The address of the museum

Somewhere along the road at Pasir Panjang where my family visit the famous Tung Lok Kuey Chap lies a bungalow museum that is dedicated to the ill-fated battle against the Japanese during the second world war. The Japanese mounted a surprise attack on Singapore and Kent Ridge was Singapore last resistance against the Imperial troops.


Is this a watch tower to over look the south coast of Singapore for Japanese Navy?

Admission to this little museum would cost you $2 per adult and aside from the groups of secondary school students, there were a grand total of 2 other visitors beside me and sucre. It's no wonder since Bukit Chandu, or Kent Ridge Park, is not really accessible to the public.


Those rude secondary school students

We were greeted by a friendly caretaker when we entered the museum and followed his kind advice to move to the theatre for a video before the seats were taken up by those students. Unfortunately, the pleasant experience ended there. After settling at a nice corner of the small theatre, hordes of rowdy secondary school students swamped the quiet theatre. And for some reasons, a couple of them just had to sms their friends throughout the entire video, blinding us with the light from their handphone.


One of the many multimedia display for the museum (Taken with Fuji F11)

There were plenty of displays for the museum, including the following:-
1.) A computerized touch screen multimedia video display superimposed on a 1940s map of Singapore showing the tactical and strategic superiority of the Japanese compared to the powerful but naive British troops.
2.) Audio recordings of unnamed survivals of the war sharing their memories of the war
3.) Video of a Steve Irwin impersonator in a presentation that tries to bring back the war in a sandbox shown above
4.) Various rifles, helmets and war artifacts


Uniform of Malay regiment officers

Shortly after the battle was lost here, Singapore lost her war against the Japanese. I wouldn't have known all these without visiting the museum and it seem to me the main purpose of the museum is to educate Singaporeans about this historical part of Singapore. The museum was boring and lacked interactive elements. It may have good facilities (Sennheiser headphones at the theatre) but all the resources are used in presentations etc. In other words, the museum is a bit boring.


Artillery of the past.

If only they put more thoughts in designing the museum. Perhaps they could design it such that a visitor would "live" through the few days before, during and after the battle as they explore the museum. We could walk into the first room where a family is having their dinner listening to radio for the latest updates on the war, and they could be talking about the retreating British troops that they saw earlier in the day. The next room could be a war-torn room or a bomb shelther where the Japanese had launched their first wave of air strike. Another room could mimic the command centre where the generals discuss the battle movement. And don't fence off your display items. Putting those dummies behind glass wall would keep the visitor detached from the museum.

Reflections at Bukit Chandu, could be better.

All photos taken with the Sony Alpha using the 18-70mm kit lens unless stated otherwise.

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