A week prior to the death of Chin Peng on 16 September 2013 in Bangkok, I finished reading No Dram of Mercy, a book by Malayan World War II civilian heroine Sybil Kathigasu.
I felt something important was missing from the book and the articles I read about the Kathigasu's. Chin Peng’s death helped me see more clearly.
Perhaps I can rest now.
In this (long) essay, I have selected some content from No Dram of Mercy, which was completed in or before 1949, but released only in 1954.
Most who have written about the Kathigasu’s emphasize the medical side of the story – their clinics in No. 141 Brewster Road, Ipoh and in No. 74 Main Street, Papan; their ‘chance’ evacuation to Papan; the cause and nature of Sybil’s injuries.
Since the clinics, evacuation and injuries are well covered by others, I have omitted discussion of them.
The content I have selected is mainly designed to serve my goal which is to suggest reasons why publication of No Dram of Mercy was delayed.
I propose that the same reasons account for Umno’s refusal to recognize Chin Peng, the well-recognized leader of the long defunct Communist Party of Malaya, and Umno’s belligerent prevention of the return of Chin Peng’s ashes to his homeland, Malaysia.
First, some similarities between Sybil Kathigasu and Chin Peng.
Similarities between Sybil and Chin Peng
Sybil is the only Malaysian woman ever to be awarded the George Medal, Britain’s highest civilian award for bravery. Chin Peng was the recipient of two British military medals for his role during World War II, and later the civilian OBE (Order of the British Empire) award.
Both Sybil and Chin Peng were heavily engaged in resisting the Japanese.
Both Sybil and Chin Peng were denied access to the public at key moments of their lives.
An overview of the Kathigasu’s
Many say No Dram of Mercy is an autobiography.
I think it is more helpful to describe it as a personal account of 3 years of Japanese occupation of Malaya, narrated by a woman who expended her life on behalf of others. I say this because I had to look beyond the book for personal information about the Kathigasu family.
On 01 August 1942, Nurse Sybil Kathigasu, 43 – commonly known as Mrs K or Missy – was arrested in Perak by the Japanese occupiers. Her husband, Dr. Cecil Kathigasu, 49, had been arrested 3 days earlier, on the 29 July. They remained incarcerated until about the end of August 1945.
Over the 3 years of their separation and captivity, the Japanese imperialists treated them brutally.
They were detained in filthy and disease ridden places. They were subjected to humiliation, isolation, cold, insects and starvation. They were physically tortured by beatings, slapping, exposure to the sun, burnings, etc.
No Dram of Mercy describes what the Japanese did in Malaya and how the Kathigasu family and other Malayans endured and responded.
About her birth and ancestry, Sybil only records that she was born in Medan and that she was a Eurasian Catholic fluent in Cantonese. She tells us her mother, 73 years old in 1941, lived with her – and died while Sybil was serving out her prison sentence.
According to Wikipedia, her father was Irish-Eurasian, while her mother was French-Eurasian.
We know from other sources that Cecil was a Ceylonese Tamil who converted from Hinduism to Catholicism in order to marry Sybil.
Ho Tak Ming, in Doctors Extraordinaire (Ipoh: Perak Academy, 2006. 2nd edition) says Cecil graduated in Medicine in 1913 from Singapore Medical school, was a Sergeant in the Malayan Volunteer Infantry during World War I, was a stellar sportsman, and met Sybil while he was working in the General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur and she was training there to be a nurse and midwife. Dr Ho says Sybil and Cecil married in 1919. (Dr Ho also says Sybil’s mother was an Indian.)
The reason Sybil wrote No Dram of Mercy
A prayer Sybil records in the book tells us why she wrote No Dram of Mercy, a title derived from a few lines in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice:
“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. Kuala Lumpur: Prometheus, 2006; page 162)
At the time Sybil uttered the prayer, she was being held in Batu Gajah prison, awaiting trial against the three charges proffered against her:
“first . . . acting as a spy on behalf of and in co-operation with the enemy agents in Malaya. Second, of giving medical attention and other assistance to the Communist guerrillas and outlaws. Third, of possessing a radio set, listening to enemy broadcasts and disseminating enemy propaganda. Each of these charges carries a death sentence.’ (page 155)
A few weeks after uttering the prayer (perhaps more accurately making the promise), Sybil was tried in an office in the prison. She refused to accept legal representation, she pleaded guilty to the charges, and was sentenced to life. She began serving her sentence in the same prison, and remained there till the Japanese surrendered.
Prior to the Batu Gajah prison, Sybil – and Cecil – had been detained (separately) in a police lock-up in Ipoh, and in a Kempetei interrogation centre on the outskirts of Ipoh.
Of these ‘institutions,’ the Kempetei centre was the worst – detainees even had to kneel down like dogs to enter the cell, and were ‘treated’ to horrendous tortures. In the Kempetei centre, men and women were made to share 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 centre.
