Hidden in a small forested hill at Marsiling, the Marsiling Tunnels refer to a mysterious underground bunker when they were rediscovered in the early 2000s. It turned out to be the Woodlands North Depot, an oil reserve station built by the British for their Royal Air Force (RAF) aircrafts. During the Second World War, the Japanese occupied and used the tunnels as their own fuel reserve depot.

It was initially thought that the tunnels might lead to a nearby British barracks at View Road, which was built in the early forties. The building was then used as a mental institution between 1975 and 2001, and as a foreign worker dormitory in the 2010s. Another speculation was that the Marsiling Tunnels’ link to Johor Bahru, but this turned out to be untrue.

The Marsiling Tunnels reportedly descend two storeys deep, and have four entranceways but three have already been sealed for safety reasons. Deep inside the tunnels are large rusty pipes.

The Marsiling Tunnels are not the first tunnel to be discovered in the Kranji and Woodlands areas. There were reportedly several tunnels built by the British and Japanese to be used as stores or air raid shelters. Most were destroyed after the war, while a few were forgotten with their sites reclaimed by nature over the years.

One such tunnel was discovered at Marsiling Road in 1952 by four youths searching for scrap metal. The discovery was then reported by the newspapers, prompting many to explore the tunnel for treasure. A Boyanese worker came forward to reveal the mystery – the tunnel was built by the Japanese during the occupation as an oil and arms dump, believed to be the largest in southern Malaya during the Second World War.

One Chinese contractor, in hope of finding some war treasure or oil reserve, spent $4,000 to excavate the tunnel, but found nothing but concrete walls and some remnants of railway lines and electrical cables.

A former prisoner-of-war (POW) shared that such tunnels were common, as the Japanese dug many tunnels after they invaded Singapore, possibly using them as refuge for their troops in case of bombardment attacks by the Allied forces. He and other POWs were forced during the Japanese Occupation to dig tunnels at Outram Road, Havelock Road and Tiong Bahru Road.

In 2014, the National Library Board (NLB) launched a Marsiling Tunnels heritage tour to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the Battle of Singapore.

Published: 24 April 2024