Product Code Database
Elizabeth Choy Su-Moi (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 raised by a Kadazan people nanny and acquired Kadazan as her first language. She became an Anglicanism 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 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". Throughout her imprisonment, her strong Christianity faith and the classic texts that she learnt in school about moral values kept her strong. (1997). 9789813068537, Asiapac. ISBN 9789813068537
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, Shenton Thomas, and his wife, to whom she had sent medicine in Changi Prison.
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, and , which earned her the nickname "Dayak Woman of Singapore".
Choy died from pancreatic cancer in 2006 at the age of 95.
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.
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.
|
|
