Tales From The National Museum

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Did you know that the torn-down building previously occupying the YMCA site near Dhoby Ghaut MRT was actually an intelligence centre, or rather, torture headquarters for the Japanese during World War II? Some of the punishments meted out by the Japanese include plucking out fingernails. As the National Museum celebrates its 120 years anniversary this year, I’m here today ready to take a guided tour to the past in the “cultural icon of our era”. Together with 10 other participants, we embarked on a learning tour of Singapore’s history at the Photography Living Gallery and Singapore History Gallery.

The excited participants getting ready to set off! Our first stop is the Photography Living Gallery.

This lady is the fourth wife of the Sultan of Johore in 1890. Her exotic looks stems from the fact that she is from Turkey and the design of her clothes depicts social history norms (of what the rich wore) during that era.

Polygamy was common from the 1920s to the 1930s in Singapore. As long as a man can afford it, there’s nothing to stop him from having as many wives as he can. However, this practice was put to a stop by the government in 1962.

Next, we proceed to the Singapore History Gallery.

Finally, I’ve seen the infamous “Singapore Stone” after hearing about it for months! Originally part of an ancient boulder that once stood at the entrance of the Singapore River, the stone is proof that civilization exists in Singapore before Sir Stamford Raffles came here.

We were often told that Sir Stamford Raffles is the founder of Singapore while we were studying history. Yet many of us neglected the fact that William Farquhar is the real hero who was monumental in the development of Singapore.

In fact, he was so well liked by the locals that they gave him an expensive looking gift before he left Singapore.


I learned from our guide that many of the early immigrants from China took opium for a number of reasons. They were lonely, they missed home and they wanted to forget the pain inflicted on them from their daily manual labour. It was sad to hear that many of them squandered their hard-earned wages on opium.

Most of the “first generation” of policemen in Singapore were mainly Malays and Chinese “imported” from Hong Kong. The reason being many of our pre-war Chinese Singapore were involved in Secret Societies, triads and were causing a lot of social problems.

And soon, the Japanese invaded and the rest is history. Unfortunately, I was not able to take any good pictures as the WWII gallery was deliberately dark to reflect the sombre mood of war. Aside from YMCA being a torture chamber, I learnt that the Japanese back then hated the British and the Chinese. The British soldiers were sent to prisons while thousands of Chinese men were taken to beaches and executed.

The Guided Tour for Seniors is part of Explore Singapore! which happens from 10 November 2007 to 31 December 2007. For more information on Explore Singapore!, visit http://www.museums.com.sg/explore or call 62214463.