I am posting on behalf of Desmond:
Reflection 2
Today, we went to Changi Museum. Firstly, we see the map of Changi
village. It is only then I know that there are several barracks in the
past just in this place! Also, the guide said that overcrowding
occurred in such barracks in the past. How evil the Japanese were!
After that, we visited the chapel. At there, the guide told us the
dos and don'ts, and told us that was not the real chapel. The real
one was in Australia. But a real thing was left-the cross. It was from
United Kingdom and therefore the Australians could not take it. It was
said that the prisoner-of-war could do anything they want in the
chapel.
After that, we went into the museum. In the museum, the guide told us
about the Changi tree and other things in Changi village. Wow! The
Changi tree was so tall. It was about 12 storeys high. After that, the
guide told us about the "hook" attacks of the Japanese. The
Japanese were indeed very intelligent. Perhaps that is a reason why
Japanese could conquer the whole Malaya in just seventy days.
After that, we viewed the banners, mostly about the evil deeds of
Japanese and bitter life of prisoner-of-war. Then, we also saw a
replica of a cell in Changi prison. I think that the prisoner-of-war
must have led a bitter life.
After that, we viewed some banners about the surrender of Japanese to
Singapore. There were also three models of swords which the Japanese
had given when they surrendered. So it was the end of the tour.
After that, we watched a show about Elizabeth Choy. She talked about
the bitter life she experienced during the Japanese Occupation and the
chaos during that period of time. I felt that oral history is one of
the essential methods to obtain history. Of course, there were some
disadvantages since the person might be speaking lies. However, I think
that such cases are rare.
Later on, we visited the bookshop. There were quite a lot of books! I
only browsed some. I think that there should be much more book with
richer sources of history, but unfortunately, we did not have the whole
day.
Not long after, it was dismissal. We left the place. I think that
learning history should not be only from textbook-based lessons. I do
hope that we have such excursions in future to learn even more history!
Reflection 1
Today, we went to Labrador Park Battery. This is our first of the three
destinations. Firstly, we went to see the batteries locations. There
were also some banners introducing the history of the batteries.
I think that these banners are quite useful as people can get a
clearer idea of the history. Even I, did not know that the batteries
were only useful in shooting ships but not troops and there were five
guns in just the Labrador Battery.
After that, we saw the disposed gun. It was quite magnificent. It was
found around former Beach Road. I think that the gun was really used in
the invasion as the hole was spiral-shaped. After that, we took some
photos and left for the Kent Ridge Park.
At Kent Ridge Park, firstly we visited the bungalow. However, a
primary school had booked the place. But our spirits were not dampened.
We visited the other parts of the park through bridge. We learnt even
more things by the banners, like about the masaccre at Alexendra
Hospital, the Pasir Panjang fight and the surrender of British to
Japanese on 15th April 1942, 6.10p.m. After that, we rest under the
shelter.
Not long after, we began heading back to the bungalow, hoping that
the primary school students had left the place. As we were walking
halfway, we took another photo. We did take a little trouble to have
the photo taken.
When we reached our destination, we began paying up. After that, we
entered the bungalow. Wow! It was air-conditioned, finally! Firstly, we
looked at the information of the Japanese Occupation. There was indeed
much more information, like the thinking of General Dobbie that only
protecting the whole Malaya, Singapore can then be protected. I think
that the information is very well arranged for easy reference.
After that, we watched the audio-visual of the Pasir Panjang fight.
It was indeed multi-sensory. I think that this show is devoted to the
Malay Regiment.
After that, we continued to tour around the bungalow. There were some
models of weapons used by the Malay Regiment in World War II.
After this tour, I think that we should not only learnt
textbook-based history. Instead, we should visited some historical
place to get a more in-depth idea of World War II or even history of
Singapore.
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