Singapore – The Pull Of The Land

Magnificent Works

August 22, 2026August 22, 2026 Richard Barnes

In this blog I’ve alluded to several monumental feats of engineering and construction such as the Caracas-La Guira Expressway, the Hotel Humboldt, the Pico Bolivar cable transport, the Torres Del Silencio, and more.

Every single one of those works still stands, to this day — 70 years later — having endured the folly of men — coups and coup attempts as well as incredible neglect of maintenance and upkeep — and the vicissitudes of nature — the 1967 and 2026 earthquakes and the horrendous rains of 1999.

They still stand.

In his memorable and enduring book and accompanying video series, How Should We Then Live?, the late Francis Schaeffer demonstrates that a civilization can be judged by its art, its architecture, its engineering, its construction projects, and more. He contrasts the art seen in Florence, Italy, with that which preceded and followed it. He discusses the uniqueness and endurance of Roman roads and aqueducts as well as the exquisite detail of Greek architecture contrasted with that of the more spartan Roman.

If Dr. Schaeffer is correct, then we must reckon with the magnificent works inaugurated during the Pérez Jiménez regime. To do so it is necessary to set aside our egalitarian, democratic prejudices and face reality, unencumbered by politics and ideology.

In the 50s Venezuela was a — several sources insist it was the most — prosperous South American country. She enjoyed economic freedom and was also “free” of the oratory of envy. Sources note that it had the largest middle class in South America.

I was born in the early part of that decade, during the Pérez Jiménez regime. I remember in childhood rubbing shoulders with friends and relatives from all social and economic strata of society. I do not recall folks politically fomenting class warfare or envy of any kind.

Later in life I came to realize that under the dictatorship, we did not enjoy a free press nor did we have universal suffrage. However, we did enjoy high levels of freedom, including freedom of mobility, freedom of commerce, freedom in society, and certainly freedom in our homes. We had nowhere near the restrictions the peoples of Eastern Europe or Mao’s China struggled under. Not to mention Fauci’s America.

In the first half of the 20th Century Venezuela became an economic powerhouse. As the petroleum and later the iron ore industries surged, Venezuela ensured they remained in private hands. The dictators understood that the state did not have the expertise to manage such vast, far flung operations; they left them in the hands of the international companies but did charge royalties and obtained other concessions in return. This arrangement ensured increasing prosperity for her people as well as great advances in local technology and culture.

This was a period of phenomenal progress in research and technology and discovery. “To cite just one example, the diamond knife (or scalpel) was invented in the 50s by Venezuelan Humberto Fernández-Morán Villalobos (1924-1999). This ‘significantly advanced the development of electromagnetic lenses for electron microscopy based on superconductor technology and many other scientific contributions.'”

In the 50s, the Venezuelan state was receiving billions and billions of dollars in monthly revenues (equivalent to today’s values). Well, so did the democratic regimes which followed, including Chávez and Maduro. But, unlike the latter two, the dictatorships were not involved as partners and major investors in illicit drug and mining operations.

The big difference between the 50s and later eras was that state spending focused on the country’s roads, airports, schools, hospitals, and universities. In other words, they benefitted the people of the country. Such spending was represented by major works as the aforementioned, plus the University Hospital of Caracas and her great historic monument and park, Paseo los Próceres (roughly translated as Walkway of the Heroes).

Caracas and La Güira also boasted a breathtaking cable car up Mount Ávila where the cylindrical Hotel Humboldt was built in the same decade and stands to this day. The design of the hotel was not only for beauty but to better withstand the strong winds which flow at those heights. And earthquakes.

In comparison, the 2026 earthquakes uncovered the sand castles nature of the most celebrated works of the Chávez regime: public housing. By now millions have seen the heartbreaking photos or videos of collapsed buildings and their foam — foam! — support.

I do not pretend to believe that corruption was non-existent in the Venezuela of the 1950s or that government functionaries all had clean hands then. However, using our Lord’s measuring stick: “By their fruits ye shall know them”, we can easily conclude that the level of corruption paled exceedingly compared to the mafioso-like environment which followed thereafter.

But one need not be a professional auditor with access to all the data, financial or otherwise, to conclude thusly. One need just take a look around and see the fruits and enquire as to when such were sown and/or reaped. Every single major work was either inaugurated or initiated prior to 1959. Even the gargantuan SIDOR, Venezuela’s giant steel corporation, was founded in 1953 although it did not see its greatest expansion until the 1970s. However, today it is dead, its death agonies having accelerated in the Chávez years when the military took over and bled it to the grave.

