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Elizabeth Choy | |
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Born | Yong Su-Moi 29 November 1910 |
Died | 14 September 2006 95) | (aged
Other names | Dayak Woman of Singapore Gunner Choy |
Occupations | |
Known for | Heroics during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II |
Spouse | Choy Khun Heng (m. 1941;died 1985) |
Father | Yong Thau Yin |
Relatives |
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Awards |
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Changi Prison Complex, often known simply as Changi Prison, is a prison complex in the namesake district of Changi in the eastern part of Singapore. It is the oldest and largest prison in the country, covering an area of about 50 ha. Opened in 1936, the prison has a rich history.
Lim Bo Seng was a Chinese resistance fighter based in Singapore and Malaya during World War II. Prior to the outbreak of World War II, he was a prominent businessman among the overseas Chinese community in Singapore and Malaya. Following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, he participated in fund-raising activities to assist the war effort in China and boycott Japanese goods. After Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942, Lim went to India, where he joined Force 136, a Sino-British guerrilla task force backed by the Special Operations Executive, to carry out espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance operations in Japanese-occupied Malaya. In 1944, he was captured by Japanese forces in Malaya and ultimately died in prison due to torture and ill-treatment. After the war, his remains were transported back to Singapore and buried near MacRitchie Reservoir. He is remembered as a war hero in contemporary Singapore and the Lim Bo Seng Memorial at Esplanade Park was constructed in 1954 to commemorate him.
Sir Thomas Shenton Whitelegge Thomas was a British colonial administrator, best remembered as the Governor of the Straits Settlements at the time of the Japanese invasion during the Second World War.
Syonan, officially Syonan Island, was the name for Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II.
The Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation, usually called the Civilian War Memorial, is a war memorial and heritage landmark in Singapore next to Esplanade MRT station. It was built in memory of the civilians killed during the Japanese occupation of Singapore during World War II. The Civilian War Memorial sits on serene parkland in the midst of busy city traffic near Singapore's Padang and City Hall. Located within the War Memorial Park at Beach Road within the Central Area, Singapore's central business district, it is usually easy to spot in most backdrops encompassing the CBD landscape. It was gazetted as the 65th national memorial on 15 August 2013.
Dora Gordine was an Estonian Jewish Modernist figurative and portraitist sculptor. Her early career was influenced by the Noor Eesti group of artists who favoured Art Nouveau. She moved to Paris and on her third marriage, to Hon. Richard Hare (1907–66), her career expanded to the extent that some critics regarded her as amongst the finest sculptors of her generation. She specialized in portrait sculptures attracting international admirers from the political, social, artistic, literary and theatrical worlds. Her legacy also includes a number of public space pieces. Her latter career was not as prolific or as fêted and Gordine was relatively unknown at the time of her death. Major exhibitions in London in 2006 and 2009 have revived her standing and her former home is now a museum.
The Selarang Barracks incident, also known as the Barrack Square incident or the Selarang Square Squeeze, was a revolt of British and Australian prisoners-of-war (POWs) interned in a Japanese camp in Changi, Singapore.
The "Double Tenth incident" or "Double Tenth massacre" occurred on 10 October 1943, during the Second World War Japanese occupation of Singapore. The Kenpeitai—Japanese military police—arrested and tortured fifty-seven civilians and civilian internees on suspicion of their involvement in a raid on Singapore Harbour that had been carried out by Anglo-Australian commandos from Operation Jaywick. Three Japanese ships were sunk and three were damaged, but none of those arrested and tortured had participated in the raid, nor had any knowledge of it. Fifteen of them died in Singapore's Changi Prison.
Mamoru Shinozaki was a journalist for Dentsu and spy for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in pre-war years, a military executive in Japanese-occupied Singapore, and a businessman and writer in post-war years. He is known for the Shinozaki Case in 1940, and for his testimony in the war crimes trial in 1947 for the Sook Ching massacre.
The Changi Murals are a set of five paintings of biblical themes painted by Stanley Warren, a British bombardier and prisoner-of-war (POW) interned at the Changi Prison, during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in the Second World War. His murals were completed under difficult conditions of sickness, limited materials and hardships. With a message of universal love and forgiveness, they helped to uplift the spirits of the POWs and the sick when they sought refuge in the prison chapel.
Kent Ridge Park is a 47-hectare public park located in Kent Ridge, Singapore, between the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Science Park. Due to its undisturbed habitat and abundant plant life, it is a popular venue for bird-watchers and eco-tourists.
