The Singapore History Gallery is a 2,800-square-metre (30,000 sq ft) gallery located within the vicinity of the National Museum of Singapore. The gallery adopts a story-telling approach, unveiling different perspectives through tales of the past.
The Singapore History Gallery is a 2,800-square-metre (30,000 sq ft) gallery located within the vicinity of the National Museum of Singapore. The gallery adopts a story-telling approach, unveiling different perspectives through tales of the past.
The history gallery have gone through some major renovations to improve facilities and to create a new experience for visitors in the museum.
When visitors walk into the gallery's main entrance on level 1, they are welcomed by the nice breeze of the multimedia projections of a map of Singapore from 1700s made by a European traveller who navigated the world in that century.
The exhibits that are found in the gallery are found below:
Well before World War Two began, the British had developed the “Singapore strategy” to defend the British empire in Asia. In Singapore, they built a naval base at Sembawang, strengthened the air force and installed large 15-inch coastal guns. Singapore became known as the “Gibraltar of the East” or “Fortress Singapore”.
At the same time, the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 stirred up the Chinese community in Singapore. They formed “patriotic” organisations, which raised funds for China’s war effort and organised boycotts of Japanese goods and businesses.
On 8 December 1941, Singapore experienced war for the first time when the Japanese bombed the city. On the same day, Japanese troops landed on the northeast coast of Malaya and began their invasion. After a swift 70-day campaign, the Japanese – to almost everyone’s surprise – defeated the British and occupied the Malay Peninsula and Singapore.
The British surrendered on 15 February 1942. Singapore was placed under military occupation and renamed Syonan-To (“Light of the South” in Japanese). While the war continued elsewhere, the Singapore population struggled with food and fuel shortages, disease and, at its worst, violence and harassment from the Japanese. The occupation ended only when Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945.
In February 2012, the Toh Chin Chye's exhibit (which is Deputy Prime Minister and the Singapore flag) was also added into the Singapore History Gallery.
Modern Developments showcases the brief history including the late 1990s, at least where Ng Pei Seng placed his D&T semi-preserved exhibit, that is from 1999.
Singapore Millennium also showcases the PSI readings in the year 2006, 2010, 2013 and 2014 due to the Southeast Asian haze.
In Memoriam: Lee Kuan Yew is an exhibit dedicated for the late Lee Kuan Yew, who had died on 23 March 2015. The exhibits will include the following:
Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean politician and lawyer who served as the first Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. As one of the founding members of the People's Action Party, Lee is recognised as the nation's founding father, credited with rapidly transitioning the country from a "developing third world country into a developed first world country within a single generation" under his leadership.
The Sook Ching was a systematic purge of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore by the Japanese military during the Japanese occupation of Singapore and Malaya, after the British colony surrendered on 15 February 1942 following the Battle of Singapore. The purge took place from 18 February to 4 March 1942 at various places in the region. The operation was overseen by the Imperial Japanese Army's Kempeitai secret police and subsequently extended to include the Chinese population in Malaya.
Kwa Geok Choo was a Singaporean lawyer and the wife of Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore, and the mother of Lee Hsien Loong, the third and current Prime Minister. She was the co-founder and partner of law firm Lee & Lee.
Syonan, officially Syonanto was the name for Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II.
The 1964 Singapore Riots refer to a series of communal race-based civil disturbances between the Malays and Chinese in Singapore following its merger with Malaysia in 1963, and were considered to be the "worst and most prolonged in Singapore’s postwar history". The term is also used to refer specifically to two riots on 21 Jul 1964 and 2 Sep 1964, particularly the former, during which 23 people died and 454 others suffered severe injuries.
The Old Tao Nan School is a historic building in Singapore, located along Armenian Street in the Museum Planning Area, within the Central Area. The building was originally built for the Tao Nan School to serve the local Hokkien community, but the school has since been relocated to its current location in Marine Parade. The building was then used as a wing of the Asian Civilisations Museum, and now houses the Peranakan Museum. It was gazetted as a national monument on 27 February 1998.
The Former Ford Factory is located along Upper Bukit Timah Road at Bukit Timah in Singapore. It is the place where British forces under Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival surrendered to Japanese forces under Lieutenant-General Yamashita Tomoyuki on 15 February 1942 after the Battle of Singapore. The Old Ford Motor Factory had since been gazetted as a National Monument in 2006, and converted into an exhibition gallery and archive named Memories at Old Ford Factory.
Malaya was gradually occupied by the Japanese between 8 December 1941 and the Allied surrender at Singapore on 16 February 1942. The Japanese remained in occupation until their surrender to the Allies in 1945. The first Japanese garrison in Malaya to lay down their arms was in Penang on 2 September 1945 aboard HMS Nelson.