The marvelous Macagua project, right in the heart of Ciudad Guayana was ideated in 1946 when plans were launched to “electrify” the entire country and to export her fossil fuels for added revenues. Construction began in 1956 for Phase 1 and the plan achieved its Phase 3 in 1997. Today, however, only a fraction of her generators are functioning.

The magnificent Guri Dam project was also included in the 40s electrification plans for Venezuela and construction began in the early 60s, according to plan, after the initiation of the Macagua enterprise. Guri was certainly one of the engineering and construction wonders of the modern world when inaugurated. Today it operates at less than 50% capacity due to woefully neglected maintenance and upkeep.

Put another way, the projects conceived in the 40s and 50s remain in use to this day, although all urgently require professional upkeep, repairs, and maintenance, which, sadly, are woefully lacking in a Socialistic environment where “everybody owns everything” — meaning no one owns anything and the State is god but a terrible administrator and creator.

Should you travel to Venezuela today, you would land in Maiquetía Airport, in La Güaira, and you would take the Caracas-La Güira Expressway. Should you like to visit the Humboldt Hotel atop the massive, imposing Mount Ávila, you could take the cable car from downtown Caracas up there. In the past, you could also take the cable car down to the coast to make a full day of it and return by the same expressway back to the city. However, due to lack of maintenance and upkeep that leg is no longer operational.

You might also like to enjoy the large park, Próceres, with its aesthetically beautiful fountains and extensive mall. Or you might desire to take a cab to the still modern Torres del Silencio, with its traffic proceeding beneath the buildings to allow pedestrian tranquility above. And you might walk about the gardens of the University Hospital which still serves patients 50 years after her inauguration.

All projects noted in the previous two paragraphs were built and inaugurated in the 50s. They were designed and engineered by Venezuelan professionals, as well as Swiss, Italian, German, and North American; and they were built by men from the same or similar origins.

Of course, the upkeep and maintenance have been abysmal; however, the engineering, architecture, and construction have stood the test of time in a natural and human environment which have been exceedingly challenging. One of the great expressway viaducts spanning hundreds of feet of bottomless canyons actually became fearfully unsafe for lack of care. A byway was constructed in its stead in the 90s.

I am not aware of any projects ideated let alone inaugurated after the 50s which come within a mile of those which came before.

What would a visitor a century hence conclude when observing these works?

I am confident that his conclusion would be that the caliber of the people, especially the leaders, in the 50s and prior was superior to that which came after.

For the most part it is principally the people and their faith, not their form of government, which primarily determine her progress or its lack. Many in Venezuela still remember Pérez Jiménez and some even tend to idolize him, which is wrong. However, they do recognize that the man loved his country and was not the corrupt kleptomaniac that politicians insist he was.

The United States government not only dishonored the amnesty he had sought, but put him in jail even though he had paid his bond — this jailing in Miami, Florida, where he was placed with common criminals was so unprecedented and even cruel that many in the international community protested. By the time he was transferred to Venezuela he had lost 40 pounds.

In Venezuela he was jailed for 5 more years while awaiting what to every sentient human being was a political trial, from which he was declared not guilty for the original charges, as per the extradition treaty — peculation (the “fraudulent appropriation of funds or property entrusted to your care but actually owned by someone else”) — but guilty of other charges (enrichment!) — which the politicized judges added towards the end of the legal circus, in violation of the extradition treaty. Even so, the prestige of the judges was by then so soiled that they released him, saying he had already served sufficient years for such incredible charges.

He settled in Spain to live the rest of his life there; however, the people of Venezuela actually elected him to a Senate seat in the 1973 elections; nevertheless, the “democratic” political parties colluded to amend the constitution to prohibit his ever returning to the country.

The corruption and the malfeasance of public funds in Venezuela during the democratic governments were so vast and so obvious that the door was swung wide open to the demagoguery of Chávez. And, as previously noted, corrupt and repressive governments do not leave much of a heritage other than destruction or abandonment of what came before.

We must not ignore that particularly evil forms of government and culture not only do not foment the creation of beauty and functionality and permanence, but actually destroy what beauty and permanence they find. A brief look at Cuba and the Soviet Union makes this abundantly clear. Not to mention the utter deterioration in Venezuela itself, especially over the past two decades.

