http://padlet.com/klvnchan1989/FordFactory
Our final stop on this trail is perhaps the most poignant one of all. We leave the bunkers at Fort Canning where, on the morning of 15 February 1942, the decision was made to surrender Singapore to the Japanese forces. We imagine that the British surrender party would have driven - like us - down Bukit Timah Road to the headquarters of the Japanese Imperial Army at the Old Ford Factory, carrying the Union Jack and the white flag of surrender. Peter Thompson gives a more detailed account of that fateful day - including the hanging of the Japanese flag from Cathay building before the actual surrender after 4 pm.
This building along Upper Bukit Timah was opened in 1941 as the first Ford Motors assembly plant in Southeast Asia. It was used as an assembly site for fighter aircraft during the Malayan Campaign, but the most important usage - its capitulation into the history books of Singapore is its role as the location of the official surrender of Singapore to Japanese forces on February 15, 1942. Because of its historical importance, the front section of the building was gazetted as a national monument. It currently houses a World War 2 museum called Memories @ Old Ford Factory (MOFF).
This building along Upper Bukit Timah was opened in 1941 as the first Ford Motors assembly plant in Southeast Asia. It was used as an assembly site for fighter aircraft during the Malayan Campaign, but the most important usage - its capitulation into the history books of Singapore is its role as the location of the official surrender of Singapore to Japanese forces on February 15, 1942. Because of its historical importance, the front section of the building was gazetted as a national monument. It currently houses a World War 2 museum called Memories @ Old Ford Factory (MOFF).
In order to enter the museum, we use the sloping path from the car park instead of the stairs. It’s the same path taken by the British surrender party as they brought the Union Jack and the white flag of surrender to the Japanese army. With the picture of the British surrender party in our hands, we feel the same sense of sadness that they did so many years ago.
Walking through the entrance to the exhibition gallery is like being in the underground shelters used by locals during the Japanese air raids. The narrow slits in the walls give us a sense of foreboding, just like how the defending soldiers must have felt looking out of their concrete pillboxes. The recordings of voices of survivors whispering messages of anguish and fear overhead add to this sense of trepidation.
One of the most historically significant exhibits is the actual boardroom where the surrender took place. However, the furniture is not original - the table is a reproduction, as the original was donated to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australia as a recognition of the assistance rendered by Australian troops in the battle. The four chairs were donated by a former staff member of the Ford Motor Factory, and are originals used in the factory during its operating years. Based on their inventory identification tags, Mr Wong - the former accounts manager who took these chairs back at the closure of the factory - thinks they could have been the actual chairs used during the surrender negotiations.
On the same site of the Ford Factory is the National Archives of Singapore (NAS) archives repository, where they house photographs, artefacts, and oral history tapes. Some of these oral history accounts - those related to WW2 - are available to play at the Talking Map. This is a map of the Malay Peninsula made from green glass chips and mosaic floor tiles salvaged from the original factory building. Fronting it is a windshield from a Ford Cortina MKII - one of the popular models that was assembled in this same factory.
One of the clips is by former school principal Rudy William Mosbergen, who talks about the final air raid on Singapore on February 15, 1942, and the news of the British surrender. In the clip, he recalls: “Towards the evening the guns stopped shooting, and the air raids stopped. There was an eerie silence over Singapore, and we knew something was wrong, because before that the bombardment was incessant.
“And true enough, later that night word went out that the British had surrendered.”
Sources:
Memories Unfolded: A Guide to Memories at Old Ford Factory (National Archives of Singapore, 2008)
The Battle For Singapore: The True Story of the Greatest Catastrophe of World War II (Peter Thompson, 2005)
Personal reflections on site: The British surrender of Singapore is perhaps one of the most well-documented of the events of the Japanese campaign in Singapore. That influenced my decision to write less on the actual event, but instead focus more on the contents of the museum that was built to commemorate that day. The site itself is only a partial memory of the entire Japanese campaign - like many other places in Singapore, it has fallen prey to development. Most of the original site is gone, replaced by condominiums that surround the factory building and hide it from view. There are some efforts to present an ‘objective’ look at history. There is a section in the museum dedicated to ordinary life during the Japanese Occupation which doesn’t contradict but rather adds a new layer to the commonly repeated narrative that all suffered. More importantly, there is a section on the contributions of the Indian National Army to the war effort, which is not often talked about elsewhere.
Personal reflections on site: The British surrender of Singapore is perhaps one of the most well-documented of the events of the Japanese campaign in Singapore. That influenced my decision to write less on the actual event, but instead focus more on the contents of the museum that was built to commemorate that day. The site itself is only a partial memory of the entire Japanese campaign - like many other places in Singapore, it has fallen prey to development. Most of the original site is gone, replaced by condominiums that surround the factory building and hide it from view. There are some efforts to present an ‘objective’ look at history. There is a section in the museum dedicated to ordinary life during the Japanese Occupation which doesn’t contradict but rather adds a new layer to the commonly repeated narrative that all suffered. More importantly, there is a section on the contributions of the Indian National Army to the war effort, which is not often talked about elsewhere.
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