[Historical Site] WWII: Ford Motor Factory

A Japanese bayonet and cap as seen on display at the Ford Factory Museum

A bayonet and a cap sat quietly in a showcase. These items are more than 70 years old but they still strike fear in the hearts of those who have lived through those times. A bayonet, when affixed onto a rifle, was a harbinger of pain. Extinguishing lives before their due. While the cap shades the Japanese soldier from the sun, it also adds on to the fearsome demeanour of the Japanese soldier.

Both these items and more are currently being kept in the Old Memories at Ford Factory Museum along Upper Bukit Timah.  

Frontage of the old Ford Factory

History of the Ford Factory in Singapore

The factory's assembly plant was already running in July 1941 and the cost of the entire set-up came up to $1,000,000. (1) The British government was using this plant to build military vehicles and trucks for use in the war against the axis powers. The Singapore-based plant had also provided a source of income for more than 400 workers.

Photo of Ford Motor Company taken in 1942. Source: National Archives of Singapore

The Surrender Papers

 

This factory was also an important landmark as it was where the fate of Singapore was decided on 15 February 1942. After just eight days of fighting on local soil, Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival had no choice but to surrender as the island was running out of food, water and ammunition.

More lives would have been lost if Percival had chosen to fight on. He was then asked by the Japanese Imperial Army to surrender unconditionally at the Ford Factory, which the Japanese has made it their Imperial Army Headquarters. Victory was on the faces of Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki Yamashita and his staff, while Percival and his men looked forlorn. Both parties walked into the room location at the far left of the factory.

Lt. Gen Yamashita demanded the surrender of the British-led forces. Source: National Archives of Singapore 

Significance of the Table, Chairs and Clock

The dark wooden oak table was of great monumental significance as it saw the pounding of Yamashita's fist on it to demand that the British surrender immediately. It also held up the surrender papers that Lt. Gen Percival signed. The chairs that were used by both the British and Japanese to sign the surrender papers must have felt the strain with the unfurling of such an important event.

Miraculously, all these items survived the war and are now on display in the Old Memories at Ford Factory Museum. Symbolically, the timing on the wall clock shows that it is 6:20 - the exact time that Percival signed over British control of Singapore to the Japanese.

Original table and chairs used in the signing of the surrender documents

Grand Story Teller

To see if we can learn more about this historical place, my colleagues and I made a trip down to the Old Ford Factory. We met a museum staff, Mr Leung Keng Hong. Though he claimed that he was not an official guide, he was extremely kind to have brought us through the exhibits. He gave a very balanced view about why Percival needed to surrender and that war should be avoided at all cost.

Mr Leung in front of the Peace Sculpture

Nugget of Information

Through our entire tour, Mr Leung shared many interesting points which helped to give life to those artifacts that have been silenced for so many years. The tree trunk that was placed in the museum to which he said that the people were so hungry that they stripped the tree of their barks for food. Also, POWs crushed the lalang to extract starch and sugar for their survival.

One interesting point that Mr Leung had raised was that there was a railway track that ran behind the Ford factory. I further quizzed Mr Leung but he could not shed much light to this railway track.

If there was really a railway track at the back of the factory, where could it have been located?


References

1. The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884-1942). 12 July 1941.

Military Trucks Run Off Assembly Line In Malaya. Page 7