East Coast and Changi Tour

Yesterday afternoon we got the opportunity tovisit the Changi War museum. On the way to the war museum our guide gave us a bit of information about the history of Singapore, specifically the outbreak of World War II and how Singapore became involved. Changi Gaol, or Changi prison as it is now known was a used as a prisoner of war camp as well as a civilian prison during the Japanese occupation of Singapore.First we visited the Changi Chapel which was built by Australian Prisoners of War who were detained in the prison. The chapel we saw was just a replica because the real chapel has been returned to Australia and is now held in the Royal Military Academy in Canberra. The displays at the Changi museum consisted of several pictures of the prisoners of war and civilians accompanied by personal testimonies from those involved in the conflict. Some of the images were quite confronting which gave us a startling interpretation of the true horror and sorrow caused by the occupation. One of the stories that particularly affected me was a sketch on the wall by Ray Parkin called two malarias and a cholera. Parkin was a prisoner of war who worked on the Thai-Burma railway and the sketch depicted a particularly harrowing experience he had while participating in what was essentially slave labour. Because of the intense working conditions, lack of water and sanitation and the tropical environment they were in, many of the POWs got sick with a variety of tropical diseases and the Japanese were not very generous in providing medical assistance to the prisoners.  This particular sketch depicts two men with malaria trying to carry a man with cholera between them so that they could all be receive medical attention because the Japanese officers would not allow any healthy men to stop work. This and other stories like it gave us an impression of just how horrible the Japanese occupation and the war in general was for prisoners of war and civilians alike. Aside from these atrocities though there were some heart-warming exhibits as well, including a replica of a quilt made by female internees in Changi Prison with each of their initials stitched on to it that was presented to the male prisoners as a kind of secret message that they were all alive and well. There was also a small gallery of artworks made by prisoners in Changi during their confinement there which served as a testament to the power of artistic vision and camaraderie, as it would have been a team effort to provide an artist with the necessary art supplies to create their sketches or paintings. Overall, it was a very enriching and interesting, if confronting experience for all of us. Unfortunately, we were not permitted to take photos inside the museum but you can do a virtual tour of the Changi museum here: http://www.changimuseum.sg/virtual-tour/