Bukit Batok Memorial
The Bukit Batok Memorial is located on top of the tranquil
Second World War
. The two memorials were destroyed after the war and only the road and stairs that used to lead to them mark its legacy today.
History
Bukit Batok is located near the
Arthur Ernest Percival, General Officer Commanding, HQ Malaya Command, had surrendered over 125,000 British and Commonwealth troops to Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki Yamashita on the evening of 15 February 1942.[1]
Allies' Memorial Cross
POW labour was used to build a total of three war memorials, including one dedicated to the fallen of the
Syonan Jinja in MacRitchie Reservoir during the Occupation.[2] English bombardier Stanley Warren of the Changi Murals fame, belonged to one of the work parties that built the stairs and a road named Lorong Sesuai, leading to the two memorials on top of Bukit Batok.[3] The Japanese had originally planned just one memorial called Syonan Chureito for their war dead but the POWs asked the Japanese for permission to build a memorial to their own war dead near the Japanese memorial and had been given permission and materials to erect a 15-foot (4.6 m) wooden cross behind Syonan Chureito. The Japanese had hoped to capitalise on the propaganda value of acceding to the request.[1] The Japanese engineering commander-in-charge of the POWs then was Colonel
Yasugi Tamura. About 500 Australian POWs mainly from the Artillery, and Infantry battalions, encamped at Sime Road and Adam Park were marched back and forth each day between the job site and their camp and worked tirelessly until both memorials were completed.
Syonan Chureito
On the night of 7 December 1942, in a solemn ceremony, the ashes of the Japanese war dead encased in white wooden boxes were brought to the foot of the long flight of steps leading to Syonan Chureito and ceremoniously carried up the torch-lit steps for interment inside a small shrine located at the top. The guest of honour was General
Japanese Emperor
and the deified spirits of their fallen comrades at Syonan Chureito and Syonan Jinja.
Post-war years
The two memorials on the hilltop were torn down when the Japanese surrendered and all that remains are two entrance pillars and the 120 steps that now lead to a transmission tower operated by
Japanese Occupation of Singapore.[6] In 1995, the NHB gazetted the site as one of the 11 World War II sites in Singapore.[7]
References
Notes
- ^ a b c Bose, pp. 48—50.
- ^ National Heritage Board, p.47.
- ^ Stubbs, pp. 41—43.
- ^ a b Lee, "War Memorials and Shrines", p. 132.
- ^ "Bukit Batok Nature Park". National Parks Board. Archived from the original on 26 February 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2007.
- ^ National Heritage Board, p. 128.
- ^ National Heritage Board (1995). "World War II Sites of Singapore – In Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the End of World War II".
Bibliography
- ISBN 981-4068-23-3.
- Bose, Romen (2005). Kranji—The Commonwealth War Cemetery and the Politics of the Dead. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 981-261-275-0.
- Lee, Geok Boi (2005). The Syonan Years: Singapore Under Japanese Rule 1942—1945. Singapore: National Archives of Singapore. ISBN 981-05-4290-9.
- Stubbs, Peter W. (2003). The Changi Murals—The Story of Stanley Warren's War. Singapore: Landmarks Books. ISBN 981-3065-84-2.