Parting Glances: Old Police Academy

The old Police Academy (OPA) off Thomson Road has a place in the hearts of many. This will include those from the police force who trained on its grounds, members of the National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC), and those who in one way or another, have found joy in its spacious grounds. The announcement about its redevelopment as a new public-housing estate does not come as a surprise with the knowledge that Mount Pleasant MRT station is already being constructed. Some, like me will however, lament its loss as a space that holds the memories of many and a space that has long escaped the inescapable advance of the clutter and concrete has covered much of this overcrowded island.

The expansive grounds of the old Police Academy.

The old academy’s presence along Thomson Road goes back to 1929, when it made its debut as the Police Training Depot. It setting up came as part of a greater effort to bring transformation to the then Straits Settlements Police Force (SSPF) in response to the growing level of lawlessness. Not only did Singapore come to be known as ”Sin-galore”, comparisons with mob-ruled Chicago were frequently made. To deal with this, an programme to modernise and instil professionalism in the SSPF was launched by it Inspector-General from 1925 to 1935, Harold Fairburn. Along with the setting up of a purpose-built training facility, modern police stations and living quarters being built. The new stations included the so-called “Police Skyscraper“, Hill Street Police Station, Maxwell Road Police Station, and also Beach Road Police Station.

One feature of the new depot was the expansive sports fields and parade grounds that it was provided with. The fields would see hockey, rugby and football matches being played with ones held on Sunday afternoons attracting a healthy crowd. The parade ground saw numerous parades, drills and event rehearsals taking place, some of which involved stunts on motorcycles, with many of spectators finding “seating” on the slope leading to the grounds.

A passing-out parade on the parade grounds with a view towards Block 2 and Block 1 (National Archives of Singapore online).

A view towards the parade ground, part of which is now a construction site.

With the academy having completed a move to the new Home Team Academy in Choa Chu Kang 2005, the death knell on the OPA site was sounded. While the recent announcement has confirmed much of what might have been expected, there is some consolation in the knowledge that the development will for the time being be confined to the OPA site along with an adjacent plot by Onraet Road currently occupied by a set of old police quarters and a former detention facility. That the Kopi Sua cemetery site has been spared, and any impact to its flora and fauna minimised, is a cause for some joy even if it may be temporary.

A view towards Onraet Road and the former police quarters, which will be within the redevelopment site.

All will also not be lost within the OPA site with six structures of historic value being slated for conservation. Among these six buildings, four are those whose time of completion coincided with the opening of the training depot. These are Block 1 and Block 28 within the boundaries of the future estate site, as well as Block 13 and 153 Mount Pleasant Road (the Senior Police Officers’ Mess) just outside of it. Two other buildings being conserved, the 1932 built Block 2, and the 1930 built block 27, are also found within the redevelopment site.

Block 1 in the foreground, which was among the first of the depot’s buildings erected. It originally featured a clock-tower. It and Block 2 (in the background) were more recently used by the Police National Service Department.

Among some structures still found on the site, several which will be lost to redevelopment also date to the period of the training depot’s opening. These include the drill shed, Block 7 and Block 8. Other structures that will have to go are accommodation blocks, a small firing range, a set of squash courts, and a 1976 completed swimming pool that was built at the suggestion of Singapore’s first Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

A sign with safety rules at the firing range and a hand drawn “target”.

The eventual redevelopment will take away much that has been familiar about the place and the open spaces that have long been associated with OPA. Nearby, much is already changing as a result of the construction of the North-South Corridor. Even with their conservation, the six structures will probably give off quite a different vibe surrounded by the clutter of structures that the redevelopment promises to bring. Kopi Sua, with green spaces, much of the Singapore Polo Club (which does have a link to the Police Academy through Harold Fairburn’s successor as Inspector-General of the SSPF, René Onraet) and the luxuriously green area up Mount Pleasant Road will however still be there. But, for how long? Only time will tell.

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Structures being conserved

Block 2, which was completed in 1932.

The SPF crest in front of Block 1

Block 28, completed in 1929, built on a “butterfly” plan.

Views in and around Block 28

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Block 27, completed in 1930. It would have resembled Block 28 without the more recent modifications.

Block 13 – the “hospital” block, which is just outside the area of the development.

Views in and around Block 13.

