Hungarian-viatheNetherlands-inSingapore: Singapore Sights

Old Ford Factory is Singapore's museum of the World War II Japanese occupation.

The museum is located roughly in the middle of the island. It is on Upper Bukit Timah Road, which means that it is next to the Bukit Timah, which is where, incidentally, Singapore's highest point is located (bukit=hill in Malay). This sign shows the direction of and distance to historic WWII sites on and off the island.

The entrance in the background is not the museum, that is to the right, this building is the Singapore National Archives.

This is the museum.

At the entrance they explain that the museum is very much based on taped recollections of survivors of the war (hence the full name of the museum: Memories at Old Ford Factory), and exhibits are only there to support the audio recordings. Considering, the objects are plentiful and impressive.

I wish I have taken notes... But hopefully most of these objects are self-explanatory. These are the exhibits on the walls, leading in through a tunnel.

(I remember that these are replicas...)

Old Ford Factory, is the site where the British have surrendered to the Japanese at the end of the Battle of Singapore in WWII in 1942. You might recall, that the British war headquarters were on Fort Canning Hill (see my post here), which is located in the southern part of Singapore, sort of in the center of the southern shore. The Japanese, coming from Malaysia, the Malay peninsula, have landed on Singapore from the north, also sort of in the center of the northern shore. The British had most of their military reserves (e.g. ammunition and fuel) up north. They have started to eliminate them (transport or burn) so that the Japanese would not acquire these. The Japanese had started south and covered ground fairly fast. But there were still quite a few battles fought, e.g. at Choa Chu Kang (north west from the factory), Bukit Batok (west) and Bukit Timah (east). The Japanese have eventually set up their (temporary) headquarters in the Ford Motor Factory. The factory was only founded in 1941 to become Ford's first car assembly plant in Southeast Asia, to be soon taken over by the Imperial Japanese Army.

This is the boardroom where the surrender took place on 15 February, 1942. The table is a replica of the original. (And there is my image, and of exhibits behind me on the glass!)

These are the two main players, Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival and General Tomoyuki Yamashita. Sorry, this is very bad back-lighting, but there are pictures of their pictures below.

"The British surrender party, led by Lt.-Gen. A.E. Percival, walking up the path leading to Ford Motor Factory." Percival is the second from the right. The Japanese man in the middle is NOT Yamashita, but an interpreter.

"Negotiation between Yamashita and Percival" - Yamashita is the portly man on the very left, Percival sits in the middle on the other side of the table. (And the interpreter is again on the picture.) The negotiations are on tape, and are also fully transcribed (some of which you can see on the pictures). Memories of both Yamashita and Percival are also provided. Yamashita revealed that he sounded very forceful in the negotiations because he was struggling to get his ideas through via the interpreter who did not know military terms in English, and because he didn't know if the British were aware how small the Japanese occupying troops were.

"Percival signing the surrender document" - According to Wikipedia, Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister at the time, referred to this event as the "worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history".

"After the surrender ceremony" - I don't think Yamashita is on the picture.

The rest of the exhibits detail various aspects of the Japanese occupation.

"The rise of a new imperialism" - Introduction of the Japanese military expansion. The "Southern Road".

"Resisting the Rising Sun"

"Mass Screening & Registration: First Scorch of the Rising Sun"

This is one of the pictures on the above exhibit. The interesting things are of the registration of the colonial women, and that the source of this picture is the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde.

Passes, notices, stamps

Transportation

The formation of the new state, Syonan-To. Syo=brilliant or bright, from Hirohito's reign title of Syowa Emperor, nan=south (by they way Nanyang means south ocean/sea), to=island. (And Malaya was also renamed Malai.)

The Japanese have immediately after the British surrender, launched Sook Ching, a brutal purge of thousands of Singapore Chinese, thought to harbour anti-Japanese sentiments. E.g. if your hands are to soft, you are educated, you must be anti-Japanese... The exact number of killed is unknown - some of the purges have taken place on the sea shore for the sea to take care of the bodies... The museum exhibits some sketches by Chia Chew Soo, who witnessed members of his own family being killed. But they are too awful, so I haven't taken a picture of them.

"Internment of POWs"

"The show must go on, and so must we!"

Prisoner of War Cook Book (Cookbooks compiled by the POWs containing recipes of their favourite food.)

"Riding the Japanese Tiger: Indian National Army" - The Japanese wanted the Indians to organize and become the main anti-British movement in Southeast Asia. For a while it worked, the INA was formed, but then they realized that the Japanese were using them. So they decided to disband and become POWs themselves.

Establishing New Order

Who hits whom in turn?

"Go Nippon-go" - Speaking, and hence studying, Japanese became very useful.

"The Empire Strikes Back" - the resistance

Marriage, weddings

Music, entertainment

Currency

Part of the liberation memorabilia. The source of the picture: Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie.

"Mountbatten signing the document accepting the surrender of the Japanese forces." - Way more ceremonial, i.e. way more embarrassing for the Japanese, than the British surrender in 1942.