Introduction

Dear Readers,

Welcome to History Made Easy - Touring Changi! We hope you will, as the title of the blog suggests, find the History of Singapore, where it concerns the Japanese Occupation, made easier with our virtual tour! Of course, we would suggest that you go to Changi Chapel and Museum and Changi Beach yourself, for as the saying goes, "Listening to it a 100 times pales in comparison to viewing it once." We would like to assure you that you will not regret "viewing it once"!

Just for your information, why did we choose Changi Chapel and Museum and also Changi Beach for you, our esteemed readers? The reason is actually very simple - we would like this tour to be a tour of peace. Peace can be interpreted in many ways here. It can be said that this is peace when one appreciates the sacrifice made by others to defend us, despite not owing us anything. It can be said that peace is when those who were wounded by the war have finally recovered. It can also be said as peace when the perpetrators of conflict have apologised and are willing to make up for their past errors. Whatever one's interpretation is, they are all accurate, and we hope that as one views this virtual tour, despite any horror one feels at the committed atrocities, ultimately we hope that peace can be found. Enough trouble has been caused, and more peace should be discovered.

So how does the Chapel, the Museum and the Beach show peace? The Chapel is possibly the most peaceful of all, for it is where most of the interpretations of peace mentioned above can be found. But so as not to spoil the surprise, you will have to view the video on the Chapel yourself. The Museum is a summary of the Japanese Occupation and despite of the many horrors of the war it states, ultimately, as can be seen from the recurring remembrance walls, what the Museum wants is for the late defenders or the aged defenders to be at peace, to have forgiven the Japanese. The Beach, despite being a scene for horrors, is now a place of fun and joy, and we hope that the many who died there will be able to be at peace and be able to appreciate the fun and joy.

So much for the sneak peek above. Now, we hope that you will have a good time looking through our virtual tour.

Yours Sincerely,

Yong Zhu Cheng (1I327), Wang Shilin (1I324), Darrel Long (1I312)

Authors of "History Made Easy - Touring Changi"