Monday, February 20, 2006
Memories at Old Ford Factory
The Ford Factory along Bukit Timah Road where the British surrendered on 15th Feb 1942 was gazetted as a national monument exactly 64 years later on 15th Feb 2006. Teo Chee Hean officiated at its opening as a museum , Memories at Old Ford Factory, on the evening of the 16th. It opened to the public today, Mon 20th, and I will be attending a forum there tomorrow. The half day forum, Oral History Forum 2006: Recording Memories, Weaving Stories, is about doing oral history.
News coverage was sparse with Channel NewsAsia announcing the gazetting on 7 Feb: 'Site of British surrender in WW2 to be preserved as national monument'. Today went with an article by JoAnn Melina Lopez with the title 'Relive WWII horrors at new monument' on 16 Feb and a follow up article on 20 Feb by Amelynn Liong on 'Memories of eating rats to survive the Japanese Occupation'. The Straits Times on the other hand, seems to have virtually ignored the event. However, there is a major 18 Feb full page Saturday Insight (pS9) piece by Zakir Hussain and Sim Chi Yin on 'Telling the Singapore storyies'. The main story here centres around renewed interest in Singapore's history and the difficulties of doing Singapore history. Although the Ford Factory opening is mentioned, the article seems more a report of the 7 Feb ARI seminar 'Roundtable on Rethinking Singapore History'. There are two side stories about documenting Nantah's history and filming Chin Peng's story (I never knew Chin Peng was from ACS Sitiawan).
News coverage was sparse with Channel NewsAsia announcing the gazetting on 7 Feb: 'Site of British surrender in WW2 to be preserved as national monument'. Today went with an article by JoAnn Melina Lopez with the title 'Relive WWII horrors at new monument' on 16 Feb and a follow up article on 20 Feb by Amelynn Liong on 'Memories of eating rats to survive the Japanese Occupation'. The Straits Times on the other hand, seems to have virtually ignored the event. However, there is a major 18 Feb full page Saturday Insight (pS9) piece by Zakir Hussain and Sim Chi Yin on 'Telling the Singapore storyies'. The main story here centres around renewed interest in Singapore's history and the difficulties of doing Singapore history. Although the Ford Factory opening is mentioned, the article seems more a report of the 7 Feb ARI seminar 'Roundtable on Rethinking Singapore History'. There are two side stories about documenting Nantah's history and filming Chin Peng's story (I never knew Chin Peng was from ACS Sitiawan).
