The Ford Motor Factory began its illustrious history in October 1941, as the first Ford vehicle assembly plant in Southeast Asia. Situated in a location close to the Malayan railway line, it allowed for transportation of goods to and from the docks at Tanjong Pagar. Its close proximity to Bukit Timah Road, the main road linking Singapore to Malaya, and ultimately to the rest of mainland Southeast Asia, also provided an alternate transport route.
During the Malayan Campaign, the Factory’s modern assembly equipment was used by the Royal Air Force to assemble fighter planes. The planes came in parts that were shipped to Singapore in crates. However, most of these aircraft never fulfilled their destiny of defending Malaya. They were flown out of Singapore towards the end of January 1942, when prospects for Singapore looked bleak.
The Ford Motor Factory most notably served as the venue for the formal surrender of Malaya by the British General Officer Commanding Malaya, Lt.-Gen. Arthur Ernest Percival, to the Japanese Commander of the 25th Army, Gen. Yamashita Tomoyuki.
In the final tense hours before the surrender on 15 February 1942, Yamashita waited at the Factory while Percival and his aides discussed their options at the Battlebox, a bunker at Fort Canning. Percival and his troops then set off on their journey from Fort Canning Hill to the Ford Motor Factory.
The British surrender marked the decline of the British empire in Asia and the beginning of the Japanese Occupation, the darkest period in Singapore’s modern history.
During the Japanese Occupation, the Factory was designated as a butai or Japanese facility. Nissan, which was then a prominent zaibatsu or Japanese multinational company, took over the plant to assemble military trucks and other vehicles for the Japanese occupying forces.
The Ford Motor Factory resumed operations after the war in 1947 and was finally shut down in June 1980. Remains of the Factory were gazetted as a national monument on 15 February 2006.
Have a nice day!!
Steffi Lim Xing :)
The making of the cars in the factory
