SG50 War Memories

Singapore celebrates its 50th birthday this year and leading up to our national day on 9 Aug, the whole nation is in preparations for the year of Jubilee. 50 years of independence but what did we actually gain independence from and why was it so important?

I decided that it might be a timely for the children and myself to learn a bit more of our history  which will in turn help us all appreciate our present better.

So here we are today heading out for a family field trip together to Labrador Nature Reserve to learn about the last and fiercest battle fought in defence for Singapore during World War II.

Leading up to the trip, I read about about the Japanese invasion and even though I should have studied this in history, I was surprised to find out that we were occupied in 7 days and we were supposed to be a strong British fortress in the Malaya. So what went so wrong?

I think one lesson I picked up for myself is that we cannot depend on other people to defend our country. It was obvious that the British troops stationed here had neither the skills nor the heart to defend Singapore. In fact the fiercest fight was between the Malay Regiment and the Japanese at the last line of defence at Pasir Panjang. And this is the focus of our learning journey today.

As the kids were worn out after exploring Labrador Park we made the journey to Bukit Chandu/Pasir Panjang Hill by car. In all the walk was a good 6km workout travelling through 600 years of our history.

On hindsight while I may lament that we could have won against the Japanese invasion in Feb 1942, if we had, we might not have been the nation we are today. We would have likely continued to depend on the British for a much longer time and not gained independence till much later. In that sense, I am reminded of what was preached at service on Sunday.

The Holy Spirit continues the work of the Gospel in the face of catastrophe. Perhaps it was all part and parcel of the making of the Antioch of Asia.