Ramree Island on the literary stage of the world (Full English-version article)

Ramree Island on the literary stage of the world

(ကမာၻ႕စာေပစင္ျမင့္ထက္မွ ရမ္းျဗဲကၽြန္းအေၾကာင္း)

byZwe Thit (Rammarmray)

Ramree Island is the biggest island in Myanmar, with a width of 1350 square kilometres which is nearly twofold of the size of the Republic of Singapore. With a wealth of natural resources like natural gas and petroleum nowadays, it is also now known for Shwe Gas Project at Kyaukphru at the northwestern part of the island, for which there have been a lot of complaints arising from local people.

This island is also famous for the Ramree Island Battle during the Second World War between the Japanese Army and the Allied Troops in 1945. It has been even more vivid in the minds of the people all over the world for ''Most number of fatalities in a crocodile attack” as recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. While the Japanese Army were retreating into the jungle, nearly 1000 Japanese soldiers were killed by saltwater crocodiles there.

This fateful event has inspired several writers all over the world for decades. As a result, they wrote novels and novelettes on the scenes. Some of them are as follows:

1) Dragon of the Mangroves (Yasuyuki Kasai)

2) Meat (Lee Laughead)

3) Sunset on Ramree (Robert Appleton)

4) The Mangroves (John L. Cambell)

They are popular books among the world readers, especially Sunset on Ramree by Robert Appleton which won EPIC Award in 2011. Out of the four books, the first one "Dragon of the Mangroves" was written by a Japanese writer. The second and third books are novelettes while the other two are novels.

Recently, I heard a good piece of news concerning the Ramree Island. A famous Hollywood film company named "Erik Sun Productions" will come to Ramree Island and make a film about the Guinness-recorded crocodile attack on the Japanese soldiers and the Ramree Island Battle according to a piece of news on Pyi Myanmar Journal dated 26^th March, 2015.The title of the movie will be "Into the Quagmire". No doubt it will be a good movie! Ramree Island is a beautiful island. It is expected that its beautiful spots will also be seen along with some exciting plots in the forthcoming movie.

My analysis on the novel “Dragon of the mangroves”

The whole story captivates the readers from the beginning to the end. It is a good story. The story is written as if it were depicted on the movie screen with the series of events relating to the saving team at one time and to the troop retreating from Mong-prong at another. In the depiction of the characters, Tomita is depicted as a real leader-like leader who is worthy of respect, emulation and imitation while it is absolutely vivid in illustrating Second Lieutenant Jinno who is not like a leader but a selfish ego. A surprising point is that Sumi who has been described as a coward throughout the story determined to stay behind alone in order to save the survivors of the Sixth Platoon. It can be the moment when the readers are taken aback. Kasuga, the main character, has been described as a young soldier who is courageous and respectful towards the superiors. Near the end of the novel, a lovely piece of writing is found in that Sumi, while taking a rest and gazing at the diamond-bud at the top of the pagoda at the head of Ran-thike-gree Village, was wondering “whether it is the antenna that brings people’s prayers to the celestial abodes.” There are many other enchanting expressions in the novel. It is also so poetic that the bad omen of the end of Sumi’s life journey has been portrayed with the sign of vultures speeding down from the sky.

In the novel, there are two mistakes that I have come across. The first mistake is on Page (18) where the description of Kyaukphyu and “other towns on Ramree Island” is not true as far as I have studied. The reason is that, apart from Kyaukphyu on the northern tip of Ramree Island, the only other town on the island is Ramree on its northeastern part. Only in 2015 was Sane Village promoted to Sane Town. However, it is said that the town still needs much to be regarded as a true town! The second mistake is on Page (57) of the book where it is written that “the sacred ash of the Lord Buddha” is enshrined in the Buddhist pagodas and temples. Reasonably knowledgeable a Buddhist may have known that the sacred relics of the Buddha were shaped not into ashes like ordinary people but into small balls after the combustion of His holy body. Yasuyuki Kasai, the novelist, seemed to have written about this fact without doing rigorous research on it. He may have thought that his background knowledge in Japanese culture is true for this fact as well. Apart from these two factual mistakes, I believe that the other parts are excellent.

The novelist Yasuyuki Kasai cited 40 sources for writing his novel. The books he cited include those written by Japanese authors and the records of the Allied who won over the Japanese. Hence, his presentation seems to be unprejudiced and beautiful. As he has mentioned in the foreword of his novel, the names of the places on Ramree Island are the real ones that have long existed there. The other incidents and characters are merely imaginary. According to the records of the Allied, approximately 20 out of 1000 Japanese soldiers who penetrated through the encirclement of the Allied Forces were regarded as alive while the rest were killed and devoured by saltwater crocodiles of the mangroves. Yet, the Japanese records say that some 400 Japanese soldiers could arrive safely back to Japan. The novelist asserts that the records of the Allied could not be fake as well. However, he seems to take the Japanese perspective as true in his novel.

