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The
monument
was
constructed
to
commemorate
the
"Unknown
Warrior"
of
the
Indian
National
Army
(INA).
The
words
inscribed
on
the
war
memorial
were
its
motto,
which
is
Unity
(Ittefaq),
Faith
(Etmad)
and
Sacrifice
(Kurbani).
It
was
built
during
the
Japanese
Occupation
of
Singapore
as
the
Japanese
and
the
INA
had
one
enemy
in
common,
i.e.,
the
British.
Subhas
Chandra
Bose
("Netaji")
laid
the
foundation
stone
on
July
8,
1945.
The
monument
was
then
erected
within
a
month
by
the
Japanese
on
August
1945,
a
few
months
before
Singapore
was
recaptured
by
the
British.
The
construction
of
the
monument
was
proposed
by
Bose,
the
co-founder
of
the
INA
and
Head
of
State
of
the
Provisional
Government
of
Free
India.
The
INA
was
backed
by
the
Japanese
forces
for
its
goal
of
gaining
India's
independence
from
Britain.
Soon
after
the
Japanese
retreat
from
Singapore
in
15
August
1945
and
the
subsequent
surrender
of
the
remaining
divisions
of
the
Indian
National
Army
to
the
advancing
British,
the
British
commander
Lord
Louis
Mountbatten
ordered
the
memorial
to
be
destroyed.
Mountbatten's
intention
was
to
remove
all
traces
of
rebellion
against
British
imperial
authority.
By
attempting
to
completely
erase
all
records
of
the
INA's
existence,
he
sought
to
prevent
the
seeds
of
the
idea
of
a
revolutionary
socialist
independence
force
from
spreading
into
the
vestiges
of
British
colonies,
amidst
the
spectre
of
Cold
War
politics
already
taking
shape
at
the
time,
which
had
haunted
the
colonial
powers
before
the
war.[citation
needed]
In
1995,
the
National
Heritage
Board
marked
the
place
as
a
historical
site
and
subsequently
with
financial
donations
from
the
Indian
community
in
Singapore,
a
new
monument
commemorating
the
previous
one
was
erected
on
that
spot.
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