The Kempeitai East District Branch was the headquarters of the Kempeitai, the Japanese military police, during the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945. It was located at the old YMCA building, at the present site of Singapore's YMCA Building on Stamford Road. Opened in 1911, the distinctive Art Deco YMCA building was the site of interrogation and torture of many innocent civilians, including the war heroine Elizabeth Choy. After the war, the Singapore government erected several memorials with some at the former massacre sites. In 1995, the former site of the old YMCA building was gazetted by the National Heritage Board as one of the eleven World War II sites of Singapore.
The Ee Hoe Hean Club, founded in 1895 and located at Bukit Pasoh Road in Chinatown, was a millionaires' club in Singapore. Besides functioning as a social and business club, members of the club were actively involved in the political development of China in the early 20th century. The club supported the 1911 Xinhai Revolution which overthrew the Qing Dynasty, and later the establishment of the Republic of China. During World War II, it was the headquarters of the anti-Japanese China Salvation Movement in Southeast Asia from 1937 to 1942. On 18 October 1995, the club was gazetted as a Heritage Site by the National Heritage Board of Singapore.
The Price of Peace is a Singaporean television drama set in Japanese-occupied Singapore during World War II. It starred Rayson Tan, Xiang Yun, Chen Shucheng, Jacintha Abisheganaden, James Lye, Lina Ng, Christopher Lee, Ivy Lee, Carole Lin and Ryan Choo. The series is based on a 1995 book of the same title, which contains numerous first-hand accounts of war veterans and eyewitnesses.
The Federal Court of Malaysia is the highest court and the final appellate court in Malaysia. It is housed in the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya. The court was established during Malaya's independence in 1957 and received its current name in 1994.
The Changi Chapel and Museum is a war museum dedicated to Singapore's history during the Second World War and the Japanese occupation of Singapore. After the British Army was defeated by the Imperial Japanese Army in the Battle of Singapore, thousands of prisoners of war (POWs) were imprisoned in Changi prison camp for three and a half years. While interned there, the POWs built numerous chapels, one of which was named St George's Church.
Han Sai Por is a Singaporean sculptor. A graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), East Ham College of Art, Wolverhampton College of Art, and Lincoln University, New Zealand, she worked as a teacher and later as a part-time lecturer at NAFA, the LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, and the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, before becoming a full-time artist in 1997.
In Pursuit of Peace is a Singaporean television drama set in Japanese-occupied Singapore during World War II. The series was first run on MediaCorp Channel 8 from 9 March to 11 May 2001 on Friday nights. The series is based on the 1999 book Eternal Vigilance: The Price of Freedom, which contains numerous eyewitness accounts of survivors of the Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia. In contrast with The Price of Peace, a similar television series aired on MediaCorp Channel 8 in 1997, In Pursuit of Peace focuses more on developing the main characters' stories, while the former places greater emphasis on the historical aspects of the Japanese occupation.
Hugh Fraser (1891–1944), was a British colonial administrator. He was the last acting Colonial Secretary of Straits Settlements before the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 to the Japanese Occupation and was interned in Changi Prison. He subsequently died in Outram Road Prison in 1944.
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: CS1 maint: others (link)Elizabeth Choy-Yong Su-Moi | |||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 蔡楊素梅 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 蔡杨素梅 | ||||||||||
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Elizabeth Choy Su-Moi OBE (née Yong;29 November 1910 –14 September 2006) was a Singaporean educator and councillor who is regarded as a war heroine in Singapore. Along with her husband,Choy Khun Heng,she supplied medicine,money and messages to Far East prisoners of war and civilian internees held in Changi Prison during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II.
Choy was born in a Hakka family in Kudat,North Borneo (now Sabah). Her great-grandparents first came to Kudat from Hong Kong to assist German missionaries in their work. The eldest of 11 children,Choy's father worked as a civil servant after completing his early education in China with some English education in North Borneo,where he married the daughter of a priest. He transferred to work in Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu) and was later promoted to District Officer and he moved to Kalimantan.
Choy was raised by a Kadazan nanny and acquired Kadazan as her first language. She became an Anglican at St Monica's Boarding School in Sandakan,where she adopted the name "Elizabeth",and went on to pursue higher education in Raffles College (now the National University of Singapore) in Singapore. As her family could not afford the tuition fees,she started to teach,first at St Margaret's School and then at St Andrew's School.
In August 1941,she married Choy Khun Heng,employed by the Borneo Company.
During the Japanese invasion of Malaya,Choy served as a second lieutenant in the women's auxiliary arm of the Singapore Volunteer Corps,where she acquired the nickname "Gunner Choy". She was also a volunteer nurse with the Medical Auxiliary Service. After the fall of Singapore in 1942,the Choys set up a canteen at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital,after all the patients and doctors had been moved from the Miyako Hospital (former Woodbridge Hospital),where they soon started a regular ambulance run for British civilian internees. The couple helped prisoners interned in Changi Prison by passing to them cash and parcels containing fresh clothing,medicine and letters during their deliveries. They incurred further risk by sending in radio parts for hidden receivers until the Japanese crackdown following Operation Jaywick.
