2 July 2023
There are actually countless bunkers in Sembawang, however most of them have since been sealed up, and reduced to nothing but a mound in the ground. I have always wanted to explore one of these bunkers and had been on a few occasions to look for them, but these only turned up a few smaller storage bunkers. When I learnt that there were some bunkers or more specifically air raid shelters hidden in the forests that were still accessible, I excitedly grabbed my friend to explore.
History
Sembawang was once home to a British naval base. To support the naval base, which was constructed to defend Singapore in 1938, surrounding structures including more than a dozen World War II bunkers, air raid shelters and storehouses were built. They are likely to be part of a complex and yet to be discovered underground network. Remnants and hints of their existence are hidden under Sembawang's hilly terrain. They include two partially exposed pillboxes in Bermuda Road, complete with ditches. A more well known structure is the air raid shelter on the grounds of Admiralty House, now gazetted as a national monument. Yet another underground shelter sits at 291 Durban Road. Evidence of its existence comes from the two ventilation shafts sticking out of the ground; what lies underneath is unclear. Adapted from: https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/sembawang-gateway-singapores-wwii-past
Exploring Sembawang Bunkers
1130 | Explore Gibraltar Crescent bunker |
1145 | Explore the tree-guarded air raid shelter |
1200 | Visit Malta Crescent storage bunker |
1300 | Search for old kampong gate |
1130 | Explore Gibraltar Crescent bunker
First up was a trip to a small bunker that I had been to before. Just off Gibraltar Crescent, a road lined with old colonial houses, we slipped into the forested area and found the small bunker covered in tree roots. It was engulfed almost entirely by the tree, and we could barely see the concrete surface of the bunker peeking through between the roots. I wondered how many years it took for the tree to completely consume this bunker. We walked around the bunker looking for the door, and when we found it, we saw that it too was partially obscured by tree roots. Peering in, we could see that the bunker had been converted to a storage space for pails of paint. Well I guess at least it still serves a function even to this day?
1145 | Explore the tree-guarded air raid shelter
We continued on to the air raid shelter that was the main highlight of today's exploration. A way into the forest, we found the first sign of the bunker, a ventilation shaft. This was a sign that the entrance was likely nearby. And sure enough, we soon came to the main entrance of the shelter which had a tree growing right in the middle, as if it was guarding the shelter. We put on our headlamps and stepped into the air raid shelter, excited. Behind the tree was the main gate of the shelter which was now bad rusted and disintegrated. The air raid shelter had 2 long passages. We walked along the main passage which was crawling with geckos. At the end of the passage was a lavatory with a squat toilet and just above it was the ventilation shaft we had seen earlier. I guess they need to air the smell from the poop and pee...
Back to the main entrance, we saw a side entrance to another passageway. However, the side wall of this entrance had fallen and was caving in, so we had to carefully duck under the wall to access the 2nd passage way. The 2nd passage way had the same layout as the first, with a ventilation shaft at the end of it. I found imprinted on one of the ceiling panels the date '24 Dec 40'. Wow I suppose it meant that this air raid shelter was constructed back in 1940, over 80 years ago. There were also white coloured eggs stuck to the ceiling, are these the eggs of geckos? I didn't notice it while I was there, but after reviewing the photos I took, I noticed a scorpion on the ceiling. My friend pointed out that it was a tailless whip scorpion. Seems like many organisms had made this bunker their home.
Although there was another air raid shelter in the vicinity, we were disappointed that the main entrance was sealed, the ventilation shaft was also locked up. There might be another entrance but we didn't continue the search. I guess we will be back again to try our luck.
1200 | Visit Malta Crescent storage bunker
On our way out, we took a look at another small storage bunker in the area along Malta Crescent, hidden behind a banyan tree. It too seemed like it was being used as a storage space. There are actually many more bunkers in the area, the more commonly known ones being Bermuda Road Bunkers, Durban Bunker, Malta Crescent Bunker. But since these have all been sealed, there really isn't much to see other than the grass mounds and 2 ventilation shafts sticking out from the ground.
1300 | Search for old kampong gate
Since we still had some time on our hands, we decided to search for the old kampong gate near Sembawang Park at the end of Jalan Selimang. My friend had warned that Sembawang Park was a haunted and creepy place, having stayed in the area since he was a kid. While I am not particularly superstitious, we did encounter a few odd things while searching for the gate. We had decided to take a short cut, walking through the forest next to the beach. While walking through the forest, we saw many effigies (statues of Buddhist and Hindu gods) and prayer items placed at random spots on the forest floor. The creepiest one had to be a life-sized effigy which looked like a baby with blackened eyes and peacock feathers sticking out from the side. It a was embellished with crystals which shimmered brightly in the sunlight. I was baffled. Why did someone came all the way deep into the forest to place this huge ornamental statue? Me and my friend were definitely creeped out and decided to head out to the main road instead.
We eventually located the old gate just behind an old kampong mosque. The old gateway was most likely the entrance to the seaside bungalow of the late Cycle & Carriage boss Chua Boon Peng, who in 1951 clinched the Mercedes-Benz sole distributorship for what was then Malaya. And of course my friend told me horror stories about the old kampong mosque as well. I have to say I definitely would not want to be there at night.
My Thoughts
It was a fulfilling day to have finally found and explored a bunker in Sembawang. It is such a pity that although there were so many bunkers in Sembawang, they have mostly been sealed away, together with their history. Although it is understandable that some of these bunkers may not be structurally sound, but rather than sealing them away, I feel it would have been better to preserve them. Hopefully the few remaining ones will still be accessible in the years to come.
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