The Japanese occupied Singapore between 1942 and 1945, after having defeated the combined Australian, British, Indian and Malayan garrison in the Battle of Singapore. You can read more about the war from source.
The Japanese tricked the British military in Singapore, into thinking that they would attacked Singapore from the Sea but the Japanese soldiers cycled into Singapore from Malaysia i.e. North of Singapore.
Life during World War 2 is very difficult and the darkest period of Singapore History.
The Japanese issued ration cards(above photo) to control supplies of rice and other essential items. You have to visit the museum to see more exhibits associated with the war.
This is a replica of a coffin in a carriage used during the passing off a wealthy man. During those days, to be able to have such a grand funeral send off, it is very rare. Most are very poor during those times.
The museum guide was asking us to guess what this bucket is? Some guessed it is a bucket to feed animals.
Of couse, siblings and myself knew what this is....lol. It is a night soil bucket. Faeces is excreted into the bucket. It is one of the means of waste disposal, especially as much of the infrastructure was damaged and took a long time to rebuild following the Battle of Singapore and subsequent Japanese Occupation of Singapore. (Source: wikipedia ).
The collection method is generally very manual and heavily relies on close human contact with the waste. The collector would hang full honey buckets onto each end of a pole he carried on his shoulder and then proceeded to carry it through the streets until he reached the collection point. This was an unpleasant occupation and was predominately done by manual laborers.
I was lucky I was born after the war and I get to use the toilet with flushing system...Phew!
Can you see the museum guide in the dark? Noticed the cabinet in the background. It had wire mesh as doors and a hook on top, it is used to keep food to keep away flies and bugs. During those times, people could not afford fridge to keep their food. So this act like a fridge. I remember during my childhood, we had a cabinet that looked like the one in the photo but it is taller and it had wire mess door and we keep food and our bowls and plates inside the cabinets cause my parents were too poor to buy a fridge.
Appliances used during the 50s and 60s. They looked very retro and they are making a comeback.
I have done posting photos of Singapore history in the new building. Tomorrow I will post exhibits in the old musuem.
Hope you all enjoyed them. Please return tomorrow for more photos.
8 comments:
Hi Alice, ww2 was also a grim reminder of how cruel people are. Over here, it's known for haunted places..eg. old schools where the Japs used to well..behead their enemies. that soil bucket is a familiar issue here too..I remembered it during my grandparents time, naturally we are thankful it no longer exist. Have a great week ahead.
Wow !!
Great longggg post,
I have seen many from the museum,
it was really nice to see it all :)
Thanks...
Do you have to pay to visit? You been to the Sarawak Museum in Kuching. It is free. My mum used to like it because it was air con.
You have very good collections of photos. Very Interesting and educational.
Ann :)
Fantastic journey through History.
Ann, the museum is free but to visit the new extension where the Singapore stone is located, we need to pay $10.
amazing because this led me to read more about singapore in wikipedia.
oh, i heard the philippine team is going home. i agree with the singaporean advice for them not to play. for the greater sake.
Dongho, 4 young players on the HongKong Team are down with the H1N1 too. So both the philippine and hongkong teams have both withdrawn from the Asian Games. What a pity! But they got no choice, they do not want to affect other countries cause this is the Asian Games.
My grandmother had an ice box to keep her food cold before she got a refridgerator...
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