Indian National Army Historic Marker, PARAS'10 Virtual Singapore
Updated: 2 days ago
For our 2026 PARAS'10 Virtual tab, we have chosen a route that features some of the Singapore's key historic landmarks.
Esplanade Park's Indian National Army Historic Marker shows a controversial side of Singapore's war history, a story that deserves to be heard. Google Location.
The Former Indian National Army Monument was a war memorial at Esplanade Park constructed to commemorate the "Unknown Warrior" of the Indian National Army (INA), built during the Japanese Occupation, when the Japanese and the INA shared a common enemy in the British. Its inscribed motto read Ittehad (Unity), Ittemad (Faith), and Qurbani (Sacrifice).
Subhas Chandra Bose, revered as "Netaji" laid the foundation stone on 8 July 1945, only months before Singapore was recaptured by the Allies. Following the ceremony, the monument was constructed by the Japanese within the space of a month. Bose, who led the INA from 1943 and served as head of state of the Provisional Government of Free India, envisioned the structure as a tribute to the ordinary soldiers of his army who died fighting for Indian independence.
The monument's existence was brief. When the Allies retook Singapore in 1945, Lord Louis Mountbatten, head of Southeast Asia Command, ordered it demolished. Despite the destruction, a fragment of the original structure was quietly saved by INA members, preserving a physical link to the monument's history.
Decades later, in the mid-1990s, Singapore's National Heritage Board, supported by contributions from the local Indian community, erected a new marker on the exact site where Bose's original monument once stood. Today, the Indian National Army Historic Marker remains a place of pilgrimage, particularly for visitors of Indian heritage, and continues to draw dignitaries paying homage to the memory of the INA's fallen soldiers and their pursuit of Indian freedom.
The Indian National Army Monument sits nearby The Cenotaph, Lim Bo Seng Memorial and Tan Kim Seng Fountain, collectively known as the Esplanade Park Memorials.
See you at the PARAS'10, Singapore Edition.
Alastair
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