There is also another striking point. It may be heard or read that Japanese soldiers committed brutalities towards Myanmar people. However, Yasuyuki Kasai did not mention any of such inhumane things in his novel. He described the Japanese soldiers as those who treated Myanmar people equally and who were adorable. It may be not because the writer himself had not known such brutalities! In the end, one may say that, as Japanese, no wonder he depicted how good, brilliant and admirable his Japanese soldiers were.

My analysis on the novelette “Meat”

Lee Laughead, the novelist, can be called a writer who writes well. However, I come to analyse that the readers may be discouraged to read on by some of his off-topic points, some illogical incidents, obscure description of some places, and general presentation of some events in his novelette.

One of the strengths of the novelette seems to be that it could expose to some extent the intense training that the Japanese soldiers went through and the perils that they experienced during the war.

Yet it is not logical that the main character Akira, despite being bitten by a crocodile, drifted downstream and was stranded unconscious on a bank nearby while the other Japanese soldiers who were bitten by crocodiles did not stand a chance to survive. It is sure that most readers may wonder how the saltwater crocodiles on Ramree Island that suddenly snatched and devoured those alive and kicking spared Akira out of pity. Further, it is also illogical that Akira who had been bitten and mysteriously sent ashore unconscious was saved by Palu’s family and given medical treatment for his one-week survival before his death. In the end, I come to think soothingly that the novelist’s imagination is pivotal since it is merely a fictional work, and that he could create it despite others’ thoughts about its illogical points.

The viewpoint of a reader who reviewed this book on Amazon.com goes thus: “It is sure that there will be several other novels based on the historic crocodile attack on Ramree Island that are much better than this. This novel is off topic in some points and is not very attractive.”

The peculiar things are that only the names “Myanmar” and “Myanmar people” are found in the book and that the name “Ramree Island” where the main incident really took place was not mentioned in it but described merely as an obscure island. No references for the background settings are found in the book. However, since many historical documents are testimony to the fact that the island on which that incident happened was Ramree Island, it is still crystal clear about the fact. Anyway, it is evident that the novelette “Meat” written by the American writer Lee Laughead has taken a place on the literary stage of the world as a novelette which is based on the Ramree Island crocodile attack listed in the Guinness Book of Records.

My analysis on the novelette “Sunset on Ramree”

“Sunset on Ramree” by Robert Appleton is a novelette. The entitlement of the EPIC eBook Award to the book in 2011 is testimony to its good quality. The story is set on two days – 19^th February, 1945, that night and the following morning. Despite its short period, it is stunningly beautiful with detailed depictions of incidents taking place during those two days that keep the readers with a palpitating heart.

The whole story is filled with excitements. Should I be asked about the most exciting plots, they will be that of Kodi’s accidental killing of the sergeant due to the latter’s firm order for the former to unite again urgently with the soldiers marching ahead of them, that of Sobiku being snatched by a crocodile, that of tension between the two sides – Ojihoro and Kasumoto – and of their pointing at one another with guns, that of Nakadai and Kodi trying to get out of the swamp infested with crocodiles while feeding the animals with severed hands and thighs that they had gathered, and finally that of Nakadai and his friend walking slowly in suspense towards the forest by the coast in order to surrender. These plots would keep the audience in suspense if they were part of a thriller movie.

In fact, the condition of the Japanese soldiers who came face to face not with human enemies but with those of crocodiles during the Second World War were at war with Nature. During that war, they had to kill one another among themselves for their precious lives. While defending the hated person, they happened to kill their loved one. Unavoidably, they chanced to stay with the person they loathed. Despite their willingness to save the one they loved, the Nature did not allow them to do so. In fact, they did not have any opportunity to opt for – the Nature rightly prevailed! In accordance with the findings by Charles Darwin, it was in fact a vivid reflection of “survival of the fittest”, the law of the jungle. However, it can be seen that Nakadai and Kodi did not fall prey to the crocodiles because of their intellectual supremacy to the animals despite their inferiority in terms of physical strength. Deeply thought, the story not only reveals the nature of the world and its people but it also teaches us lessons: we can overcome obstacles – however big – with firm determination and wisdom, and we should do so boldly.