During the subsequent Double Tenth Incident,an informant told the Kempeitai (Japanese military police) that the Choys were involved in smuggling money into Changi Prison,resulting in the arrest of Choy's husband. After several days,Choy went to the Kempeitai East District Branch to ask about her husband. The Japanese denied knowledge of him,but lured her back to the branch three weeks later and confined her with other prisoners. She was imprisoned and subjected to torture. R. H. Scott,a former director of the British Ministry of Information (Far Eastern Branch) and principal witness at the War Crimes Court in Singapore,later testified that he saw Choy being stripped and severely beaten "on at least one occasion". [1] Throughout her imprisonment,her strong Christian faith and the classic texts that she learnt in school about moral values kept her strong. [2]
At the Japanese surrender in Singapore in September 1945,Choy was invited by Lady Mountbatten to witness the official ceremony,where she was escorted by the governor,Sir Shenton Thomas,and his wife,to whom she had sent medicine in Changi Prison.
After the war,the Choys were invited to England to recuperate. During their stay,Lady Baden-Powell awarded her the Girl Guides' highest honour for gallantry,the Bronze Cross,and the Rajah of Sarawak Charles Brooke presented her with the Order of the Star of Sarawak. The Choys were bestowed with the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in June 1946. [3] They were honoured for their work in assisting British prisoners of war in Malaya during the Japanese occupation. In addition,Choy received the honour of having a half-hour private audience with Queen Elizabeth at St James's Palace on 25 July 1946. [4]
During her four-year stay in England,Choy studied domestic science at the Northern Polytechnic (now the University of North London) and taught at a London council school. Intent on studying art but without the finances for this venture,Choy began a stint as an artist's model,posing for two sculptures,"Serene Jade" and "Flawless Crystal",by the sculptor Dora Gordine.
On returning to Singapore in 1949,Choy resumed teaching and became involved in the political developments preceding Singapore's independence. She stood in the election in December 1950 for the West Ward. However,she lost to the Progressive Party candidate Soh Ghee Soon.
From 1951 to 1955,Choy was nominated by the Governor to the Legislative Council of Singapore,where she spoke frequently on behalf of the poor and needy,and campaigned for the development of social services and family planning. As a member of the Legislative Council,she represented Singapore at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953. She later stood for elections in Queenstown but retired from politics thereafter.
Choy's teaching career at St Andrew's School continued until 1974,except for a four-year spell as the first principal,as well as a teacher,at the Singapore School for the Blind from 1956. After her retirement she improved her languages and travelled. She continued with social work and school visits into her 90s,impressing young Singaporeans with the need to maintain strong national defence.
Choy was also noted for wearing traditional Chinese and Indian clothing,qipaos and bangles,which earned her the nickname "Dayak Woman of Singapore".
Choy died from pancreatic cancer in 2006 at the age of 95.
In October 1986,Choy's life story was adapted into a stage play Not Afraid To Live,Not Afraid To Remember by Kim Ramakrishnan. The play was directed by Lim Siauw Chong and was staged by Theatreworks at the Drama Centre in Singapore.
On 11 September 1995,a column on Choy,titled "She paid 40 cents for me to have this picture",was published in the Singapore newspaper The Straits Times . It was written by columnist Koh Buck Song,one of Choy's former students.
On 29 October 1997,an exhibition titled Elizabeth Choy :A Woman Ahead of Her Time was officially opened at the Singapore History Museum in honour of Choy's contributions to Singapore. The exhibition was considered unique for a living woman in Singapore history,tracing her life as a nurse,her travels to the United Kingdom to meet royalty,her 22-year teaching career at St Andrew's School,and her vast contributions to the less fortunate. More than 100 artefacts of pictures and newspaper clippings of her past,including the sculpture Serene Jade,were on display at the exhibition. This was a nude sculpture of Choy,created in 1949 by Dora Gordine. It was also the first in a series of four sculptures by Gordine,and only five other copies of the sculpture remain in existence. [5]
Choy's life and experiences during the Japanese occupation of Singapore had been depicted twice in television. The first time was in The Price of Peace ,a Chinese-language drama series aired on TCS Eighth Frequency (now MediaCorp Channel 8) in 1997,in which she appeared as a semi-fictional character and was portrayed by actress Xiang Yun. The second time was in Life Stories –Story of Elizabeth Choy,which was aired on the English-language MediaCorp Channel 5 in 2007.
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