SINGAPORE, Aug. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- "I come here today to ponder on the tragic history during the second World War (WWII) when many Australian soldiers were enslaved by the Japanese troops as the Prisoners-of-War (POWs). I hope the tragedy will not repeat itself," a 25-year-old Australian girl Maria O'Donohoe told Xinhua at Singapore's Changi Museum.

    In Maria's mind, it is sorrowful that a few Japanese leaders and rightist extremists, driven by their incorrect attitude towards the war, resist reviewing the history of some 60 years ago.

    The Changi Museum, named the Old Changi Prison Chapel and Museum when it was first built in 1988 near the Changi prison in the eastern part of the island state, focuses on the trials and tribulations of Singaporeans and the Allies' POWs during the dark years of the WWII.

    With an investment of 3 million Singapore dollars (about 1.8 million US dollars) by the Singapore government, the museum was rebuilt and relocated in 2001, which covers 0.55 hectare, four times the area of the original one.

    Changi became a major POWs camp site after Singapore fell underJapan's occupation on Feb. 15, 1942, where some 50,000 allied soldiers and civilians from countries such as Britain, Australia, New Zealand and India were kept.

    The occupiers renamed the island Syonan-To (meaning light of the South), set the time 90 minutes ahead of the standard one to keep in accord with the local time in Japan, and slaughtered about50,000 Singaporean civilians during their three-year occupation.

    In the entrance gallery of the museum hang maps of Malaya and Singapore, which illustrate how the Japanese forces advanced and eventually gained control of the two British colonies.

    The messages sent by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, together with five wreaths laid by embassies of Britain, the United States and Australia in Singapore, are displayed next to the maps.

    What is more eye-catching is a horn used by the allied troops to sound the call to charge, as well as a part of reflections by ex-POW George Aspinall who came to visit the museum when it was opened to the public in 1988.

    "I can't help thinking the feeling I experienced when I first walked up to, and entered the Chapel. For a brief moment, my mind was taken back some forty odd years and it appeared to be very real," he wrote.

    The following 18-chapter exhibition of black-and-white photographs, letters, drawings and POWs' legacies depicts the deep-rooted memories of that dark period of time.

    The three-and-half-year life in Changi Camp means nothing but anon-stop war against humiliation, starving and disease to win human dignity and freedom, said the ex-POWs, museum staff and visitors.

    As depicted in the exhibits named "Deeds We Shall Never Forget"and "Darkest Days", the scrawny allied POWs under the equatorial sun, having nothing but a loincloth, were doing slavish labor, threatened by the Japanese despotism and violence, caning and beating. Rows of Indian POWs were shot, Australians hacked to death and beheaded civilians pilloried.

    Besides, hundreds of paintings drawn by ex-POW William Haxworthduring his days in the Camp demonstrated the miserable life and Japanese brutalities from various aspects.

    On the other side of the exhibition hall are books and journalsbeing sold about the WWII and the crimes committed by the Japanesetroops in Singapore. A wide-screen color TV is playing interview with the ex-POWs all the time.

    On the ground between the two exhibition halls stands a wood chapel, inside hanging a cross, made by a British POW, Sergeant Harold Stogden, from a used artillery shell.

    On the wall on one side of the chapel, a signboard is laden with slips of condolences, while before the wall on the other sidewere white candles that never put out.

    Plants like banana, tapioca, sweet potato, hibiscus are found along the edge of the museum, which the POWs and civilians are depend on as daily food.

    Nowadays, the Changi Museum, also known as "Changi University",receives some 300 visitors everyday, among whom are mostly relatives and friends of the POWs, students or tourists.

    2005 marks the 60th anniversary of the ending of World War II, which doubles the number of visitors.

    Only in the two hours of the interview, the Xinhua correspondent met quite a number of tourists from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and other countries, as well as many Singapore National Servicemen and students.

    Byron, father of an Australian visitor Trevor Fitzsimory, was held in Changi Camp for three and half years and died in 1988.

    Fitzsimory said that he made a special visit with his wife to this land on the very occasion of the 60th anniversary of the victory of the war.

    He added that his father bore the days as a POW in mind all hislife and the live today should never forget the past.

    Time can dim everything, but can not heal the wounds left by the tragic war.

    Dedicated to all those who lived and died in Singapore, in particular the Changi area, during the WWII, the museum also rings alarm bells to people living today.

    Peace is invaluable, and the tragedy of war should not repeat itself.

    Seen as a mirror and university, history can inspire people to know about the past and adopt a correct attitude towards the future. Enditem