Sybil Kathigasu

Sybil Kathigasu is the only Malaysian woman ever to be awarded the George Medal, Britain's highest civilian award for bravery.

      Sybil Kathigasu (1899-1949), commonly known as Mrs K or Missy, was an Indian woman who willingly sacrificed her life for the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) members who fought for the independence of Malaya. She seems to be a rarity because: 

she was well known in Ipoh;

        She remained alive, despite having been found guilty by a Japanese military court; she had sustained injuries which were treatable, but not in Malaya; and she was highly commended by the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), led by the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), then allies of the British.

    Brief biography: 

Born to an Irish-Eurasian father and an Indian mother in Medan, Sybil Kathigasu was a nurse who married Dr. Cecil Kathigasu. They had met while he was working in the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, where she was training to be a nurse and midwife. Sybil and Cecil married in 1919. They subsequently operated a clinic at No. 141, Brewster Road, Ipoh and then at No. 74, Main Street, Papan as a result of a 'chance' evacuation.

On 1 August 1942, 3 days after her husband was arrested in Perak by the Japanese occupiers, Sybil was arrested. They were detained separately in a police lock-up in Ipoh, and then in a Kempetei interrogation center on the outskirts of Ipoh. The detainees in the Kempetei center had to kneel down like dogs to enter the cell, and were treated to horrendous tortures. Men and women shared the same cells. (The Kathigasu's children, William (25 years old in 1943) and Dawn (7 years) were also briefly held and tortured at the Kempetei center.) During their interrogation and trial, Sybil and her husband did not reveal anything which could expose and weaken the communist resistance. (It is no wonder that the communists called Sybil "mother" (page 80), apart from the fact that she gave them medical treatment.)

Sybil was held in the Batu Gajah prison, while awaiting trial against 3 charges:

acting as a spy on behalf of and in cooperation with the enemy agents in Malaya;

giving medical attention and other assistance to the Communist guerrillas and outlaws; and

possessing a radio set, listening to enemy broadcasts, and disseminating enemy propaganda.

The Forgotten History of Sybil Kathigasu

(Uploaded by shuchyi on 25 April 2011)

Each of these charges carries a death sentence. It was during this time that she uttered a prayer:

"Great Saint Anthony, please intercede for me with the Infant Jesus to give me the strength and courage to bear bravely what God's Holy Will has ordained for me. Let me face death, if I must, in the spirit of the Holy Martyrs. But if I am spared to write a book about what I have undergone, I promise that the proceeds from the sale of the book shall go to building a church in your name, in Ipoh, and, if there is any over when the church is completed, to the relief of the poor and suffering, whatever their race or religion. Please help me, Saint Anthony." — Kathigasu, Sybil. No Dram of Mercy (2006), pp. 162. Prometheus)

A few weeks after the prayer, Sybil was tried in an office in the prison. Refusing to accept legal representation, she pleaded guilty to all the 3 charges and was sentenced to life-imprisonment. Sybil began serving her sentence in the same prison, and remained there till the Japanese surrendered. During the 3 years, she was subjected to torture, humiliation, isolation, cold, insects, and starvation.

In No Dram of Mercy, Sybil writes that on the day that she arrived home – in a car arranged for her by the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army ("well clothed, armed and equipped by British") – two British Officers of Force 136 were waiting for her. She notes: "The British officers, who had responsibility for military intelligence, took down in outline the story of my experiences, and then asked me if there was any way in which they could help me." (Page 180) She had 2 requests:

The release of her husband and son from the Taiping Prison; and

The "best medical attention available" so that she would be able to walk again, with a promise that she would pay for whatever it cost.

On the last page of her book, Sybil reports the response of the officers: "You shall have the best treatment, and it will be entirely at Government expense. We are authorized to tell you that the British military authorities will have your injuries treated exactly as if you had been wounded in battle." (Page 180)

Published Works

No Dram of Mercy (Neville Spearman, 1954; reprinted Oxford University Press, 1983 and Prometheus Enterprises, 2006)

Faces of Courage: A Revealing Historical Appreciation of Colonial Malaya's Legendary Kathigasu Family by Norma Miraflor & Ian Ward (2006)