But — whether a republic as described in the USA constitution or a monarchy such as England’s during her incomparable industrial revolution or the monarchies of the GCC or the strict, autocratic government of Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore — a system which allows a certain level of liberty and creativity to her people will enable them to leave us long lasting evidence of beauty and permanence, assuming the caliber of the people is “moral and religious” as per John Adams.

In December, 1961, President John F. Kennedy and the First Lady visited Venezuela as part of the inaugural tour of the Alliance for Progress. You can still find online the short speech given in Spanish by Mrs. Kennedy. In that speech she spoke about the need for progress and opportunity for all, not just for the fortunate. Although I appreciate Mrs. Kennedy and her efforts to speak the local language, her speech is illustrative of the facile politics in the modern Americas.

In the 50s and into 1961 when the Kennedy’s visited, Venezuela had the largest middle class in all of South America. Today it is an impoverished land languishing under a suffocating “democratically elected” corrupt regime. Despite all the evidence right in front of her, the First Lady, like most modern politicos, assumed that the form of government dictates whether or not a people are fortunate. And she — and many, many like her — ignored what was right in front of her eyes.

A classic example of being led by sweet sounding words instead of reality; of being enamored of gestures rather than substance.

Her talk was well meaning but woefully ignorant.

Caracas-La Güaira Expressway construction. Installation of one of her viaducts

Two massive tunnels, with the most modern lighting and exhaust technology were built; one is over a mile long through solid rock. One of the tunnels no longer has lighting which makes it dangerous to traverse, especially at night.

Hotel Humboldt was an extraordinary feat of engineering and architecture. Construction was executed via cable cars which took materials and generator equipment to the summit of Mt. Ávila.

Los Próceres in Caracas, designed and constructed in the 1950s.

Torres del Silencio under construction in the early 50s

Macagua Dam in the heart of Ciudad Guayana: a 45-minute drive from El Pao.

Singapore III

May 6, 2024May 6, 2024 Richard Barnes

This is the last of three posts on my recollections of visits to Singapore a decade, and more, ago. This last post shares my amateurish attempts to explain the “why” of Singapore. I’ve not given this much thought ever since returning from Asia years ago, but my notes remind me of my puzzlement in seeking to unlock the key(s) to Singapore’s unique success.

The usual platitudes did not do anything for me: tolerance, multiculturalism, strict enforcement of laws, educational excellence, and more. All those characteristics can be found across the world and throughout history; they come and go. And, for all we know, they could also go from Singapore.

What is (or was) the ground from which sprung such invigorating and nourishing fruit?

Attraction

If I had before me the offer of an all-expenses-paid visit to one place in the world, other than the United States and its territories, I’d be hard pressed to choose between England and Spain. As much as I like and am attracted to Singapore, my paternal and maternal roots are in England and Spain and I am ever-drawn to them, despite their decline and forsaking of their own histories.

My attraction to Singapore obviously lies in my childhood where I thrived in the Venezuelan tropical jungles, shorelines, and rivers. Singapore evokes memories that mesmerize me in ways that are difficult to express, let alone explain. And, yet, it is not so much the geography that pulls me to my parental roots; it is the history, the culture, the religion, the home. I am sure the reader understands, whether he grew up in a tropical jungle or in the Alaskan tundra.

So when I was in Singapore, I often thought of Venezuela. Very counterintuitive, I know. About the only thing the two countries have in common is the tropical setting — and not all of Venezuela is tropical!

But I grew up in the tropics and Singapore elicited thoughts of childhood from me.

Culture

Henry Van Til, the early Twentieth Century theologian, famously said, “Culture is religion externalized”. With that frame of reference I sought to better understand as I reflected on my visits to Singapore.

Singapore’s ancient history does not help us much here. Although academics differ and debate the particulars, they generally agree that in the 14th Century Singapore was a trading port known as Temasek and under the influence of Greater India but also China. However, wars and banditry eventually depopulated the island and not much is known about these dark ages.

Sir Stamford Raffles saw the strategic importance of Singapore’s location and secured control thereof in 1819. This portentous event was not applauded by the British at the time as Raffles’s initiative brought England close to war with the Dutch, who claimed the island as within their sphere of influence.

The dispute was resolved and war avoided by the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 wherein England ceded certain areas to the Dutch and vice versa. Singapore became a wealthy free port for trade between Europe and Asia.