The history of the modern state of Singapore dates back to its founding in the early nineteenth century, but evidence suggests that a significant trading settlement existed in the Island of Singapore in the 14th century. At the time, the Kingdom of Singapura was under the rule of Parameswara, who killed the previous ruler before he was expelled by the Majapahit or the Siamese. It then came under the Malacca Sultanate and then the Johor Sultanate. In 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles negotiated a treaty whereby Johor allowed the British to locate a trading port on the island, leading to the establishment of the British crown colony of Singapore in 1819.
Singapore was one of the 14 states of Malaysia from 1963 to 1965. Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963 by the merger of the Federation of Malaya with the former British colonies of North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore. This marked the end of a 144-year British rule in Singapore which began with the founding of modern Singapore by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819.
The Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation, usually called the Civilian War Memorial, is a war memorial and heritage landmark in Singapore next to Esplanade MRT station. It was built in memory of the civilians killed during the Japanese occupation of Singapore during World War II. The Civilian War Memorial sits on serene parkland in the midst of busy city traffic near Singapore's Padang and City Hall. Located within the War Memorial Park at Beach Road within the Central Area, Singapore's central business district, it is usually easy to spot in most backdrops encompassing the CBD landscape. It was gazetted as a 65th national memorial on 15 August 2013.
Othman bin Wok, DUNU ,, often known as Othman Wok, was a Singaporean politician. He was a minister in the Cabinet for 14 years. He was the Minister of Social Affairs from October 1963 to June 1977. After retiring from active politics, he was Singapore's ambassador to Indonesia and served on the boards of the Singapore Tourism Board and Sentosa Development Corporation. For his political, economic and social contributions to the nation building of Singapore, he was awarded the Order of Nila Utama in 1983 by President Devan Nair.
The Ee Hoe Hean Club, founded in 1895 and located at Bukit Pasoh Road in Chinatown, was a millionaires' club in Singapore. Besides functioning as a social and business club, members of the club were actively involved in the political development of China in the early 20th century. The club supported the 1911 Xinhai Revolution which overthrew the Qing Dynasty, and later the establishment of the Republic of China. During World War II, it was the headquarters of the anti-Japanese China Salvation Movement in Southeast Asia from 1937—1942. On 18 October 1995, the club was gazetted as a Heritage Site by the National Heritage Board of Singapore.
War Memorial Park is a park in Singapore, located at the junctions of Beach Road, Stamford Road, Nicoll Highway and Bras Basah Road in the Downtown Core of Singapore's Central Region next to Esplanade MRT station. The Civilian War Memorial is located at the center of the park as a memorial to civilians who died in Singapore during World War II. It is managed by the National Parks Board.
Reflections at Bukit Chandu is a World War II interpretive centre developed and managed by the National Archives of Singapore, located on Bukit Chandu off Pasir Panjang Road in Singapore.
Eu Chooi Yip was a prominent member of the anti-colonial and Communist movements in Malaya and Singapore in the 1950s and 60s. Eu Chooi Yip was born in Kuantan, Malaysia.
Alexander Arthur Josey was a British journalist, political writer and commentator, biographer, and during WWII and the Malayan Emergency, a propagandist. He is best known for his biographies on the former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, as well as: Democracy in Singapore: The 1970 By-Elections, Singapore: Its Past, Present and Future, Socialism in Asia, and Trade Unionism in Malaya.
The Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army was a paramilitary group that was active during the Japanese occupation of Malaya from 1942 to 1945. Composed mainly of ethnic Chinese guerrilla fighters, the MPAJA was the biggest anti-Japanese resistance group in Malaya. Founded on 18 December 1941 during the Japanese invasion of Malaya, the MPAJA was conceived as a part of a combined effort by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), British colonial government, and various anti-Japanese groups to resist the Japanese occupation of Malayan territory. Although the MPAJA and the MCP were officially different organisations, many saw the MPAJA as a de facto armed wing of the MCP due to its leadership being staffed by mostly ethnic Chinese communists. Many of the ex-guerrillas of the MPAJA would later join the MCP in its open conflict with the BMA during the Malayan Emergency.
Tun Leong Yew Koh was the first Governor of Malacca since independence. Being a Kuomintang member himself and serving under the Republic of China government from 1932 and later become the leader of Overseas Chinese Anti-Japanese Army branch in Perak from 1942 until 1945, he is one of the founder of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) in 1949 and the party first secretary-general.
Singapore–Taiwan relations are the international relations between Singapore and Taiwan. Taiwan has a representative office in Singapore. Singapore operates the Singapore Trade Office in Taipei in Taiwan, both of whom are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Presidential Envoy of ROC and Prime Minister of Singapore regularly meet, in the form similar to private state-to-state gesture diplomacy at APEC.