, what that resistance has looked like, and what larger questions Patani raises both for Thailand and globally. For more I can't recommend Dr. McCargo's book enough, it's fascinating not just for those interested in Thailand but for those interested in larger philosophical questions on the Nation-State, social movements and identity. You can find it here: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501702914/tearing-apart-the-land/ Dr. McCargo also recommended the Nordic Institute's own podcast on Asia: https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/the-nordic-asia-podcast/id1509921432 Music is by H3 Beats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rut35JzzGVY

Patani joins us to talk about his work and his experience on the show. 

On this weeks Analysand [English] we examine the conflict in Patani or ‘The Three Southern Provinces'. Joined by out guest K, we explore the history of the insurgency, all the way to it's present day, as well as the view from Bangkok. The insurgency often goes underreported in Thailand, even by the Thai press. So we do our best to shine a light on the conflict. . The book that Samai recommended is: Moore Phd, Dr Jeff M. 2014. The Thai Way of Counterinsurgency (North Charleston, SC: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform). . About Haji Sulong: (English) http://www.dindeng.com/haji-sulong/ (Thai) https://www.bbc.com/thai/thailand-53761549 . About Thai Imperialism and Colonisation: (Thai) http://www.dindeng.com/thai-imperialism-and-colonisation/

We've hit 25 episodes and this one is an incredibly interesting interview on the insurgency in the south of Thailand! Mr. Shintaro Hara is an analyst and a translator who lives in Patani and has been interacting with people and communities that are affected daily by the insurgency in Thailand. The conversation talks about the concerns of individuals who inhabit the region and the importance of self-determination. We also talk about the various groups that were created to represent the interest of the Muslim population in Patani, why the struggle became armed, and how these groups might earn money to fund their struggle. We finally touch on why Thaification has adversely harmed the region and how the region is coping economically given the current pandemic.

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.09.08.287797v1?rss=1 Authors: Virdi, G. S., Choi, M. L., Yao, Z., Evans, J. R., Athauda, D., Melandri, D., Sylantyev, S., Abramov, A. Y., Patani, R., Gandhi, S. Abstract: The development of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) has greatly aided our ability to model neurodegenerative diseases. However, generation of midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neurons is a major challenge and protocols are variable. Here, we developed a method to differentiate hiPSCs into enriched populations (>80%) of mDA neurons using only small molecules. We confirmed the identity of the mDA neurons using single-cell RNA-sequencing and detection of classical markers. Single-cell live imaging demonstrated neuronal calcium signalling and functional dopamine transport. Electrophysiology measures highlighted the ability to form synapses and networks in culture. Patient-specific hiPSC lines differentiated to produce functional mDA neurons that exhibit the hallmarks of synucleinopathy including: aggregate formation, oxidative stress as well as mitochondrial dysfunction and impaired lysosomal dynamics. In summary, we establish a robust differentiation paradigm to generate enriched mDA neurons from hiPSCs, which can be used to faithfully model key aspects of Parkinson's disease (PD), providing the potential to further elucidate molecular mechanisms contributing to disease development. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.08.17.253773v1?rss=1 Authors: Luisier, R., Serio, A., Patani, R., Newcombe, J., Greensmith, L., Devine, H., Taha, D. M., Tyzack, G. E., Hagemann, C. Abstract: Histopathological analysis of tissue sections is an invaluable resource in neurodegeneration research. Importantly, cell-to-cell variation in both the presence and severity of a given phenotype is however a key limitation of this approach, reducing the signal to noise ratio and leaving unresolved the potential of single-cell scoring for a given disease attribute. Here, we developed an image processing pipeline for automated identification and profiling of motor neurons (MNs) in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) pathological tissue sections. This approach enabled unbiased analysis of hundreds of cells, from which hundreds of features were readily extracted. Next by testing different machine learning methods, we automated the identification of phenotypically distinct MN subpopulations in VCP- and SOD1-mutant transgenic mice, revealing common aberrant phenotypes in cellular shape. Additionally we established scoring metrics to rank cells and tissue samples for both disease probability and severity. Finally, by adapting this methodology to human post-mortem tissue analysis, we validated our core finding that morphological descriptors strongly discriminate ALS from control healthy tissue at the single cell level. In summary, we show that combining automated image processing with machine learning methods substantially improves the speed and reliability of identifying phenotypically diverse MN populations. Determining disease presence, severity and unbiased phenotypes at single cell resolution might prove transformational in our understanding of ALS and neurodegenerative diseases more broadly. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.07.20.211557v1?rss=1 Authors: Tyzack, G. E., Neeves, J., Klein, P., Crerar, H., Ziff, O., Taha, D. M., Luisier, R., Luscombe, N. M., Patani, R. Abstract: Intron retention is known to regulate gene expression. We recently described intron retention as the predominant splicing programme characterizing early stages of motor neurogenesis from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and it's perturbation in familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Here, we sought to gain more insight into the nucleocytoplasmic distribution of aberrant intron-retaining transcripts (IRTs) and to identify their discriminating molecular features. We combined cellular fractionation with hiPSCs undergoing motor neurogenesis and deep-sequenced 95 samples: ALS vs control hiPSCs and nuclear vs cytoplasmic compartments across six timepoints, which represents a rich transcriptomic resource for basic and applied neuroscientists. Using this resource, we identified >100 aberrant cytoplasmic IRTs in cultures carrying ALS-causing VCP gene mutations. We taxonomized aberrant IRTs by their nucleocytoplasmic distribution and demonstrate that these classes exhibit sequence-specific attributes and differential predicted binding affinity to ALS-related RNA binding proteins. In summary we uncover a distinct class of cytoplasmic IRTs that serve as blueprints for established molecular hallmarks of ALS (nuclear-to-cytoplasmic mislocalisation of TDP-43, SFPQ and FUS) and therefore may also represent therapeutic targets. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

