Bank Kerapu War Museum

Bank Kerapu War Museum is a history museum housed in a colonial-era bank building on Jalan Sultan in central Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Built in 1912 as the Mercantile Bank of India, the building served as the Japanese Kempeitai headquarters during World War II. Now managed by the Kelantan Museum Corporation, it exhibits photographs, artifacts and dioramas documenting the Japanese occupation of Kelantan and Malaya, and is notable for its preserved architecture and wartime history.

Visitors can expect a two-storey colonial bank building with whitewashed walls and preserved interior spaces converted into exhibition galleries. Inside are wartime photographs, documents, uniforms, weapons, and dioramas depicting the Japanese landing in Kota Bharu and the occupation period. The museum is located in the historic centre near Padang Merdeka, with compact galleries that can be explored on foot in a short visit.

The building was constructed in 1912 to house the Mercantile Bank of India and later known as Bank Kerapu. During World War II, following the Japanese landing at Kota Bharu on 8 December 1941, it was used as the headquarters of the Japanese secret police (Kempeitai). After the war it served various functions before being restored and opened as a war museum by the Kelantan Museum Corporation to document the wartime period in Kelantan.

The museum preserves and presents the wartime heritage of Kelantan and serves as an educational resource on the World War II period in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, housed in one of Kota Bharu's remaining colonial-era buildings.