There is no doubt the Far East POWs have been treated badly, and not until the year 2000 was compensation agreed, some 55 years after they were liberated. There were still problems with errors in administration in 2007.
On the 6th June 2000 in the Commons, David Winnock, Walsall North...
“The point has been made that the Government at the time could have done more long ago to press for further compensation from Japan. In May 1955, the then Minister of State in the Foreign Office, Lord Reading, took the view that the Government should not take advantage of article 26 of the San Francisco treaty (1951). That treaty provided for further claims if Japan concluded agreements with other countries involving sums more advantageous than those originally agreed three years earlier. That was the position concerning Burma. The Government could have taken advantage of the situation at that time. They might not have been successful—who knows?—but at least they would have taken the opportunity. Lord Reading's point, which was not put into the public domain, was that the Government's pursuit of the matter would have been unpopular with the Japanese. What did he mean by that? Did we have a guilt complex? What would have made us more unpopular? Were we so unpopular in 1955? I find the decision somewhat odd but make no party point—the same decision was likely to have been reached even if another Government had been in power. However, the decision was wrong.”
Former British POWs (Hansard, 6 June 2000)
api.parliament.uk
Lord Reading, Gerald Rufus Isaacs (1899-1960), held Ministerial office 1951-57 in the Conservative Government under Churchill. They had just taken over from a Labour Government.
The clip, from 17 August 1951, shows that Compensation for Far Eastern POWs were to begin. Lt-Gen Arthur Ernest Percival (1887-1966) spoke to former prisoners, but doesn’t promise much. He was the life president of the Far East Prisoners of War Association (FEPOW), he pushed for compensation for his fellow captives, eventually helping to obtain a token £5 million of frozen Japanese assets for this cause. This was distributed by the FEPOW Welfare Trust, on which Percival served as Chairman
AE Percival’s career can be seen on Wikipedia...
en.m.wikipedia.org
Arthur Ernest Percival (1887-1966) was Commander of Commonwealth Forces during the Japanese Malayan campaign, and subsequent Battle of Singapore. Winston Churchill had described the humiliation of Singapore as "the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British History." Percival had surrendered in spite of Churchhill’s instruction for prolonged resistance, and it looks like he was made a scapegoat. There are those however that suggest that the Government in London were more to blame than the Commanders. His dispatches were only published in 1948 and revised by the Government, and unlike many others was not awarded a knighthood.
Percival was held at Changi Prison in Singapore, and then along with other ranks above colonel he was removed to be imprisoned in Formosa, then sent on to Manchuria, where he was held with several dozen other VIP captives, including the American General Jonathan Wainwright, in a prisoner-of-war camp near Hsian, about 100 miles (160 km) to the north east of Mukden.
In the wiki account of Percival there are two contrasting pictures. The first is in Singapore where Percival can be seen at the table with Yamashita, who is banging his fist and demanding unconditional surrender. The second shows him with Wainwright behind MacArthur at the Japanese surrender. Percival and Wainwright then returned together to the Philippines to witness the surrender of the Japanese army there, which in a twist of fate was commanded by General Yamashita. On this occasion Percival refused to shake Yamashita's hand, angered by the mistreatment of POWs in Singapore.