A few data about Sir Raffles illustrates the kind of men who walked the earth at that time. He was born on a ship off the coast of Jamaica (the British were everywhere) in 1781. He was a visionary to whom we owe the founding of modern Singapore as a “free port” in 1819. He had great opposition and died in 1826, the day before his 45th birthday. Some say he would have remained unappreciated were it not for his faithful wife who, long after his death, worked hard to make his work known and to correct the slander and calumnies that had been hurled against him. Today Singapore honors him with street names like Raffles Avenue and Raffles Boulevard. There is also a Stamford street somewhere, not to mention the colonial Raffles Hotel.

The 19th Century was England’s world empire era when the sun never set for her. A seldom reported corollary to that era was the Christian missionary activity that followed the empire throughout the earth, including Singapore, which remained an English colony from 1819 to the 1950s.

Raffles established schools and churches in the native languages and opened the doors to missionaries. He abolished forced labor and slavery and although he did not impose English as the native language, over time that did become in effect the prevalent business language of Singapore. Another “English” characteristic is its traffic: to this day cars are driven on the left.

Finally, Raffles respected and provided for religious freedom, which also permitted Christian schools to be founded throughout that part of the world, including Singapore.

By the time of his death, Singapore had flourished greatly on British principles, most significantly, “a specific regulation in the constitution called for the multi-ethnic population to remain as they were; and no crimes were entirely based on racial principles.” A crime was defined as a criminal act, not as something one believed or professed.

So Singapore’s culture, although decidedly multi-ethnic, would not have developed that way without genuine Christian tolerance which has persisted well into the modern era.

Today

Although there are many churches in Singapore as well as other places of worship, most would describe the island as pluralistic and secular. Lee Kuan Yew, was the first and longest serving prime minister of Singapore (1959-1990), then Senior Minister (1990-2004), then Minister Mentor (2004-2011).

After barely surviving the Japanese occupation, Lee was educated in Singapore and in England and gained a reputation as a “left-wing” troublemaker. He distrusted the British because of their failure to defend Singapore against the Japanese conquest. However, in the aftermath of left-wing riots and Communist betrayals, he also turned against the Left for the rest of his life.

I would describe Lee as extremely pragmatic, which led him to avoid throwing out the practical and worthwhile colonial heritage with the colonial bathwater. Under his leadership, Singapore became one of the “Asian Tigers” and still boasts one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.

In a sense, Singapore reflects much of Lee’s cultural and philosophic makeup: pragmatic, practical, and secular. This is true despite a growing but still small Christian community.

Some of its major laws proceed from the Christian heritage. For example, divorce requires grounds — there is no “no fault divorce” in Singapore (although there have been and are efforts to change that). As for care for the elderly, children are required to care for their parents when the need arises. Ironically, based on my limited conversations with Singaporeans, I don’t think they “need” such a law, as the family is very strong. Thus far.

But secularization is also very strong and, in the West, such has always worked to obscure if not erase the Christian heritage. For example, in several photos from the early 20th Century, the caption referred to “Western Women”. They were actually Christian missionaries. Yes, they were “Western”; however, the caption did not accurately portray who they were in reality and the labors they wrought in Singapore. Such dishonesty prevails in much of the West today.

When one visits the Chijmes, one sees a shopping mall; however, it was once a convent which for decades would accept baby girls brought there by Chinese mothers who were being pressured to either abort or abandon them. These mothers knew that the Christian missionaries would care for their infant daughters and give them a chance in life. This history, although very real, is hidden today.

The Fullerton properties belong to a company founded by Ng Teng Fong (1928-2010). A plaque in the Fullerton Building quotes his favorite Bible verse: “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:6)”. At the time of his death, he was the richest man in Singapore. Yet he was known as a humble man who did much for his town.

“He went on to develop innovative homes, build the first shopping malls in Orchard Road, and pioneer the development of vibrant waterfront retail and commercial centre en Tsim Sha Tsui East, Hong Kong. [His companies] have built more than 1,000 developments in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and Malaysia, attesting to the entrepreneurial energy and vision of our founder. To God be the Glory.”

“He considered himself to be an ‘ordinary working man’ with a dream to satisfy a desire for homes among Singaporeans.” He was the eldest of 11 children. He and his wife had 8 children, very much “against the grain” in modern Singapore which for a time had a “2 is enough” public campaign.

