The forgotten M’sian heroine : Sybil Kathigasu

By Mariam Mokhtar

MALAYSIANS have a very poor sense of history. In recent decades, our education system and schools placed little emphasis on the subject. What passed off as history was knowing which political party and politicians featured prominently in Malaysia’s recent past.

Besides this and the study of the Malacca sultanate, few children have even heard of the two world wars or of the birth of democracy or the influence of powerful people through the ages.

Sadly, many children memorise certain historical facts just so they can pass their history exams.

This unhealthy trend is finally being addressed. Although films like Sarjan Hassan and Leftenan Adnan, are examples of local heroes remembered by Malaysian youth, there still exists a wide gap in historical knowledge.

However, an eight-part drama mini-series is also hoping to fill the gap in Malaysia’s local history. It will feature one Malayan woman who defied the Japanese occupiers in war-torn Malaya in the 1940s.

She is Sybil Kathigasu and is our World War II heroine. Her nursing skills and quiet determination have also termed her the title, Malaysia’s Florence Nightingale.

“She’s a war heroine who was tortured and beaten up and yet she survived it all,” explained 32 year-old Elaine Daly, a former Miss Malaysia Universe 2003, beauty queen-turned-actress, who portrays her in the series. Incidentally, Elaine is related to the heroine and would have been her grand-niece, had Sybil lived. “After the war, Sybil was awarded the George Medal, the highest British civilian award for bravery, by King George VI.”

Daly plays Kathigasu in Apa Dosa Aku? (What is my sin?): The Sybil Kathigasu Story – as part of a wider campaign to celebrate Malaysian history.

Tortured mercilessly

The real Sybil, according to older daughter Olga, was of French and Penang Eurasian descent. She married AC Kathigasu, a doctor, while she was a trained nurse and together they operated a clinic in Ipoh from 1926 until Japanese troops arrived in Ma­laya on 26 December, 1942.

The couple, along with their two daughters Olga and Dawn and an adopted son William, moved to a small town called Papan.

Together with her husband, the resistance fighter opened another dispensary in Papan and secretly provided the guerrilla forces with medical treatment and supplies as well as information to the resistance forces during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya.

They were betrayed and she was caught by the Japanese in 1943 and tortured mercilessly. She underwent the “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.

Despite being tortured and thrown into prison by the Japanese military police, Sybil never divulged information about the resistance movement. She survived the ordeal although her health was severely affected after the various injuries sustained during her incarceration.

When Malaya was liberated in 1945, Sybil was flown to Britain for medical treatment. She was awarded the George Medal for Gallantry, the only Malaysian woman to receive the medal for bravery.

The two-storey shophouse at 74 Main Street in Papan now belongs to a private individual and is open to tourists for viewing. The shooting of the drama was done entirely in Perak and also at the house, from last December to early February this year. Everything mentioned in her memoir No Dram of Mercy was preserved in the house, including the well-concealed hole under the staircase where the radio was hidden.

A story we should all know

Sybil Kathigasu died in 1948, in Lanark, Scotland, from acute septicaemia brought on by her previous injury sustained during her torture. In 1949, her remains were returned to Ipoh, where a huge crowd paid tribute and accompanied her cortege to her final resting place in the grounds of St Michael’s Church.

Director Bernard Chauly is retelling the story of Sybil Kathigasu, based on her memoir. When asked what message he wanted relayed, he said: “It is one woman’s struggle and sacrifice driven by deep personal conviction for justice, in the face of inhumanity at a time when Malaya was upside down. For those who’re familiar and passionate about her story, this series need no introduction. For the majority of the Malaysian public, the simple message is: here is a story we should all know. One that should be in our history books.”

Bernard’s films normally feature female protagonists: “The contribution of women to the course of history, ours included, has been under- documented, under-recognised and often untold.

For him, the Sybil Kathigasu story is a perfect example: “Luckily for us, she lived to tell her story and penned down her gripping ­experiences. In short, it is a rare historiography of a true wirawati negara ( national heroine).”

Sybil Kathigasu is without doubt a Malaysian heroine and 12 June 2010, marks the 62nd anniversary of her death from the torture she received at the hands of the Japanese military police.

She, like many others in the war effort, gave the ultimate sacrifice to the nation in order that we may live in peace and security.