Tree Huggers and Moth Superstitions

"Tree Huggers" is a somewhat derogatory term for those who are nature's staunchest advocates. 

Communing with nature has a lot to recommend it, although physically wrapping ones arms around a tree might be problematic and especially so in the tropics where all sorts of venomous and unsavoury animals lurk. 

In Singapore shaking a branch could prove to be an explosive event as the discovery of a discarded object in the forks of a tree recently goes to prove.

Xinhua news agency has reported that "Several construction workers were resting near a tree close to the Outram subway station near the downtown area on Thursday when they were drawn to the sight of a tree stump with a heart shape".

The 'heart shape' in question turned out to be a World War II hand grenade which was taken away and safely disposed of by the Singapore Armed Forces, Explosive Ordnance Disposal team.

But most things found in or near trees in Singapore are far more benign.

Khew SK's wonderful butterfly blog site records that four new species of these tropical delights have been found in "residential apartments, office buildings, shopping malls and multi-story car parks".

There has also been a marked increase in the large Tropical Swallowtail moths (Lyssa zampa - see picture above) in recent days; a sight not greeted with much enthusiasm by the superstitious who regard them as a portent of unfortunate events to follow.

The butterflies have the North-East monsoon to thank for their assisted passage from Malaysia to the Singapore.  And, unlike old hand grenades, they add rare beauty and pleasure to the trees and plants they populate.

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Sook Ching - A Japanese Study of Singapore War Atrocities

Civilian War Memorial in War Memorial Park
Singapore

Quite by chance I came across an interesting article by Hayashi Hirofumi, professor of politics at Kanto-Gakuin University and the Co-Director of the Center for Research and Documentation on Japan’s War Responsibility.

The appalling atrocities committed by the occupying Japanese forces on the citizens of Singapore, goes a long way in explaining why the older Chinese in Singapore do not trust, nor wish to have any contact with, the Japanese.

My interest in this relates to a request for information from the late Dr. Alan Hayton who was the father of my closest high school friend.  He studied medicine in Dunedin with a Dr Ross and the latter was subsequently posted or went to work in Singapore.

Dr Ross has two claims to fame.  The first was that he bravely rescued a person from drowning in the waters off Singapore. This was apparently featured in the Singapore papers of the time.

His second moment in history was a much sadder occurrence.  He was one of the medical staff massacred by the Japanese while staying with his patients in Alexandra Hospital.  Dr Hayton asked me if I could find out any details of this event but alas I could not at the time of my residence in Singapore.

While the oppression of Europeans has been well recorded, the details of Sook Ching, the pre-planned slaughter of local Chinese men by the Japanese, is a little more sketchy.  Professor Hayashi Hirofumi is certainly no apologist for the war crimes perpetrated again the Singaporean Chinese, but he does draw upon Japanese sources to broaden the picture of what actually transpired.

His article is well worth reading and slams the Japanese Government for their history of denial and quite deliberately excluding any reference to Sook Ching in Japanese student texts.

It has also just been announced that China will officially recognise December 13 as a memorial day for those who were massacred in Nanjing by the Japanese invaders.

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A Morning Walk In Fort Canning Park

Click on the flip book to see the larger portfolio and then click again.

I spent the first part of the morning shooting images of the nearby Fort Canning Park. This will be my final photo essay in Singapore before we leave.

Fort Canning Hill or Bukit Larangan (Malay for Forbidden Hill) as it was originally is a very interesting place.  It was called Government Hill and from 1819 was the site Raffles chose for his bungalow when he resided in Singapore. In 1859 it was renamed Fort Canning after Viscount George Canning, Governor of India.

Early images of Fort Canning (below) shows what a commanding position it had.  Not many people appreciate that early Singapore had such elevated heights.  Most have long since been flattened for reclamation but thankfully Fort Canning has remained largely intact.

An early view of Fort Canning Hill

A view of the Singapore River from Fort Canning Hill, 1860

The Fort itself was built in the 1860's and was obsolete by World War Two even though it served as General Percival's Battle Box.  After a conference with his senior officers in this fortress he made the fateful decision to surrender Singapore to the Japanese.

Bubble, Bubble, Toil And Packing

There is an all pervasive smell of cardboard cartons around our condo, mixed with the distinctiove odour of plastic bubble wrap gently simmering in the tropical sun.

This hopefully will be our final day of packing (which we are personally undertaking) and the removal company arrives on Friday to pack out my PC and take away the consignment.

Tomorrow I unplug this PC and resort to using my laptop.  Hopefully the transition will be relatively painless but it will mean fewer blog posts until the last week of June when we are in our temporary Singapore digs, at Fort Canning Lodge.

While we are staying there I hope to take a wander on the Fort Canning hill to visit the Battlebox complex (pictured) which was the HQ for the Malaya High Command.

It is some 9 metres underground.  The former British Far East Command Centre in the Second World War years was built in 1926 and is now being converted into a hotel.