Penang War Museum

Visit war museum today together with daughter, SY and a group of students, for their school project.

War museum was opened in 2002, it is located at the South East of Penang Island, on the top of Bukit Batu Maung with area of 20 acre. This is Malaysia's first war museum.

The museum is actually original British military defence fortress built in 1930.

There are two underground complexes, which house the ammunition stores. The barracks, which houses British, Malay and Indian other ranks. There are also cookhouse.

The British expected Japanese attacked from the sea, but Japanese invaded from the land and within 6 days, Penang was taken over by them.

The Japanese invaded the fortress in late 1941, and turned it into an interrogation centre for POW.

The museum did not provide much on the Japanese occupation in Penang, I only found few photo by James Tait, on the bombing in Chulia Street, Penang. This happen to be the place where my grandpa was having a shop during the Japanese occupation, and it was bombed and destroyed. I do not know whether the shop bombed was grandpa's shop. But it did attract my attention. Personally I do not like war, even I like war movie. Two of my uncles passed away after returning from Siam-Burma Death Railway, and my grandpa died after Japanese war during WW2. No matter what is the justification for war, peace is better than war.