Other contributors to No Dram of Mercy
No Dram of Mercy was published in 1954 in Britain, about 5 years after Sybil died, with a foreword by Richard Winstedt and an Introduction by Geoffrey E Cator.
Winstedt was a Senior Civil Servant, Malay scholar and historian.
Cator too was a Senior Civil Servant. He was British Resident of Labuan, then Selangor, then Perak, after which he was head of the Malay States Information Agency in London.
Later I will explain why Winstedt and Cator’s contributions to the book may help explain the 5 year interval between Sybil’s death and the publication of her book.
Four key attractions of No Dram of Mercy
No Dram of Mercy illuminates, inspires, is readable and is relevant.
No Dram of Mercy illuminates because it recounts the way the Japanese retained junior public servants (such as the police) in office, and how the Chinese were specially the targets of the Japanese. For example,
“One day a Malay police constable, Ahmad, was brought in with a fractured skull – the result of persisting in his duty. He had come across a party of Chinese openly running a gambling den in the market, and, attempting to arrest the ringleaders, had been struck from behind with an iron bar. We kept him with us, and he required several weeks of care and treatment before we could be sure that he would live. Ahmad never forgot what we did for him, and for his wife and two young children who depended on him; later on he was to find a practical way of demonstrating his gratitude.” (page 25)
And
“. . . most dreaded of all the anti-Communist measures were the identification parades or “Sook Chings.” Without warning, the entire Chinese population of a certain area would be ordered out of doors, and herded together in some convenient open space. There were no exceptions – men and women, old people and babes in arms, healthy and sick were rounded up like cattle. With luck, the parade might be over in a few hours, but equally it might be prolonged over two or three days, in which case the plight of the unfortunate victims was miserable indeed. Scorched by the sun, soaked by the rain, and chilled by the night wind in turn, subjected to the brutalities of the Japanese guards, forbidden sometimes to stir from a single spot for days on end, many of the weaker died of the treatment they received. But worst was the fear and uncertainty. Many were carried off by the Japanese with no reason given: sometimes the victims were sturdy young men – taken, it was rumoured, for work in labour gangs – who were never seen again, but anyone regardless of age or sex might be seized on suspicion of Communist sympathies or activities, to return, if they were lucky enough to return at all, with the marks of torture on their bodies.” (page 35)
No Dram of Mercy inspires because it shows us that if we are true humanitarians, we can help our needy neighbours even if we do not agree with their goals (Sybil herself was an ardent supporter of the British imperialists):
The Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army, as it was called, was dominated by the Communists, and the intention of the leaders was undoubtedly to set up a Communist State in Malaya. At this time, however, they were wise enough to keep their long-range plans to themselves. They were willing to co-operate whole-heartedly with all anti-Japanese elements in the country, regardless of political differences. They never tried to preach Communism outside their own ranks, and we never thought of them as Communists at all, but simply as allies of Britain and America in the fight against the Axis. (page 75)
No Dram of Mercy is written in the first person, in simple English. It broken into 20 short chapters with an average length of 9 pages. It is illustrated with evocative photos of people and places. It’s a good book for school discussions and even school dramas.
No Dram of Mercy is relevant because it comes across as honest story telling by a “race-less” (Eurasian) lady who expended her life on behalf of people of different ethnicities in multi-racial Malaya.
The contrast between Sybil’s portrayal of the Chinese as patriots and reports of Shuhaimi Baba’s portrayal of the Chinese in her movie, Tanda Putera, is striking.
Sybil’s special treatment by the British
Sybil writes that on the day she arrived home – in a car arranged for her by the Malayan People’s 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 two requests. The first was that her husband and son should be released from Taiping Gaol. The second was a request for “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 narrative, Sybil reports the response of the officers:
“You shall have the best treatment, and it will be entirely at Government expense. We are authorised to tell you that the British military authorities will have your injuries treated exactly as if you had been wounded in battle.’ (Page 180)
Sybil tells us elsewhere in the book that the conditions of her incarceration were such that she could not keep any written records. We therefore know that her recall of events must have been hazy; there are very few dates in the book.
What then should we make of the words “we are authorised to tell you”?
Recall that the book’s foreword and introduction were written by men who had served as very senior members of the British colonial government. It seems likely that the officers were indeed authorised to tell her she would be treated as a military casualty.
It seems likely that the Sybil Kathigasu was a rarity because (1) she was well known in Ipoh, (2) she remained alive despite having been found guilty by a Japanese military court, (3) she had sustained injuries which were treatable, but not in Malaya, (4) she was highly commended by the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), led by the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), then allies of the British.
The enigma behind No Dram of Mercy
No Dram of Mercy is somewhat enigmatic.
No Dram of Mercy is enigmatic because it’s not clear how the manuscript took shape. It doesn’t have an author’s preface, so we don’t know who reviewed her manuscript, who worked with her on it, and who endured neglect while she was writing. It doesn’t have a foreword by her husband or daughters, whom we know outlived Sybil. It doesn’t have commendations by Malayan leaders of the day, e.g. Tunku, H S Lee, Tan Cheng Lok, V T Sambanthan.
