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Elizabeth Choy
~Biography of Elizabeth Choy~ - She was born in 1910. -She excelled in her studies at the convent and even received the most outstanding student award, not just academically but the most outstanding in character as well. -She posed as an artist's model -She also worked as a teacher and became the first principal of the Singapore School for the Blind. -She was also known for her qipaos and bangles, for which she was nicknamed ''Dayak woman of Singapore''. -Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Elizabeth married Choy Khun Heng on 16th August 1941.
~Japanese Occupation~ -She worked as a canteen operator with her husband at the Mental Hospital which was renamed Miyako Hospital (the predecessor ofWoodbridge Hospital). -Secretly brought food, medicine, money, messages and even radios to British internees. -Elizabeth was arrested by the Japanese on 15 November 1943. -Elizabeth Choy had been brutally treated during her internment. -She was subjected to beatings by the Japanese officers and was even electrocuted in front of her husband. -The Japanese tried to force her into giving out the names of informants or admitting that she was anti-Japanese. -After 193 days, the Japanese finally released her from prison, after learning that they would never get the 'confession' that they wanted out of her. -She was released the day after her husband was sentenced to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment on 25th May 1944. -After her ordeal, Mrs. Choy developed a fear of electricity and electrical appliances. She would even avoid turning on a simple switch at all costs.
Video of Elizabeth Choy *We do not own this video* Credits - AmuletxHeartx (Youtube User)
~Our Reflection~ We felt that the Japanese were very cruel, as the way they made the civilians suffer at that time was in a very violent and unimaginable way- It really did make us feel alot more sympathetic. We felt that how could the Japanese be so heartless, since the civilians were humans after all and yet they could still torture the civilians. [E.g Electrocution] Imagine the Japanese were the ones that were being tortured in that way, how would they feel in return? In our opinion, we think that it is very wrong for the Japanese to conquer Singapore and Malaya in that way, if they want to get raw materials, for example, they could always speak and negotiate with the country about it in a nice way. What for start a war that will risk many innocent lives? Especially with all those torturing, we felt that the Japanese have gone too far. And to be honest, in fact, we hate the Japanese very much, despite the fact that two of their cities got bombed in the end which led them to surrender, but we think that it is not enough for punishment at all, they should suffer more. But well, at least the war had stopped and lives all over the world have went back to normal. If we were to be those civilians there at that time, of course we would definitely hate the Japanese and pretend to be loyal to them, we will try our best to get out of any situation that would get us into trouble. We would try to be as tolerant as we could. We believe we would never have the feel of how World War II would be like, until we have lived through such an ordeal. But what we can do is to protect our country and not let history repeat itself and not to waste the efforts of the people protecting out country at that time.