workpointTODAY ชวนพูดคุยกับ ผศ.เจะอับดุลเลาะ เจ๊ะสอเหาะ อาจารย์คณะศิลปกรรมศาสตร์ ม.อ.ปัตตานี และผู้ก่อตั้งผู้ก่อตั้ง Patani Artspace ถึงสถานการณ์ใน 3 จังหวัดชายแดนใต้ช่วงโควิด-19 และการบอกเล่า"ความจริง"ในพื้นที่ผ่านงานศิลปะ

People Group Summary https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/14343/TH Listen to the "Gateway to the Unreached" with Greg Kelley, produced by the Alliance for the Unreached: https://alliancefortheunreached.org/podcast/

In this episode, we'll talk about Raja Hijau's rise to power, and the Malay Sultanate of Patani's nearly unbroken line of queens from 1584 to 1718. This episode features a music clip, "Bangkit Pemuda Pemudi - Patriot Patani" by Fai Kencrut. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram, @herstoryseapod! For a copy of the show notes with all the references, access to the close friends Instagram stories, and a shout out at the end of the next episode, join us on Patreon at https://bit.ly/herstoryseapatreon. Maraming salamat!

“ถ้าผู้คนสามารถบอกเล่าเรื่องราวของตัวเองได้อย่างเป็นระบบ น่าสนใจ มีเนื้อหาสาระ มีประเด็น ต่อให้เป็นเรื่องราวที่เรียบง่ายที่สุด ก็ยังน่าสนใจ และสิ่งเหล่านั้นจะเป็นการเพิ่มอำนาจต่อรองให้กับตัวเอง” - นวลน้อย ธรรมเสถียร ธิติ มีแต้ม สนทนากับ ‘นวลน้อย’ ที่ปัตตานี เมืองแห่งความสวยงามทางพหุวัฒนธรรม แต่ก็เต็มไปด้วยเหตุการณ์ความรุนแรง อย่างน้อยก็กินเวลานานถึง 15 ปี ตั้งแต่ พ.ศ.2547 ปัจจุบัน นวลน้อยเป็นสื่อมวลชนอิสระ ที่กำลังปลุกปั้นวัฒนธรรมการอ่านการเขียนให้กับคนในพื้นที่สามจังหวัดชายแดนภาคใต้ ขณะเดียวกันก็ยังติดตามสถานการณ์การเมืองไทยไปด้วยพร้อมๆ กัน แต่สำหรับแวดวงสื่อมวลชน นวลน้อยวิ่งอยู่ในสนามข่าวมาตั้งแต่ทศวรรษที่ 80 ทำข่าวในนามสำนักข่าว BBC ที่สมัยนั้นยังออกอากาศด้วยวิทยุ พูดอย่างรวบรัดที่สุด ขณะที่แวดวงนิเทศศาสตร์ในปัจจุบันกำลังสั่นคลอนมากที่สุดสาขาหนึ่ง อะไรคือหลักคิดของนวลน้อยในการรับมือกับความเปลี่ยนแปลงครั้งใหญ่นี้, BBC สอนอะไรแก่เธอ และถึงที่สุดการได้ผูกพันกับสามจังหวัดชายแดนภาคใต้ กระทั่งได้เปิดเพจ Patani NOTES ขึ้นมา เธอกำลังคิดอะไร กำลังทำอะไร เราจะคุยกับเธอยาวๆ

