Strathfield community divided over proposed tribute to comfort women MATT PEARSON INNER WEST COURIER INNER CITY

Strathfield community divided over proposed tribute to comfort women
MATT PEARSON INNER WEST COURIER INNER CITY APRIL 02, 2014 9:35AM SHARE

Jan Ruff O'Herne (pictured with her daughters in England) was taken as prisoner of war as
Jan Ruff O'Herne (pictured with her daughters in England) was taken as prisoner of war as a girl, and forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops during WWII. Picture from the film 50 Years of Silence
CONTROVERSY over a plan to build a statue honouring women forced into sex slavery during WWII boiled over at Strathfield Council last night.

More than 120 people poured into the meeting in response to a proposal to put up the statue in Strathfield honouring the 200,000 ‘comfort women’ — women and girls forced into sexual servitude during war by the Japanese.

The issue has divided Sydney’s Asian communities and yesterday, was criticised as misguided by the Japanese embassy in Australia.

A petition opposing the statue started by Japanese Women for Justice and Peace has already attracted over 10,000 signatures.

Scenes from Strathfield Council’s April meeting.
Scenes from Strathfield Council’s meeting last night.
Now there are questions over whether the statue plan is simply causing further divisions.

More than 25 per cent of Strathfield’s population have Chinese or Korean ancestry and members of both communities have pushed hard for the statue in Strathfield.

Many comfort women were taken from Japanese occupied areas in Korea and China during WWII as well as other South-East Asian nations including Indonesia and Vietnam.

Last night, councillors allowed speakers from both sides to take the floor including Carol Ruff, the daughter of Jan Ruff O’Herne, a former comfort woman born in Java who in the early nineties spoke out about her experiences.

Friends of Comfort Women Australia supporter Jan Ruff O'Herne, 84, (right) with her siste
Friends of Comfort Women Australia supporter Jan Ruff O'Herne, 84, (right) with her sister Celeste.
Carol Ruff - pictured at an exhibition last year- spoke passionately about her mother Jan
Carol Ruff - pictured at an exhibition last year- spoke passionately about her mother Jan Ruff O'Herne’s life as a comfort girl at Strathfield Council last night.
“We feel that, as you can see here tonight from the meeting, this issue hasn’t really gone away and I think it’s passed down through the families,” said Ms Ruff, who made acclaimed documentary 50 Years of Silence about the book her mother wrote about her life.
“We still feel very strongly. I think what she (Ms Ruff O’Herne) would like to see — apart from a statue in Strathfield — is some recognition from the Japanese government and an apology. That would mean so much, just like when Kevin Rudd said sorry.”

Others argued that raking up events from 70 years ago was not conducive to harmony while some questioned the validity of a statue which would have minimal connection to Australia.

Kohki Iwasaki, who identified himself as Japanese-Australian, said approving the statue would be “synonymous with apartheid” pointing at incidents of racism when a similar statue was erected in America to suggest it would be culturally divisive.

“On it (the statue) is carved a statement that turns all the existence of the Japanese race into a crime against humanity, without realising that it is this very statue that is encouraging yet another crime against humanity,” he told the meeting.

Jan Ruff O’Herne (right) in Tokyo, 1993 with other ‘comfort women’ from North and South K
Jan Ruff O’Herne (right) in Tokyo, 1993 with other ‘comfort women’ from North and South Korea, China and the. Philippines
Mr Iwasaki went on to say that the statue contravened UN directives on human rights and would open old wounds.

Why single-out a 70-year-old story of hatred, when we can use that effort to prevent something happening now,” he asked.

“I believe the statue is only going to breed more hatred. If we sow seeds of hatred, what will grow?”

After leaving the makeshift chamber to discuss the issue in closed session, the council decided to refer the issue to both the state and federal government and consult its community following the responses.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Picture: AFP
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Picture: AFP
Deputy mayor of Strathfield Sang Ok.
Deputy mayor of Strathfield Sang Ok.
The plan for the statue arose from the outrage caused in Japan last month, when more conservative elements of the Japanese government said a 1993 apology to the women, mainly of Korean and Chinese heritage, should be watered down.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe caused further anger by suggesting many of the women were willing participants, although he later distanced himself from the issue.

Strathfield Council’s deputy mayor Sang Ok this week condemned the Japanese prime minister’s comments and has come out in support of the proposed statue, which would be a version of the one in the US by Chinese artist Pin Hsun Hsiang.

While no official proposal was on the council agenda last night, 120 people turned up in response to the increasing controversy building around the statue. The crowd was so big, it forced the council from its normal chambers and into a bigger hall.

Comfort Women
● Comfort women were women and girls taken from countries occupied by Japan during World War II, including Korea, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Burma and the Philippines.

● Although the bulk of the women involved were from South-East Asia, some were from Australia and The Netherlands.

● Some claim as few as 20,000 women were involved while others say up to 410,000. Somewhere around 200,000 is the widely accepted figure.

● It is estimated that up to three quarters of comfort women died, with most others left infertile due to sexual trauma.

● It is claimed that the women were often abducted from their homes and promised work in factories or restaurants, before being sent to the ‘comfort stations’.

● Documents from the Japanese Imperial Army suggest that the stations, attached to the military, were set up to prevent the rape of local women by army personnel in order to dispel rising hostility among people in invaded area.

● Despite accepting that the women were coerced in 1993, the Japanese government reneged on their decision in 2007, claiming there was no evidence that the women were seized by force.

Originally published as Statue will ‘sow seeds of hatred’