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Views around the Old Police Academy and of structures including the swimming pool, that will be demolished

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A reminder of a time and place forgotten

Masjid Omar Salmah, which stands on an elevation overlooking Jalan Mashhor, is one of only a handful of village style mosques left in Singapore today. The mosque, and its surroundings, remind us simpler times now forgotten. Built in the early 1970s to serve Kampong Jantai, which has since abandoned it – its inhabitants were resettled in the 1980s with a large proportion going to the then developing Ang Mo Kio New Town, the mosque and its surroundings remain relatively undisturbed and hark back to days difficult now to imagine.

During a recent visit to the mosque, I learnt that curious sounding Kampong Jantai, was actually a transliteration of the name of a Chinese village, Gian Thye, which the area had also been home to. The occupants of Kampong Jantai, were apparently largely of Boyanese (or Baweanese) descent, and included a certain Haji Buang Masadin, who was instrumental in obtaining the plot of land to build the mosque.  Haji Buang, who took the name Haji Mashhor after embarking on the Hajj, also lent his name to the road, Jalan Mashhor, which runs by the mosque.

The building of the mosque was prompted by the large numbers of non-villagers working in the vicinity who descended on the village’s surau (prayer hall) for Friday prayers. It was constructed in 1973-1974, with support coming financially through a prominent member of the Alsagoff family, Syed Ibrahim bin Omar Alsagoff. It was after Syed Ibrahim’s parents, Syed Omar and Salmah, that the mosque was named. The mosque, besides serving the villagers and workers in the vicinity, also served the nearby Kampong Nekat at Onraet Road. 

The mosque today, is an expanded version of the original mosque; an expansion that was carried out in the 1980s through the donation of a food caterer, who had used part of its grounds for his business. Today, it is through generous donations and a team of unpaid volunteers that the mosque, which now operates on a Temporary Occupation License, survives.

The area, which includes Bukit Brown cemetery, is intended for future housing. The signs of this are already upon us. An eight lane road cutting through the cemetery, the plans for which sparked some controversy, is fast taking shape. Along with that, a future Circle Line MRT station, Bukit Brown, is already ready under Jalan Mashhor. Plans are also there for another future MRT station on the soon-to-be-constructed Thomson Line, Mount Pleasant, not far away. It does seems that when the time for that comes, the mosque will have to go and with it a precious piece of a past that we today, already find hard to remember.

Jalan Mashhor – whith structures belonging to the already constructed future Bukit Brown MRT station visible in the distance.

Not all Black and White at Mount Pleasant

With much of Singapore now dominated by the clutter and monstrosities of the modernised world, “Black and White” housing estates are a breath of fresh air. Many of these estates can still be found scattered across the island. Set in lush greener, they contain houses that are characterised by their whitewashed exteriors and their black trimmings. Built in the early decades of the twentieth century, these houses were the homes of the colony’s administrators and wear a poise and an elegance that seems lacking in the residential architecture of the modern world.

The ‘black and white’ house at 159 Mount Pleasant Road.

The rear of the house – with the kitchen and servants quarters arranged in typical fashion behind the main house.

I am always grateful for the opportunity to take a peek into one of these houses, a good number of which are being leased from the Singapore government for quite a tidy sum. One that I recently got to see — thanks to arrangements made by a friend and fellow blogger James Tann with the house’s occupant, was 159 Mount Pleasant Road. Laid out in a style typical of the early “Black and White” house — of single room depth, and with a carriage porch arranged under a projecting second storey verandah, the house is one of a cluster of similar houses built in the 1920s along the northern slope of Mount Pleasant as residences for the fast developing colony’s Municipal Councillors.

The carriage porch and projecting second storey verandah.

The projecting second storey verandah.

Located close to the top of Mount Pleasant, one of the high points in the series of undulations that extend to the municipal burial grounds to its northwest in the area of Bukit Brown, there is much to admire about the house and the expansive grounds it has been provided with. From James, I also discovered that what was most interesting about the house was not so much its architecture nor the beauty of its settings, but a secret that the house and its grounds held for some seventy years.

From the porch one steps into an entrance hall and the stairway – again typical of an early ‘Black and White’ house design.

The dining room on the ground level, as seen from the entrance hallway.