No Dram of Mercy is enigmatic because it doesn’t reveal why she was treated so kindly by the British. Was it because her father was Irish and her brother a soldier who died on the battlefield in Turkey (Gallipoli)? Was it because her recovery and subsequent testimony would help to demonize the Japanese? Was it because her story would inspire others to relieve “the poor and suffering, whatever their race or religion”?
Perhaps the Brits did what the Communists requested
I speculate that in August 1945 the British had agreed to requests by the MPAJA – the mainly communist Malayan resistance to the Japanese – to provide maximum help to Sybil.
The role played by Sybil, her husband and household was critical to the survival of the (mainly communist) resistance fighters and thus the defeat of the Japanese.
At great risk to themselves, the Kathigasu’s treated sick and injured resistance fighters.
Their clinic in Papan, a town so close to the hilly jungle where the terrorists hid out, was a natural place for people to meet and pass messages.
They listened to BBC broadcasts (often by Winstedt, see page 125) and disseminated news about the progress of the war.
And, during their interrogation and trial, they didn’t reveal anything which could expose and weaken the resistance.
It’s no wonder that the communists called Sybil “mother.”
And there lies the propaganda problem.
The value of No Dram of Mercy as propaganda
Recall that the foreword to No Dram of Mercy was written by Geoffrey E Cator, head of the Propaganda Department in London (“Malay States Information Agency”).
The British, through Force 136, had collaborated with the communist-led resistance fighters to overthrow the Japanese; their liaison was with Chin Peng, who was then already one of the top 3 leaders of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).
Though they opposed imperialists, the CPM collaborated with the British imperialists to defeat the Japanese imperialists.
I suppose the British imperialists thought that after the war they could buy over the communists, just as they succeeded in buying over Umno and it’s predecessors!
The British were to be disappointed. After the war, when the British resumed their exploitation of Malaya, the CPM resumed their goal to rid Malaya of the imperialists!
I speculate that while Sybil was being treated in Britain and her story was being prepared as a propaganda expose of Japanese brutality (the Brits were themselves often accused of brutality), the friendship between the “terrorists” and the British came to an end: the erstwhile friends became enemies.
Unfortunately for the British, No Dram of Mercy – which would have been great propaganda against the Japanese – was also an open acknowledgement of the massive role played by the Communist insurgents in resisting the Japanese.
The Chinese, according to Sybil
No Dram of Mercy, written by a person of known integrity, powerfully laid out how the Japanese targeted the Malayan Chinese community and how this drove the Chinese into the jungles to collaborate with the Communists against the Japanese.
The Malaysian historian Cheah Boon Kheng, describes the targeting of the Chinese and their response in his preface to the Prometheus edition of No Dram of Mercy:
“The Chinese community was the first to suffer the brunt of the Japanese Army’s draconian measures. In retaliation for anti-Japanese activities conducted by various Chinese organisations in Malaya following Japan’s invasion of China in 1937, the Japanese 25th Army under General Yamashita carried out a series of massacres of Chinese in Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia known as the sook ching or ‘Operation Clean-up’. According to Chinese estimates compiled at the end of the war, some 60,000 Chinese were killed in this way, while Japanese estimates put the figure mildly at a mere 6,000 victims. This single act of the Japanese administration not only frightened the Chinese away from the Japanese, but made them easy recruits to the communist-dominated resistance movement.” (page 2)
Professor Cheah also reminds us that the Malayan emergency was from 1948 to 1960.
The “Malayan emergency” was actually a civil war which came about because the Communists, under the leadership of Chin Peng, began resisting the British occupation just as they had resisted the Japanese occupation. (The Brits didn’t call it a civil war because if they had done so, British planters and other businesses in Malaya would have lost insurance protection and access to loans.)
So, in 1948, the mainly Chinese resistance fighters who collaborated with the Brits during the war against the Japanese in Malaya, the resistance fighters who called Sybil ‘mother’ (page 80) because she treated them, the resistance fighters for whom she suffered so severely, were declared enemies of the Brits.
I believe that explains why No Dram of Mercy was not published before Sybil died in 1949.
Sybil, Chin Peng and Umnoputra
In 1948, it was politically unthinkable to acknowledge the suffering and the contributions of the Chinese who were soon to be displaced from their homes and corralled in New Villages by the Briggs plan.
Today it is politically unthinkable for the Malay-rights obsessed Umno-led government to acknowledge the contribution of Chin Peng to the independence of Malaya. In 2003 Chin Peng was denied permission to return to Malaysia to launch his memoirs. This month, Umnoputra have proclaimed that even his ashes may not be returned for interment in the land whose freedom he fought for.
Both the delayed release of No Dram of Mercy and the barriers erected against Chin Peng are signs of imperial rule.
The imperialists then were Japanese and British. Today the imperialists are Umnoputra, with the Malaysian Chinese Association and other members of Barisan Nasional as collaborators.