This is the March episode of 3-Minute 3Rs, brought to you by the North American 3Rs Collaborative (www.na3rsc.org, the NC3Rs (www.nc3rs.org.uk), and Lab Animal (www.nature.com/laban) The papers behind the pod: 1. Progressive Motor Neuron Pathology and the Role of Astrocytes in a Human Stem Cell Model of VCP-Related ALS. https://bit.ly/2uiF64X 2. A critical evaluation of TRPA1-mediated locomotor behavior in zebrafish as a screening tool for novel anti-nociceptive drug discovery. https://go.nature.com/2Cu7u8C 3. No-touch measurements of vital signs in small conscious animals. https://bit.ly/2WdN5Mw [NC3Rs] A team led by Dr Rickie Patani has developed a human-derived model of ALS that could bring us a step closer to treating the disease effectively while avoiding the use of animals altogether. Animal models are widely used to study ALS, also known as motor neurone disease, but current therapies can only slow its progression – and even then, the effect is modest. Instead, Dr Patani's team, based at UCL and the Francis Crick Institute, used human induced pluripotent stem cells to study how ALS causes motor neurones to degenerate. They investigated the molecular processes that lead to the death of motor neurones, which are kickstarted by the loss of a protein called TDP-43 from the cell nucleus. They also discovered that ALS makes astrocytes degenerate too, so they can't play their usual role in helping motor neurones survive, compounding the effects of the disease. For this work, Dr Patani was awarded the NC3Rs' International 3Rs Prize earlier this month. The prize is sponsored by GSK and celebrates outstanding 3Rs science every year. Read the paper in Cell Reports or visit the NC3Rs website to learn more about the 3Rs Prize. [LA] Rodents remain popular for in vivo validation of novel drugs. But screening candidates is costly to do in rodents, which has researchers looking for alternatives to evaluate compounds in a higher throughput manner. Zebrafish are increasingly used for such screening purposes. A new paper from Richard van Rijn's lab at Purdue published in the journal Scientific Reports evaluates a zebrafish screen for drugs that Transient Receptor Potential A1, or TRPA1. TRPA1 encodes a calcium ion channel and has been shown to be involved in pain perception in rodent models. In zebrafish, activating TRPA1 causes hyperlocomotion, which the researchers hypothesized could be a useful phenotypic readout of drug efficacy. They tested compounds known to activate and inactivate TRPA1 in human cells, mice, and zebrafish larvae and found that the compounds affect all three models in a dose-dependent manner. Evaluation can be somewhat tricky in the zebrafish because they have a second copy of TRPA1 to contend with, but the fish could still help screen initial compounds before researchers take them onward. [LA] What if you could measure the vital signs of your animals without having to prep or handle them? Engineers at Cornell recently described the use of radio frequency near-field coherent sensing to do just that in a paper published in Science Advances. They developed the technology first for humans, but have now shown its potential for use with small animals in real-time. The technology uses radio waves. These penetrate the body and can be used to detect the motion of internal organs. When the signal is processed, parameters like heart rate and respiration rate can be captured. The system can be wired or wireless, and was shown to work with an anesthetized rat and freely moving hamster, Russian tortoise, and betta fish. There was some variability and further comparisons with existing methods would help clarify the accuracy and robustness of the new system, but near-field coherent sensing could be a promising new way to keep an eye on animal vital signs. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Let us be and have fun with this music