Conclusion

Much more can be written about Singapore, including stories of incredible courage, heroism, and fidelity during the Japanese occupation. Also, the accomplishments of men such as Sir Thomas Raffles, Lee Kuan Yew, Ng Teng Fong, not to mention heroic nurses and soldiers during the Japanese occupation can keep one engrossed for hours and days.

I wish all the best for that beautiful city and island state. However, if she forgets or neglects or otherwise does not acknowledge the heritage that produced her success, she will see that her success will become as dust and ashes. I do not wish that for her; quite the contrary. So I do hope her sons and daughters are encouraged to learn that heritage and to keep it alive.

Boat Quay, circa 1900

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826). He was not only a great visionary, he also loved the peoples of Southeast Asia

Lee Kwan Yew (1923-2015) — First and also longest serving prime minister of Singapore

The Fullerton Hotel, which used to be the Singapore Post Office.

View of the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. One of countless striking views of modern Singapore

Singapore II

April 19, 2024April 19, 2024 Richard Barnes

I had originally expected to post twice from notes I took about a decade or so ago during or shortly after my visits to Singapore. However, having found more notes than I recalled having written and seeing that they contain history that is relevant but not well known, I will be posting a few more items on Singapore.

My notes do not pretend to be scholarly from a historical, sociological, or any other “expert” perspective; they were written by a layman who appreciates the subject and believes it to be worth remembering and pondering.

While working in Saudi Arabia, I had the honor and privilege of meeting the Singaporean ambassador stationed there at the time. He and his wife were very gracious to me and were intrigued to hear how all my narratives centered around the historical sites and the stories thereof and some of my encounters there. They appreciated that my interests were similar to theirs.

He said, “It is unusual for visitors to care much about these matters.” To which I replied, “And that is unfortunate, isn’t it.” He agreed.

His grandfather was Scotch and had died in the prison camps. His father survived and so did his house. But the roof had damage from Japanese shelling. As a late adolescent, he asked his father why he had never gotten around to repairing the roof. “Because I don’t want to ever forget what happened,” was the terse reply.

The ambassador told me about the visit by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to the Kranji War Memorial and Cemetery in 1985. He was a young member of the diplomatic corps at the time and he formed part of the delegation accompanying Mrs. Thatcher. He told me what impressed him was that most visitors of state just go to the memorial in the center of the place. Mrs. Thatcher did that, of course. But then she began to walk all around the cemetery, pausing long before the many tombstones, many with crosses engraved therein, and reading names and dates of birth and dates of death, and sometimes commenting, “He was only 18,” or “He was 22,” etc.

He asked me if I had also walked around. I told him I had indeed, and that I was deeply moved.

Then he offered to lend me his books. I requested Thompson’s The Battle For Singapore, because I was about to buy that one during my last trip there, but had hesitated and lost the opportunity. He lent it to me [a year later, I bought my own copy after returning to Texas].

The Kranji Memorial (also known as The Singapore Memorial) has over 24,000 names of Allied men and women inscribed on its walls. They memorialize those for whom no remains or graves could be identified, plus those killed in Malaya, where their bodies remained.

British, Australian, Indian, Chinese, Sri Lankan, Netherland, and New Zealand soldiers, marines, airmen, nurses, and more are buried or memorialized here, as are those who were killed in the Singapore Hospital in the early days of the Japanese occupation. Over 400 of these latter are memorialized in a mass grave.

The courage of the men and women during those terrible days is exemplified by the actions of nurses who were evacuated shortly before the British surrender. This is excerpted from The Battle for Singapore.

“One of the surgeons, Colonel Thomas Hamilton, waved goodbye to the remaining nurses who were leaving…that day in HMS Vyner Brooke. None of them had wanted to go. ‘Smiling wistfully, they fluttered tiny handkerchiefs to us from the open doors of the ambulances as orderlies and doctors lined the drive to cheer them on their way,’ he says. …. From the hospital lawn that night he watched the Vyner Brooke, an ugly little coastal freighter, sail out of the harbor against the backdrop of a vivid scarlet sunset.”

[The captain managed to elude the Japanese for a couple days, but on the 14th of February his ship was spotted by 6 Japanese planes. The ship was bombed and machine-gunned despite displaying the red cross of a hospital ship. On one machine-gun run, the nurses ran to the deck and threw themselves over the wounded soldiers who could not move. All survivors had to abandon ship. Vivian Bullwinkle, 26-years old, from South Australia, kept a diary from which Mr. Thompson gleaned some of his descriptions.]

