Who in his right mind would issue MAD notices?
Here are some clues:
1. The notices were issued a long time ago.
2. A series of notices were issued. (This fact is rather obvious from the serial numbers on the notices.)
3. The notices were not issued by mad people or for them.
Update on 15 Jan 2009
1. I think Fr's request to show readers a part of the notice is quite reasonable. So here it is:
2. Judging from Yg's latest comment, I suspect he knows the answer but is just playing along (as he always does). I think if I offer a prize for the right guess, he would know what brand of underwear the Japanese soldiers wore. ;)
3. Today I saw a mad notice of another kind at the Holland Drive Food Centre:
Sorry that the photo is a bit blur. (Got to take a hurried snapshot before the mad chef notices me and throws her wok of boiling oil on me. :p )
Update on 19 Jan 2009 - Answer to Quiz
Apparently, nobody attempted this quiz although I am quite sure that Yg knew the answer. Why? Because he knew that the notices had to do with "Japanese soldier" (read his comments in this post) and he knew that the photos were taken in a museum (see his comments in Icemoon's post).
Below are the uncropped photos:
MAD Notice No. 27 
MAD Notice No. 3 
MAD Notice No. 3 - MAD stands for "Military Administration Dept"
The 2 notices were notifications of compulsory inoculation/vaccination (although I don't know the difference between the two). The inoculation/vaccination were for "all persons in Syonan-to" and were to guard against infectious diseases prevalent at that time, like typhoid and dengue fevers. The notices were issued by the Japanese Military Administration Department.
The British surrender to the Japanese took place in the Old Ford Factory. The Japanese Occupation of Singapore lasted from 15 February 1942 to 4 September 1945. During this period, there were chaos, hardship, fear and suffering; the Japanese conquerors renamed Singapore as Syonan-to, meaning “light of the South”; the year 1942, was changed to 2602 to follow the Showa calendar and even the local time was moved forward by one and a half hours to follow Tokyo time.
An old photo of the Old Ford Factory
The Old Ford Factory is now a museum. Here's how it looks like from the outside:
Some museum exhibits:
More museum exhibits:
Below is a brief history of the Old Ford Factory. (Click photo to read.)
Photo of a soldier
I asked my sons what words were in this sculpture and they told me that it looked like "ford". Hmm... indeed there's some resemblance to my untrained eyes.
But it's actually 和平 (he ping) which means "peace":
Let's hope that Singapore will enjoy everlasting peace.
Posts
15 comments:
see, lah, everyone scared to give an answer. afterwards, anyhow give, kena labelled 'gila' (mad).
Yg, I promise not to laugh at mad answers. So what's your guess?
notice from pa's music arts & dance studio?
Can give some hints or not? I only know we used to have a MAD magazine in my Sec school days.
Ok, here are more clues:
Yg, no Music, Arts & Dance studio is wrong. The notices had more historical significance than that.
Chun See - The notices were issued more than 60 years ago.
how about let us see parts or some words from the notice
alamak, this kind of question not fair,lah. might as well ask us: what brand of underwear did the japanese soldier wear, if any, during the war?
Fr and Yg - Ok, I have updated the post.
The only thing I thought of is carpark. Haha, I read many stories of Sherlock Holmes, the great detective, but I have not learnt his deduction skills.
The answer to the quiz is out!
victor, when you mentioned that the notice was more than 60 years old, i guessed it was issued during the during the jap occupation. the name 'military administration department' did cross my mind but i crossed that out because 'admin' was about the same as 'dept'. then i came across this stamp book written by wee kiat, hong piew and noel. i went through the pages hoping to find some clues but could find any.
see, although no prize was offered, i also tried so hard.
Yg - Haha, ok. I apologise for the offending statement which I have removed from the post. :)
yg is a deep one. By posting that comment in my blog, he was answering my quiz as well.
alamak! i am over-rated because people jump to conclusion. the word 'museum' was meant to answer icemoon's quiz (anyway, he has not provided the answer although he has moved on to post on 'the typical s'porean). i think seenthisscenethat has got the answer to the 2nd question in the quiz.
i really did not know that 'military administration department'was the answer although it was one of the possibilites that i considered.
Hey Victor,
I do appreciate your writing in this topic.
Bad esn
Post a Comment