The NUS History Alumni Association is hosting (for the first time) a Mad Hatters Party at the new NUS Alumni House next Friday. Details are… »
Impressions | Conversations
Syonan Reflections (Part 2): How to build an ‘Army’
by Alvin Lee I have been crazy about plastic models of German Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFV) since primary three. But I loved the small plastic German soldiers even more, in particular their uniform and equipment variations. It was every boy’s dream to own a German WW2 helmet (the predecessor to the modern PASGT shaped helmet)…. »
Syonan Reflections (Part 1): Who We Are
by Alvin Lee “Excuse me. Where did you get this uniform from?†This is perhaps the most asked question we get. Nope. We are not a vendor at Beach Road’s buzzing army market. We are a sub-culture of collectors of original and reproduction World War Two militaria If the word “militaria†is new to your… »
Politics of Defence Acquisitions: Singapore and the Hawker Hunters (Part 2)
by Koh Zhongwei, Alvin Continuing Politics of Defence Acquisitions: Singapore and the Hawker Hunters Part 1 The implication of going along with the Singaporeans was that to do so would well place the Kuala Lumpur conference in jeopardy. A row between the local partners at this stage could very well have led to an Australian… »
Politics of Defence Acquisitions: Singapore and the Hawker Hunters (Part 1)
by Koh Zhongwei, Alvin Singapore acquisition of Hawker Hunters from the United Kingdom in 1970 seemed a straight-forward economic transaction in theory, but in reality proved anything but simple.[i] Despite British obligation to help Singapore build up its armed forces in light of their accelerated withdrawal[ii], the British government was highly reluctant to sell such… »
Japanese Curry and the Navy
by Fumihito Yamamoto Today, Japanese cuisine is extremely popular and is eaten all over the world, to the point perhaps that most people believe that Japanese eat Sushi, Sashimi and Tempura everyday and that these are traditional Japanese cuisines. But this is a misconception. While it is true that Japanese do eat such foods, most… »
Shedding Some Light: Singapore Quarry
by Kevin Lee Between the bustling Upper Bukit Timah Road and Jalan Asas (which bustles with eateries) is a road that seems caught in a time-warp. The road has no identification signs and is apparently nameless. The first part of the road is choc-a-bloc with rocks and what appear to be chips from bricks and… »
Review: Dim Sum Dollies as citizenhistorians
by Hong Lysa It had been a long day. I had spent three hours that afternoon at a talk for teachers on historiography, which emphasized the importance of time and location in history-writing, both of the event and of the writing of it. How history-writing is not about finding out what really happened — an… »
Georgette: the musical – An Art Curator’s Thoughts
by Seng Yu Jin 1. Having watched the play Georgette, what do you think of the playwright’s depiction of Georgette’s early life? How realistic is any of it? First and foremost, it is the prerogative of the playwright to exercise his imagination in the depiction of Georgette Chen. The play should therefore, not be judged… »
First Act: Perspectives on Early English-Language Theatre and History in Singapore
by Edgar Liao Finding History in a Theatre Studies class remains one of the pleasant surprises of my undergraduate career. Taught by Dr K. K. Seet, TS 3235 (Singapore English-Language Theatre) primarily surveys the history of English-language theatre in Singapore through the examination of the canonical works of nine significant local playwrights over three decades… »
Shedding Some Light: Jalan Kampong Chantek
by Kevin Lee, with additional research by Ho Chi Tim Off Dunearn Road is a road with a picturesque name: Jalan Kampong Chantek. This road (jalan) once led to a to a pretty (chantek) village (kampong). A search on Google throws up over 500 mentions of the road name, mostly relating to property sales and… »