[A great uncle, brother of my grandfather, was a medic whose hospital ship was strafed and sunk, along with hundreds of wounded soldiers and a score of nurses off the Philippines in 1942 — RMB]

[Matron Drummond was another survivor, who had been wounded, but helped ashore. The survivors were joined the next day by 20 British soldiers from another stricken vessel. “Without food, clothing, or medicine, the group elected to surrender….” A naval officer went off in search of a Japanese patrol.]

“On 16 February the naval officer returned with a Japanese patrol…. The Japanese officer ordered those who could walk, including Chief Officer W. S. Sedgeman and Second Engineer J. J. Miller, to march around a small headland, where they were bayoneted. The wounded were then bayoneted on the beach, although one English private crawled unseen into the undergrowth after being stabbed through the chest.

“The 22 nurses, including the wounded Matron Drummond, were ordered to walk into the sea. It was around midday and the water was warm and tranquil, the palm-fringed setting idyllic. Matron Drummond, supported between two nurses, said, ‘Chin up, girls, I’m proud of you and I love you all.’ When the water reached waist height, the Japanese opened fire with a machine gun, raking them back and forth from behind. All of the nurses were killed except Vivian Bullwinkle, who was shot above the left hip. The bullet knocked her over and she floated for some time before raising her head. ‘All my colleagues had been swept away and there were no Japs on the beach,’ she says. After passing out again, she came to on the beach. ‘I was so cold that my only thought was to find some warm spot to die. I dragged myself up to the edge of the jungle and lay in the sun where I must have slept for hours….’

“The following morning Vivian had just enough strength to find fresh water in a spring close to the beach, which kept her alive for the next 48 hours. On the third day, she went down to the lifeboat, looking for food, and heard a voice call out, ‘Where have you been, nurse?’ Private Kinsley, already wounded by shrapnel, had been bayoneted in the chest but the blade had missed his heart. Vivian dressed his wounds and helped him into the jungle.”

[They eventually made it to Muntok (Sumatra, south of Singapore) and, making sure their wounds were covered, they told the Japanese they had been shipwrecked, arousing no suspicions. They were imprisoned and, in hushed tones Vivian told her story to a few other nurses. She knew she would be executed if the Japanese discovered she had survived the massacre. Private Kingsley was placed in a crude hospital but died a few days later.]

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visits Kranji in 1985 (Source: Ministry of Information and the Arts)

Young man dead at 22 in 1943. Memorial at Kranji Cemetery

Kranji Memorial and Cemetery, Source: Wikimedia

Singapore is on the top left; Muntok is not listed but was on Banka, the small island off the coast of Sumatra, to the south of Singapore.

Singapore I

April 4, 2024April 4, 2024 Richard Barnes

“Disneyland with the death penalty” is how one wag described this beautiful island nation state at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula.

This is the first of two posts sourced from notes I took between 2013 and 2015 when traveling there on business. Similar to my notes on Zagreb, enough time has gone by to allow publication and, again, much has happened in the intervening years to grant a bit of perspective as to how much has changed and how much remains the same, particularly when it comes to human nature.

My knowledge of Singapore was thimble-sized, limited to her fall to the Japanese early in the Second World War (WWII). Sure enough, WWII is “everywhere” and, yet, “nowhere” in Singapore.

Do a Brave or Duck-Duck search for “things to do in Singapore” or “Tripadvisor.com” and you’ll be regaled with botanical gardens, the Singapore Flyer, fine dining, shopping, city tours, boat tours, and walking tours. You’d have to really dig deep to learn where you can go to visit WWII landmarks.

This is understandable as the experience in WWII was supremely harrowing.

I sought opportunities to visit some of these over the years. My recollections follow.

The Old Ford Factory is the “site of the historic surrender of the British to the Japanese on 15 February, 1942, at the end of the Battle of Singapore. It was here that the meeting between Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival and General Tomoyuki Yamashita was held and the surrender document signed. Then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill referred to that event as the ‘worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history.”

The factory did produce cars beginning in 1941. It was Ford’s first motor car plant in SE Asia. As the Japanese made their way down Malaysia, the Brits converted the plant into a fighter plane assembly plant. But these planes were flown out of Singapore once things looked hopeless to them.