Probably, the crocodile attack on Ramree Island has made tourists form a horrifying opinion of the island and kept them from visiting it. Although mass crocodile attack happened on the island only that time and it has been rarely heard for years that there was any death associated with crocodile attack, one can find various kinds of record videos on the internet which rank the island as the second, the third or the fourth out of ten most dangerous islands in the world. It is absolutely true that such videos seem to scare the potential tourists away. Nevertheless, it is also a fact that the historic incidents of the crocodile attack make many world citizens recount to one another longingly. It is also evident that the novelette “Sunset on Ramree” written by Robert Appleton will be one of the world-classic books till many years in the future. Personally speaking, I wish I saw his novelette as a world-famous movie! However, my wish has not yet been fulfilled. Now, I am just praying for the appearance of a person who would turn the story into a movie.

My analysis on the novel “The Mangroves”

John L. Campbell, the American writer, is a highly successful ghost story writer. The horror story named Omega Days which was issued in 2013 presented him with overnight success and nowadays it is so successful that its fourth sequel is about to be issued. It can be said that Campbell who is outstanding at writing ghost stories could create highly exciting plots of this story with his exceptional writing ability. Although there is a detailed description of the incidents that took place during the three days from 19^th to 21^st February, 1945, the novel would enchant the readers to read on to the end because of its good writing and interesting plots. The novelist was able to write this intriguing novel so much so that it looks as if the Japanese soldiers who had passed wearily through the mangrove swamps infested with centipedes, scorpions and crocodiles over days and nights even amidst the bombings from the British fighter jets and the shelling from the warships were deep inside the hell.

This novel was written from the viewpoint of a Japanese lieutenant named Shoji. It could vividly describe Lieutenant Shoji’s nature of accountability and his good leadership. In addition, it could also illustrate his noble mind by his will not to harm others in that, near the end of the story, he worriedly warned even his enemy – the British soldier – who was pointing at him with a rifle of a crocodile approaching. At some points, the novel makes the readers feel as if they were watching a horror movie. Mentioning how frightful Shoji is to happen to come face to face with a giant yellow-striped tiger before continuing to describe the caterpillar attack made me as a reader imagine the caterpillar as a giant tiger in my mind’s eyes.

So good are the readers’ reviews under the book description on Amazon.com where it can be bought. One of the readers commented that it is the best of all the novels based on the crocodile attack on Ramree Island during the Second World War that he had ever read. Another opined that it was not boring despite the author’s continuous description of incidents in it. One of the reviewers said that, while reading the novel, he was expecting and praying for the inclusion of Lieutenant Shoji among some 20 survivors however harsh obstacles the Japanese soldiers had to experience. Similarly, while reading it, I was also praying that Lieutenant Shoji would survive at last. Another reviewer noted that the novel had encouraged him to study more about the incident of the crocodile attack after reading it. Surprisingly, several readers bitterly commented that, after reading it, they would never ever visit the horrifying Ramree Island.

The articles on the novels presented so far are about those novels by famous international novelists based on the deadliest crocodile attack on Ramree Island that I have ever known. In my analysis on the novelette “Sunset on Ramree,” I mentioned that Ramree Island has been regarded as the second or third most dangerous island in the world because of its deadliest crocodile attack during the Second World War. Such ranking of the island as one of the most horrifying islands may be attributed to its inclusion in Guinness Book of Records as “Most number of fatalities in a crocodile attack” and to the side effects of the world-famous writers’ creations of novels based on that incident. Therefore, Ramree Island may have been an intentional exception of their destinations to those tourists who visit Myanmar. Hardly are they informed of the fact that it has been several decades since crocodiles were last seen on Ramree Island and, nor are they visible to the beauty of the beaches on Ramree Island including Kyaukphru Beach.

Hence, everybody interested should try their best so that foreigners will know the real truths nowadays and turn their frightful opinion of Ramree Island into that of an island which is lovely and worthy of visits. As a result of such right viewpoints towards the island, many tourists and the visitors from other parts of Myanmar will be interested in visiting there. With the development of tourism industry in that area, I believe that there will also be considerable regional development. Further, I am also convinced that it would be highly interesting and beneficial if relevant scholars (for example, zoologists) could implement field studies in those areas which were assumed to be the ground for the said crocodile attack in order to identify the causes for the rarity of crocodiles despite their abundance on Ramree Island several decades ago, and then present the research findings to the world. In my introduction of this long article, I presented the piece of news saying that a Hollywood film company would come to Myanmar for making a documentary on the historic crocodile attack. Similarly, I am wondering how nice it would be if a world-renowned film-company made a movie out of this very novel. I wish my dream would come true very soon! Anyway, I am truly glad that I will be able to watch a documentary on this historic incident in near future.

                                                                                       Zwe Thit (Rammarmray)

                                                                                      1.8.2016 (Mon)

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