The memorable of our huge Malaysian heroine Sybil
Karthigesu whom were the 1st woman who defied the Japanese occupiers in
war-torn Malaya in the 1940s. She was born on September 3th 1899 in Medan ,Indonesia. She was a Eurasian lady
with a trained nurse and midwife. In
1919 she married Dr Abdon Clement Kathigasu and they were blessed with two
daugthers, Olga and Dawn. Before that, the couple adopted a son, William
Pillay. Sybil and Abdon operated a clinic in Brewster Road, now known as Jalan
Sultan Idris Shah in Ipoh, Perak, for 14 years before the war descended on
them. Then came the war and the invasion of Malaya by the Japanese army in 1941
When the Japanese army occupied Ipoh, Sybil and her family moved away to Papan,
a small town fringing Ipoh. Together with her husband, Sybil secretly supplied
medicines, medical services and information to the underground guerilla forces
of the Fifth Independent Regiment of MPAJA freedom fighters who camped in
nearby hills and jungles.
She also secretly kept shortwave radio sets and
clandestinely listened to BBC broadcasts to keep in touch with the situation
around the world, especially in Britain and Europe.
Along the way they were betrayed and was caught by
the Japanese Army and tortured mercilessly where they use “Tokyo wine
treatment” whereby water was pumped into her and her torturer would stomp on
her stomach and force water out of her through all her orifices. She was
beaten, burnt and kicked on the jaw in an attempt to break her.
She could not walk, lost all her fingernails and had
broken bones everywhere, including her skull. Her five-year-old daughter, Dawn,
was dangled from a tree and her torturers threatened to roast her child alive
with charcoal burning beneath her. That much of nightmare she went through to
save our country even though she is not pure Malayan citizen. They punished her husband, son and her
daughter Thavam, who was then seven years old but Sybil, who suffered the
anguish of knowing her family’s pain, did not relent. She was prepared to face
the punishment by the Japanese army. She
refused to betray the MPAJA members and their families. Finally, Sybil was sent
to Batu Gajah prison where she was further tortured. the
Japanese army sprayed soap water into her vagina and forced her to sit for
hours on ice cubes and she was not allowed to sleep. Sybil survived three years
of torture and torment under the Japanese army and was only released after
Japan lost the war. Following her release, Sybil was flown to Britain for
medical treatment. It was there that she wrote her now famous memoir, “No Dram
of Mercy”. After the war Sybil Kathigesu was awarded the
George Medal by King George VI. Her story under the Japanese Occupation is a harrowing
one, yet one of bravery strength and determination. Sybil died on June 12,
1948, in Britain, seven months after she was released from her Batu Gajah
prison cell. Sybil’s life is perhaps the best example of unity an Singhalese
Sri Lankan women who willingly sacrificed her life for MPAJA members who were
mostly Chinese who fought for the independence of Malaya.
BY: ALISSA PRIYA DARSHINI