It is interesting to note that, unbeknownst to the British, the Japanese were outnumbered by almost 2 to 1. I also saw testimonials of locals back then who felt the Brits stationed there did not take the war seriously until it was too late. In addition, the same Churchill quoted above, also refused to send material help to SE Asia, because such was needed for Europe. Indeed scholarly research does point to the correctness of Percival’s complaint that allied help was being provided to the Communists in the Soviet Union to the neglect of the British here.

During the occupation, Nissan took over the plant and assembled military trucks for the Japanese.

After the war, Ford resumed operations there in 1947 and operated until 1980 when it was shut down and abandoned, only to be re-opened as a historic site in the first decade of this century.

I had to walk through it rather quickly since I had no free time other than lunch or late afternoon. However, even walking rather briskly, if the visitor focuses, he will come away having seen haunting photos, artifacts, and mementos; he will also have learned of heroic men and women, such as Dr. Monteiro, who developed an anti-diphtheria serum which saved many lives.

One is reminded of the depths of depravity man is capable of descending to; but also how, in the midst of death and deprivation, man seeks what’s truly is important: as death comes near and takes many whom we knew and loved, we are reminded to turn to Him Who is from everlasting to everlasting. There were several photos of church services the Japanese, surprisingly, allowed in the Changi prison camp.

The first photo has stayed with me ever since. No commentary needed.

The second photo is a reminder that the movie, The Bridge on The River Kwai, is based on fact. It was known as the death railway. Many whom the Japanese conscripted from Singapore to go build it, never returned.

One British survivor said, “Unlike the well-fed extras in the movie, the POWs were too weak to whistle the Colonel Bogey tune. Nor did they have any semblance of uniform…. We were routinely and barbarically tortured and many, many of us died, most cruelly.”

The third photo reflects in what condition those detained by the Japanese were found. Those who survived, that is.

The spartan nature of the Changi POW landmark is like a kick in the gut as it confronts the visitor with unspeakable suffering and horror. And, conversely, he is also confronted with faith in God even in the darkest moments: building chapels; celebrating services; praying; seeking God; painting beautiful murals which were lost for decades until someone noticed some color behind white paint.

All this, and more, in the midst of starvation, torture, cholera, dysentery, rapine, and death.

A kind lady working at the bookstore, sought my attention and proceeded to tell me the following story:

A few months before, she had seen an old man looking at the books. He turned and asked her for a specific book. She suggested he walk through the exhibits first and then determine what book to buy. He, almost in disgust, said he had no interest in walking through. She asked why. “I was a prisoner,” he said.

She was a little surprised because, although he was old, he didn’t seem that old to have been a civilian or soldier in 1942. She recalled a gentleman who has come by twice already. He is 102 now [2014]; and he had been a prisoner. But this gentleman who now talked to her would have been a child.

And that’s precisely what he was at the time: an 8-year-old boy when he and his family were imprisoned.

Well, eventually, he decided to walk through. While he did so, she looked into a book which contained the names and some of the records of the POW’s and, sure enough, she found not only his name, but the name of his father, mother, sister, and younger brother. All perished.

When he came back out, he was more subdued. She gave him the book as a gift and pointed him to the names.

“Did you like the museum?” she asked.

His reply was a flood of uncontrollable tears.

The lady told me her story in hushed tones. I thanked her and expressed my gratitude for her service in honoring the memories of those now gone. And then I left, deeply moved and lost in thought.

The Changi chapel has a brass cross made in 1942 by a British POW, Staff Sergeant Harry Stogden. He painstakingly crafted it from scraps of brass and a used 4.5 inch howitzer shell. The cross was designed by the Reverend Eric W. B. Cordingley for St. George’s Church, which he had set up in an abandoned mosque in the India Lines section of the camp. Cordingley had taken the cross with him to the Death Railway, and also to Changi, setting up new churches wherever he went. After the war, he took the cross back to the UK.

Meanwhile, Staff Sergeant Stogden has succumbed to the brutal conditions and was buried at sea after the end of the war, having died onboard an American hospital ship. His wife had also died in 1942, leaving their three young children to be reared by relatives.

In 1997, Bernard Stogden, a son, learned of the cross, which by that time Reverend Cordingley’s daughter had returned to Singapore. When the current museum opened in 2001, Bernard was invited to come and place the cross in the chapel where it is today.

Finally, below is the story of Chen Kwan Yu, a civil servant. His story is representative of many.

“The trucks set off in a convoy, heading east. No one spoke … but as the grey concrete guard tower of Changi Jail came into sight, one of the men remarked that it looked as though they were going to prison. The trucks passed the jail, however, turned to the right, and continued on to the sands near Changi Beach.

