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Motion · S6M-18877 · 12 Sep 2025

Commemorating the Sinking of the Suez Maru and Honouring Allied Prisoners of War

Lodged by Stephanie Callaghan Standard Motion 40 supporters

The motion

That the Parliament commemorates the sinking of the Suez Maru on 29 November 1943, in which 550 Allied prisoners of war (POWs), mainly Scottish, British and Dutch servicemen, were being transported by the Japanese Imperial Army from Ambon to Surabaya; acknowledges with profound regret and sadness that many of these POWs, unarmed and already enduring extreme physical hardship, lost their lives when the vessel was torpedoed by the USS Bonefish, which was unaware of its human cargo, and that survivors of the sinking were subsequently brutally executed by Japanese forces, in violation of international law; recognises the Suez Maru tragedy as one of the most distressing examples of the suffering endured by Allied POWs in the Asia-Pacific campaign; notes that this tragedy went largely unacknowledged for decades; commends the Suez Maru Apology Campaign for its research, bringing together the families of those who lost their lives and establishing a tribute at the National Memorial Arboretum to honour the servicemen in their pursuit of recognition and justice; acknowledges the group’s continuing efforts to seek a formal apology from the UK Government for what it sees as its failure at the time to pursue a war crimes trial and for the concealment of the massacre, which, it believes, has caused decades of generational harm, and calls on the Scottish and UK governments to preserve the memory of those who perished because of sinking and subsequent events through education, commemoration and support for the families of the victims, particularly in connection with VJ Day, as a solemn reminder of the cost of war and the enduring importance of international humanitarian law.

Supporters (40)

Source: the Scottish Parliament motions and amendments record.