Im Glauben nach Venedig zu fahren, steuerte das Schiff, welches er nach kurzer Kriegsgefangenschaft in Amsterdam bestieg, auf direktem Wege Westafrika an. Krankheit, Tod und Schiffbruch begleiteten diese Reise, die 7 Jahre dauert und ihn quer über den Erdball bis nach Südostasien (und wieder zurück) führen sollte.Vor kurzem hat sich zu dieser Einzigartigkeit noch eine weitere hinzugesellt. Fernbergers Raißbuch enthält die einzigen Aufzeichnungen über einen kurzen Krieg zwischen den Königreichen Ayudhya und Patani (beide im heutigen Thailand) in den Jahren 1624/25.In dieser Sendung erzählt Helmut Lukas über Christoph Carl Fernbergers erstaunliche Reise, über Reisen im 17. Jahrhundert generell, über Verständigungsmöglichkeiten und -schwierigkeiten, über die kriegerische Auseinandersetzung zwischen Raja Ungus Königreich Patani und Songtham, dem König von Siam/Ayudhya, aber auch über das damalige Frauenbild da Patani mehr als 125 Jahre lang von Frauen regiert wurde.Gestaltung: Doris Bauer (Verantwortlich für den Sendungsinhalt)Im Interview: Univ. Doz. Dr. Helmut Lukas, Institut für Sozialanthropologie an der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.Er forscht seit Jahrzehnten in Südostasien und ist Herausgeber der in Kürze erscheinenden Publikation:Christoph Carl Fernberger: The First Austrian in Patani and Ayudhya (1624-1625). Tri-lingual (German-English-Thai) annotated edition of Fernberger’s diary concerning his stays in Ayudhya & Patani in the years 1624 & 1625. Centre for European Studies at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. Co-editor: Charit Tingsabadh.Sprecher: Walther MoserWeitere Publikation: Wernhart, Karl Rudolf: Christoph Carl Fernberger, Der erste österreichische Weltreisende 1621-1628. Völlig überarbeitete und neu kommentierte Ausgabe. Mit ergänzendem Kommentar für Indonesien und Südostasien von Helmut Lukas; Reihe: Reiseforschung, Bd. 2, 1. Auflage 2011, 2. Auflage, 2012, 168 S.Musik: Krayne - Dance of the Zen Master; Zaire - Isla de Java; Senyawa - Warna; SaReGaMa - One Thousand And One Nights. Nachzuhören auf Free Music Archive und Jamendo, einer Community für freie, legale und unlimitierte Musik, die unter Creative Commons Lizenzen veröffentlicht wurde.

My first short film score https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpyFw_B8xv8

Ayeuna Abah seja ngadongéng lalakon Sakadang Kuya anu rék di kawinkeun ka anakna Patani. Mudah-mudahan hikmah tina téma Dongéng ieu tiasa di lenyepan ku urang saréréa. Wilujeng ngadangukeun. Kaparayuuuunn Sadayanaaaaaa.

Jacques IVANOFF, CNRS - IRASEC. Depuis l'intégration du sultanat de Patani dans la nation thaïlandaiseau début du siècle, la résistance des millions de Malais musulmans de Thaïlande du Sud-Est ne s'est jamais démentie. Celle-ci s'appuie sur une représentation de l'environnement qui considère la nature comme fragmentée et coupée de l’homme. Cette parcellisation et cette rupture de liens sont à l'origine d’une quête épique au cœur de la tradition orale locale, une quête de l’union de l’homme et de son environnement, jugée comme un préalable incontournable à l’union des territoires éclatés autrefois entre chefferies belliqueuses et aujourd’hui entre la Malaysia et la Thaïlande. La nécessité de recomposer un lien avec la nature se double donc de la volonté de recomposer une unité territoriale malmenée par la colonisation thaïlandaise et par le désir de retrouver une identité perdue. Les données imaginaires à l’origine des expressions culturelles de la société malaise se sont accordées avec les revendications politiques contemporaines. La quête des héros malais pour rapprocher l’homme de la nature se confond maintenant avec la quête des rebelles musulmans et dans ce rapprochement objectif entre la culture, l’identité et la revendication politique réside la force de la rébellion du sud mais aussi ses limites.

Jacques IVANOFF, CNRS - IRASEC. Depuis l'intégration du sultanat de Patani dans la nation thaïlandaiseau début du siècle, la résistance des millions de Malais musulmans de Thaïlande du Sud-Est ne s'est jamais démentie. Celle-ci s'appuie sur une représentation de l'environnement qui considère la nature comme fragmentée et coupée de l’homme. Cette parcellisation et cette rupture de liens sont à l'origine d’une quête épique au cœur de la tradition orale locale, une quête de l’union de l’homme et de son environnement, jugée comme un préalable incontournable à l’union des territoires éclatés autrefois entre chefferies belliqueuses et aujourd’hui entre la Malaysia et la Thaïlande. La nécessité de recomposer un lien avec la nature se double donc de la volonté de recomposer une unité territoriale malmenée par la colonisation thaïlandaise et par le désir de retrouver une identité perdue. Les données imaginaires à l’origine des expressions culturelles de la société malaise se sont accordées avec les revendications politiques contemporaines. La quête des héros malais pour rapprocher l’homme de la nature se confond maintenant avec la quête des rebelles musulmans et dans ce rapprochement objectif entre la culture, l’identité et la revendication politique réside la force de la rébellion du sud mais aussi ses limites.