“The men were told to get down, and were then tied into groups with lengths of thin telephone cable. ‘We were next told to move off towards the beach,’ Cheng says. ‘I saw a pillbox erected on the seawall of a demolished bungalow and in the slit of the pillbox one or more machine guns. When the lot of us were all on the beach, about 400 of us, the machine-gunning started. I was at the end of my group. As my companions were hit, they fell down and pulled down the rest of us. As I fell, I was hit in the face.’

“The machine-gunning stopped, and Japanese soldiers moved amid the carnage, bayoneting anyone who was still alive. Cheng shut his eyes. He had been hit on the nose and his face was covered in blood. He felt a soldier step on his body to bayonet his neighbour who had shown signs of life, but he did not touch Cheng.

“Cheng kept his eyes closed until he heard the trucks drive off. It was already night and in the moonlight he saw a lump of coral a few inches away and wriggled towards it, pulling against the bodies to which he was tied. He rubbed his wire bonds against the coral until they snapped, then sawed through the rope and freed his hands. He crawled out of the sea and staggered onto the beach.

“For two days, Cheng hid in the undergrowth, bathed the wound on his nose and drank from storm-water drains. He finally encountered a group of British soldiers sitting under a tree near Changi Jail. The soldiers gave him a biscuit and examined his wound. An officer scribbled a note on a piece of paper and told him to give it to the first ambulance that came along the main road. The officer gave Cheng a raincoat to sit on while he was waiting. The ambulance took Cheng to an Indian Army field hospital. ‘There my wound was dressed,’ he says, ‘and I went home.'”

There were many such stories of courage, faith, and amazing bravado. If you ever visit Singapore and have a choice between the nightlife and these landmarks, choose the latter.

One of several haunting photos in the Old Ford Factory Museum. This one has stayed with me for life.

The Bridge on The River Kwai was based on this, The Death Railway, built by thousands of English, Australian and other Allied POWs. Many who were sent, never returned.

Australian POWs after their release from Changi POW camp in Singapore.

A prisoner, Stanley Warren, a British bombardier, drew these magnificent images of the life of Christ. They were an inspiration and beacon of hope to many prisoners. These were eventually painted over and forgotten. Then, years later, someone noticed colors beneath the paint and discovered the treasures. Warren was eventually found and, after much persuading, returned to Singapore to renew the originals. His advanced age did not permit him to finish, but others were commissioned to do so.

The cross designed by Reverend Cordingley and crafted by Staff Sergeant Stogden.

Rainy Days

May 25, 2022May 25, 2022 Richard Barnes

Rainy days in the mining camp are cherished memories and I suspect they are so for many of my contemporaries. Put another way, rainy days did not get me down. (Although, every once in a while, Mondays did.)

Of course, the rains I witnessed in Hurricanes Donna, Cleo, Maria, and others were extraordinary and Texas rains that come with some spring seasons are dangerously intense. Nevertheless, the curtains of water that fell during every rainy season in El Pao made a lifelong impression on the memory banks of my childhood (Memory).

The rainy season ran roughly from May through November, with crashing rains especially concentrated in June, July, and August, which overwhelmed more than half the days of the month. I’ve been told that El Pao’s rainy season more or less paralleled that of South Vietnam’s monsoon season. If so, that explains how landscape photos or films of that part of Venezuela can be easily confused with similar scenes of Southeast Asia.

For example, after watching The Ugly American, my father’s first comment was how much the landscape in the movie looked like our area of Venezuela. Of course, this was a Hollywood film; however, Thailand landscape around Bangkok provided the background sceneries and some scenes were actually shot there, because they very much looked like South Vietnam.

A former colleague had served in the Vietnam War and when he visited our property in Puerto Rico, which looks like the regions around El Pao, he walked to the edge of our ridge and stood silently for several minutes. Later, as we drove back to town, he merely said, “This looks like South Vietnam.”

This might explain why I became so attracted to Singapore whenever I visited on business less than a decade ago. Unlike southern Vietnam and El Pao, Singapore has two monsoon seasons. One of them runs from June to September, which is roughly parallel to El Pao’s. The rains, her lush, abundant jungle foliage, the green which predominates, and the tropical climate surely were major factors for my remembering my visits there with fondness.

Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Puerto Rico, El Pao. In my child’s memory, I do not think of war and devastation. Just rains and green and beauty.