In early 1942 Smit was transferred to the infantry in East Java, but was soon captured by the invading Japanese forces. He spent three and a half years in forced labor camps building roads, bridges, and railways on the Burma Railway in Thailand, and Burma. After the Japanese capitulation in August 1945, Smit convalesced in Bangkok until January 1946. After being stationed in Denpasar, Bali as a staff writer for the infantry, he returned to the Topographical Service in Batavia in September. Until its discontinuation in 1950, he remained employed at this service, eventually becoming head of the drawing department, but in his spare time he criss-crossed Java as a painter and in October 1948 had his first exhibition in Batavia/Jakarta. After Indonesian Independence on December 27, 1949, all Dutch nationals had to choose between Dutch or Indonesian citizenship within two years. Smit briefly considered emigrating to South Africa, but decided to stay; he became an Indonesian citizen late in 1951. In the following years he taught graphics and lithography at the Institut Teknologi Bandung in West Java.
Sumber : wikipedia.org