Koo Ch 6

With the outbreak of World War II in China, Macau proclaimed neutrality but Hong Kong came under Japanese control. Elsewhere in Portuguese Timor, the declaration of neutrality proved ineffective as the Japanese staged a military takeover and interned the Portuguese Governor. Understandably Macau feared that it would meet with the same fate.^6_8 According to the British Consul in Macau, Pownall Reeves, the reason this did not eventuate was entirely due to one man – the Macau governor:

Only the clever diplomacy of Governor Teixeira saved Macao from being dragged into the war. She had most narrow shaves and sometimes fighting actually lapped across the shores of this single island of peace in the Far East. … We have enjoyed a shelter granted to no other community in a war-torn East. No one of us who have been driven from our homes by war, whether from Chinese or British territory can ever forget what has been done for us and for our families in Macao. … We can freely offer our gratitude to His Excellency Commander Gabriel Teixeira, who himself a sailor, has steered the Colony through storms, avoiding reefs and shoals alike with uncanny skill. His ship is safely in port and we thank him for his Captaincy. Without it we would have been lost on uncharted seas.^6_9

In the course of the war, the Japanese became increasingly aggressive in dealing with Macau demanding formal recognition of its puppet government in nearby Zhongshan county and insisting on being allowed to conduct house to house searches in Macau.^6_10 It was a blessing for many that Macau’s neutrality was recognised as people of many nationalities had taken refuge there. An exhibit in the new Macau Museum showed that in 1937 at the start of the Sino-Japanese War, Macau’s population numbered some 150,000. However, in 1943, it was estimated that 500,000 people crowded into the small enclave. The exhibit also recorded that Macau’s generosity extended beyond its borders to some 17,000 refugees in nearby Sek-kei and that at its worst period, one hundred Chinese died each day on the streets of Macau from exhaustion, hunger and dysentery.^6_11

João Bosco da Silva, a member of the Macaense diaspora in Brazil, was a youngster in Macau during World War II. He recalled walking the streets and seeing a lot of people dying especially in winter due to starvation. Luckily his father was working for the government; every day they had their ration of rice and sugar that enable them to survive. He considered that they were the lucky ones.^6_12

Most people agreed that hunger was the chief problem in Macau during World War II. Monsignor Manuel Teixeira was a parish priest during that period. While Macau’s civil servants managed on meagre rations, he remembered that the worst affected were the Chinese refugees who died of hunger in the streets. He recalled that “Japanese soldiers would come to Macau to enjoy themselves. In the Hotel Kuok Chai (Grande Hotel) they would drink, eat and enjoy the girls. They would then leave dead drunk and throw up in the streets. The starving Chinese picked up the vomit and ate it.”^6_13

The arrival of the Macaenses from Hong Kong following its surrender strained the available services even more. According to Armando da Silva, the first wave of refugees from Hong Kong arrived on the Japanese ferry boat Surigane Maru on 6 February 1942. For those who could not stay with relatives, refuge centres were allocated to them. The two community leaders Leo d’Almada and J.P. Braga personally selected the group that was to be housed at the Hotel Bela Vista. Armando’s father was most fortunate to be chosen to stay in the famous hotel with some of the top Macaense families from Hong Kong.^6_14 So too were Gloria de Souza and her mother.^6_15

In one of Jack Braga‘s radio broadcast, he asked one of the early arrivees to give a talk to urge more Macaenses to leave Hong Kong for the safety of Macau. The radio message was located among the Braga Manuscripts but the speaker’s identity could not be determined except that he was from Kowloon and that he came with nine hundred others on the Surigane Maru.^6_16 The account recorded that the Japanese officers on board were really nice to them. On arrival, the Governor of Macau was at the pier to greet them. They were “well housed with two solid meals a day, and a loaf of bread for breakfast provided by the Salesian fathers”. Centres that had been set aside for the Macaense refugees were Clube de Macau, Escola Luso-Chinesa, Grêmio Militar, Clube 1 de Junho, Caixa Escolar, Penha and No 7 Rua do Barão (generously provided for their by the owner of the house). A government medical officer regularly visited the centres for health checks. Employment was available with the police, the government-controlled commodity centres and through odd jobs. Teams were organised to participate in sports and classes were arranged for the children’s education. There was a brass band and orchestra to provide entertainment. The general feeling was that “we do not feel lost or idle”.^6_17
Refugees from Hong Kong received $30 per head for each adult and $24 for each child, on top of lodgings and food and health care. This caused Jack Braga to realise that the employees of the Macau Water Company, where he was the manager, were really worse off financially compared to the refugees. He wrote to senior management to rectify the situation, which they did to some extent.^6_18

Indeed for the refugees from Hong Kong, there were many distractions and activities. Schools were organised to occupy the children while adults pursued more grown-up activities. There were public debates, cinemas, mahjong and card games, plays and work if one was lucky to find one. Mickey Sousa found work in the British consulate and in intelligence gathering for Jack Braga. Gloria de Souza was then only a young girl. Like other youngsters, she went to school and was fortunate to be invited to the governor’s residence for a meal and to children’s parties hosted by the British consul.