James, who photographed the house for a book on the Adam Park Project, shared what had been learnt about No 159 and the houses in the vicinity through the piecing together of evidence found in history books, maps and also what had been unearthed on the grounds. The project, which is led by battlefield archeologist Jon Cooper, seeks to establish from archaeological evidence, what went on in and around Adam Park in the final days of the battle for Singapore in February 1942.

The area in the foreground was where both spent ammunition and a cache of unused British ammunition was recently uncovered.

In a video on the dig that took place on the grounds of No 159 Mount Pleasant Road earlier in the year, Jon Cooper paints a picture of the events of the last days leading up to what seems to have happened on the morning of 15th February 1942 — the day of the surrender. Japanese forces, having met with stiff resistance from the 1st Cambridgeshire regiment, who had been holding the ground for three days at Adam Park, decided to move north. On the evening of 14th of February, the Japanese were able to penetrate positions held by 4th Battalion of the Royal Suffolks at the Singapore Island Country Club and at Bukit Brown. In retreat, the Suffolks retreat, falling back across a valley (which would be the low ground at Jalan Mashhor / Gymkhana Avenue), to positions on Mount Pleasant. Here, a mix of units including the 125^th Anti Tank Regiment, the Royal Engineers and elements of the 9th Northumberland Fusiliers, brace for a Japanese attack and have the area fortified with the “Black and White” houses along the edge of the ridge serving as defensive positions.

In the video, Cooper also tells us of two well-documented attacks on Mount Pleasant that would follow. One comes from an account recorded by Henry Frei, who once taught at the NUS, through interviews with Japanese veterans. This account makes mention of an attack on “Hospital Hill” which wipes out a whole company of Japanese troops.

The house that was thought to be used as a hospital on the top of Mount Pleasant.

Another account that Cooper refers to, speaks of the attempts that were made on the morning of 15th February to retake a house that had been infiltrated by the Japanese. The house, on the north side of Mount Pleasant Road, is described as as hard to take due to its elevation below the road. After two failed attempts to retake it, the house is hit with twelve anti-tank shells which were fired from a gun positioned at the junction of Mount Pleasant Road and Thomson Road. The house, which catches fire, is cleared of Japanese troops before burning down. With the help of a 1948 aerial photograph, Cooper was able to identify this house as being No 160 through its new roof, which lies right across Mount Pleasant Road from No 159. An article in the Singapore Free Press dated 25 June 1948, which reports the discovery of the remains of eight soldiers on the grounds of a “bombed house” at 160 Mount Pleasant Road, provides further evidence. 

160 Mount Pleasant Road, which was infiltrated by Japanese troops and subsequently bombed.

Remains were also found at the far end of No 159’s garden. They belonged to a British officer and were reburied in Kranji War Cemetery. An aim of the dig at No 159 was to find if anything else belonging to this officer could be found on the grounds.

A view towards the far end of the garden. The remains of a British officer killed in the course of fighting, was buried.

While no further evidence was found of the officer, the main area of focus of the dig taking place at the near end of the huge garden, did meet with success. The recent removal of a tree coupled with the gradual washing away of the topsoil by rainwater provided a huge clue as to where to carry out this dig, through which thousands of pieces of ammunition were uncovered. The find, which includes both spent cases and a cache of unused ammunition that had deliberately been buried, confirmed that there was fighting in the garden of No 159, which would have been used as a staging point for the counterattack on No 160. The large quantity of unused ammunition, which was of British origin, also provided evidence of the final positions held by British troops as they made their preparations to surrender.

Mount Pleasant Road, seen here running between #159 and #160, served as a final battle line before the capitulation.

There probably is a lot more that lies buried in and around No 159 and the “Black and White” houses in the vicinity and it is possible that the grounds of these houses may never reveal their secrets. Based on the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s 2014 Master Plan, the area will be the subject of future redevelopment — perhaps as part of the intended Bukit Brown estate and on the evidence of the two MRT stations that have been planned for. It would be a shame if and when this happens. Not only will we lose a lush green part of Singapore with its “Black and White” reminders of a forgotten age, we will also lose a crucial link to a chapter in our history that we must never be forget.

The URA Master Plan 2014 indicates that the area will be redeveloped in the future.

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More photographs of 159 Mount Pleasant Road