World War 2 in the city

Posted by Tym under Explore Singapore!
(0) Comment • (5656) Reads • Permalink

There are lots of stories one could tell about our Civic District, but perhaps the least pleasant and potentially most gruesome of them all are those related to World War 2 and the Japanese Occupation. On the Singapore Philatelic Museum’s World War 2 walking trail on Sunday, we got a hint of some of these tales but not all the details because our guide, Jimmy Yeo, didn’t exactly want the curious kids to go home and have any nightmares.

Our first stop at Fort Canning Park didn’t really yield any horror stories. Instead, we heard about the British defence plans for Singapore and why they failed in 1942, and why the big naval guns on Sentosa couldn’t quite do the job. (The story’s a little more complex than what the secondary school history textbooks tell us.)

In the Cathay/YMCA/Stamford Road area though, stories took a different turn.

Longstanding ghost stories about the National Museum aside, there were plenty of tales about the Kempeitai (headquartered at the former YMCA) to go around. Small wonder the old YMCA building was torn down despite its attractive facade; it just brought back too many horrible memories after the war.

Then there was the revelation that the small field outside Cathay Building (where they’re building the new Singapore Arts School) was the spot where the Japanese would display the heads of looters and others whom they wanted to make an example of. Oh, there are going to be plenty of ghost stories about that place when it opens …

Wandering south towards St Andrew’s Cathedral and City Hall, though, stories got a little happier. The City Hall steps, of course, are where the Japanese offically surrendered to Admiral Mountbatten in 1945 (and then some were promptly put to work clearing the Padang and at other public works). I’m not sure what the weather was like at the official surrender ceremony, but if it was as blisteringly hot as it was on Sunday, Admiral Mountbatten has my even greater admiration for wearing his dress whites throughout the ceremony.

Nevertheless, Singapore’s a good place for walking trails — plenty of pedestrian-friendly roads, plenty of interesting historical and cultural tidbits packed into every square foot of land. Sunday’s tour barely made a dent in all the stories one could tell, even just about World War 2. All you need is a good pair of shoes/sandals and a guide with a good ear for anecdotes.

See my full Flickr: Explore Singapore! set.

Tags: Explore Singapore, National Heritage Board, Singapore Philatelic Museum, Singapore, walking tour, walking trail,