The Macaense who took refuge in Macau were not immune from petty crimes such as that experienced by C.H. Chaves and family from Hong Kong. In a letter dated 15 February 1944, Chaves asked Jack Braga for a loan of a suit for a few days to go to the British consulate to seek financial assistance to buy some clothing. He had a wife and seven children and their clothes were all stolen. He concluded: “Really my dear Jack, I have taken this bold step because I know of your qualities and your good heartedness as I have tried everywhere but of no avail and you are my last resource.”^6_19 In view of Jack Braga‘s generous reputation, it was likely that Chaves would not be disappointed.^6_20

Although refuge in Macau was preferable to Japanese-occupied Hong Kong, not all Macaenses made the journey. One who stayed behind was F.P. de V. Soares (“Frank”). J.P. Braga wrote about him, his intense loyalty to Portugal and the enthusiasm he brought to all his projects such as the formation of the Associação Portuguesa de Socorros Mutuos and land development in Homantin and Kowloon Tong.^6_21 However, it was in his capacity as Chancellor-in-charge at the Portuguese Consulate in Hong Kong at the outbreak of World War II that won him the admiration of the Macaense community. Braga wrote:

A situation of unprecedented difficulty was created for him without previous warning and with a minimum of material resources and a lamentable deficiency of professional personnel. He had thrust upon him duties and responsibilities unparalleled in their magnitude and of the most complex nature.^6_22

Also thrust upon him was the wellbeing of several thousand Hong Kong Macaenses who in normal times were well able to look after themselves but were suddenly rendered vulnerable and destitute. His private residence was converted momentarily into a cramped consular office and refuge centre. At one stage there were about four hundred people staying overnight inside the premises, all requiring to be fed. Soares freely provided Portuguese documents to enable many to leave for the safety of Macau. He and his family stayed behind in Hong Kong because the Japanese had interned his sons for being part of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. Those that remained not only had to find the means to survive but also to fend off gangs of looters who preyed on people and property.^6_23

In Shanghai, many Macaenses also remained put believing that the city would fare better due to the presence of other Western PoWers, and the fact that the French Concession, where many Macaenses lived, was exempt from Japanese control. Nery had written about the Shanghai scene during World War II and his story was consistent with one provided by Michael McDougall, a prominent member of the Macaense diaspora now resident in California, USA.^6_24@24 McDougall arrived from Shantou in 1942 with his parents and three siblings en route to Mozambique as part of an international prisoner exchange between the Allied and Axis powers. Although technically internees, they were allowed to seek private accommodation in Shanghai pending the arrival of the ship which was to take them to Mozambique. As British subjects, they were able to draw on the generous financial assistance provided by the British Government through the Swiss Consul-General. The assistance was a “loan” repayable after the war. In the McDougalls’ case the father’s employer, Jardine Matheson & Company, took responsibility for the loan which was sufficiently indulgent for McDougall to consider themselves to be well off. They were able to go out to restaurants and movies and to stock up on other luxuries. Furthermore, the Japanese allowed “enemy nationals” to withdraw two thousand Chinese dollars a month out of their “frozen accounts”. Because there were no restrictions on their movement, they had time and opportunity to catch up with many old friends from the Macaense community in Shanghai. To the McDougalls, Shanghai appeared very vibrant and deceptively normal, with shops, restaurants and markets still open for business. Open too were the entertainment places, gambling and nightlife that gave Shanghai its reputation. In contrast “enemy firms” were forced to close by the Japanese authorities, their bank accounts frozen and their employees discharged.^6_25

It was a sad day for the Macaense community when J.P. Braga passed away in Macau on 12 February 1944. Not only did it rob them of one of their more prominent members, it interrupted his compilation of the history of the Macaenses in Hong Kong that he commenced barely two years earlier. The letters of condolence reflected J.P. Braga‘s standing in the community and attested to how much he “had done for Hong Kong”.^6_26 Jack, his son, felt the loss most keenly as the father was staying with him and they collaborated on the history project. Jack Braga expressed his deep loss in a letter to his brother in California two Christmases later.^6_27

By 1945 it became apparent that the Japanese were in retreat. Some Hong Kong Macaenses participated in the drafting of a comprehensive plan to regain Hong Kong in case the Japan withdrew prematurely exposing it to a takeover by Chiang Kai-shek before British forces could reach the Colony. Jack Braga notated: “A great deal of time went into the discussions and some rivalry became apparent in the selection of the individuals chosen for the various assignments”.^6_28 It was a lot of paper work that led to naught as London had its own plans drawn up. In his note, Jack Braga did not intimate that he was behind the idea but a letter written by “Larry” dated 4 April 1946 clearly credited him with the idea for the project.^6_29

From Macau, Jack Braga was also busy managing a network of informants that included Mickey Sousa.^6_30 Their task was to obtain information about the Japanese in any way they could and passed them to the British at Allied headquarters. Braga reported to the British Consul Reeves who was the Macau chief for the British Army Aid Group (B.A.A.G.) which helped British escapees to flee from Japanese controlled areas and was responsible for the safe repatriation of the American airmen Lt. George C. Clarke, Don E. Mize and Charles Myers who were shot down by the Japanese in the vicinity of Macau.^6_31

Jack Braga‘s contribution to the Allied cause during World War II was mentioned in a reference offered by Pownall Reeves, the British Consul in Macau dated 24 July 1946:

I am pleased to testify to the services rendered by Mr José Maria (Jack) Braga to the Allied governments…He acted as liaison between myself and the Nationalist Government of China’s representative in Macao; he was instrumental in effecting the escape from Macao of four American airmen; he provided guards for my Consulate; I am in a position to know that he provided much useful information to Allied authorities. It is perhaps enough to say that his life was at one time threatened by the Japanese.^6_32

And in a personal note to Jack Braga, Reeves wrote: “I will say little personally; some things cannot be put into words”.^6_33

Many letters in the Braga Manuscripts alluded to the great disappointment of many people about the lack of recognition and reciprocity given to those who risked their lives for the Allied cause. A Eurasian named Cotton wrote to Braga complaining bitterly:

I cannot help being bitter, more so, when I gaze around and see people who have collaborated and made money under the Japs are in favoured positions. … When I look back to those anxious days … I hate to think what would have happened to my wife and kiddies, had the Japs walked in and discovered the half ton of radio equipment in my house.^6_34