By Sophia,Renee,Jassirah and Kellly

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Entrance of the Old Ford Factory.

After a 30 minutes bus ride from school, we finally arrived at the Old Ford Factory. we ran up the stairs towards the Factory. Before we entered, a man at the entrance told the teachers that there was a short film prepared at the screening room .the short film was on world war 2. we learnt from the film that many people had survived the war despite the hardships during Japanese occupation.

<<<(entrance at the Old Ford Factory)  

The people of Singapore suffered under the Japanese occupation. they had to obey them or they would be killed.

The malays were arrested on the streets and were sent to Thailand to build the Death Railway. 

<<<<(heads of people who did not obey the japanese)

           The Indians were forced to join the Indian National Army (I.N.A) to fight against the British in India. Those who refused we sent to build the Death Railway. 

The Eurasians also suffered under the Japanese because they looked like Europeans and were put into prison camps.

<<< (Death Railway in Thailand)

The chinese suffered the most because They had actively helped China in its fight against Japan.Many people experienced hunger during the Occupation because there was a shortage of food. Essential foodstuffs like rice, salt and sugar were controlled. Ration cards which limited the amount of food for each person were given out.  

prices of rice and eggs at the Black Market.

the "black market" If a person was not able to pay the price, he or she had to go without it. The people were also encouraged to grow more food. Even in schools, pupils had to look after vegetable plots.

But the food shortage did not affect the Japanese. They had the best of everything: rice, sugar, meat, fish, whisky and cigarettes.

"Banana Money"

The money was worth so little that the phrase "banana money" came to mean useless money. Some people even went shopping with bags of banana notes. In fact, a used towel could fetch as much as $300 worth of banana notes! 
It was hard to put food on the table because food was very expensive and the best quality was given to the Japanese 


44 months of the Japanese occupation brought immense pain, suffering and losses form many who lost family members and friends, and probably apart of themselves die along with them. the people learnt courage, determination survival skills resilience and the selfless acts of goodwill demonstrated by many.

Bukit Chandu Museum

after visiting the old ford factory, we took  another 20 minutes to get to Bukit Chandu. when we arrived, we had to trudge through grass and climb up a flight of stairs to reach the entrance of the Bukit Chandu Museum. 
Bukit Chandu hill was the site of one of the fiercest and last significant battles, the Battle of Bukit Chandu, before the British surrendered Singapore to the Japanese on the 15 February1942

statues outside the Museum

We saw statues that were outside the museum, They were statues of a Malay motar crew who were invovled in the Battle Of Bukit Chandu

Lt Adnan Saidi was the leader of a 42-strong platoon in defense of Singapore against the invading Japanese. tje soilders fought on Bukit Chandu hill area from the 12-14 feburary 1942. although they were heavily outnumbered, the platoon carried on fighting. they held off the invading Japanese for 2 days with heavy enemy shelling,shortage of food and ammunition.