Sybil Kathigasu, Remembering one woman's courage.

Sybil Kathigasu was born Sybil Medan Daly to an Irish-Eurasian planter (Joseph Daly) and a French-Eurasian midwife (Beatrice Matilda Daly née Martin) on 3 September 1899 in Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia. Her middle name reflects her birthplace, Medan. Her paternal grandparents were an Irishman and a Eurasian woman while her maternal grandparents were a Frenchman (Pierre Louie Martin) and a Eurasian woman (Evelyn Adeline Martin née Morrett).

She was the fifth child and the only girl. She was trained as a nurse and midwife and spoke Cantonese fluently. She and her husband, Dr. Abdon Clement Kathigasu, operated a clinic at No 141 Brewster Road (now Jalan Sultan Idris Shah) in Ipoh from 1926 until the Japanese invasion of Malaya. The family escaped to the nearby town of Papan days before Japanese forces occupied Ipoh. The local Chinese community fondly remembered Dr. AC Kathigasu and gave him a Hakka nickname "You Loy-De".

Sybil Kathigasu GM was a Eurasian Malayan nurse who supported the resistance during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. She is the only Malayan woman to be ever awarded with the George Medal for bravery. 

Marriage and Family,
Sybil Kathigasu's husband was Dr. Arumugam Kanapathi Pillay, a Ceylonese (now Sri Lankan) Tamil from Taiping. He was born on 17 June 1892 in Taiping to Kanapathi Pillay and Thangam. He married Sybil in St John's church (now cathedral) in Bukit Nanas, Kuala Lumpur. Initially there had been a religious objection from her parents as he was a Hindu and she was a Catholic. However with agreement from his father, the wedding took place. They were married on 7 January 1919 in St John’s Church, Bukit Nanas, Kuala Lumpur. Sybil's first child was a son born on 26 August 1919, but due to major problems at birth, died after only 19 hours. He was named Michael after Sybil's elder brother who was born in Taiping on 12 November 1892 and was killed in Gallipoli on 10 July 1915 as a member of the British Army.
The devastating blow of baby Michael's death led to Sybil's mother suggesting that a young boy, William Pillay, born 25 October 1918, who she had delivered and had remained staying with them at their Pudu house, should be adopted by Sybil and her husband. Then a daughter, Olga, was born to Sybil in Pekeliling, Kuala Lumpur, on 26 February 1921. The earlier sudden death of baby Michael made Olga a very special baby to Sybil, when she was born without problems.
So when Sybil returned to Ipoh on 7 April 1921, it was not only with Olga, but also with William and her mother who had agreed to stay in Ipoh with the family.
A second daughter, Dawn, was born in Ipoh on 21 September 1936.
Their children are:
1. William Pillay (25 October 1918)-adopted
2. Michael Kathigasu (26 August 1919)-died after only 19 hours of being born
3. Olga Kathigasu (26 February 1921)
4. Dawn Kathigasu (21 September 1936)


Sybil Kathigasu died on 4 June 1948 aged 48 in Britain and her body was buried in Lanark, Scotland. Her body was later returned in 1949 to Ipoh and reburied at the Roman Catholic cemetery beside St Michael's Church opposite the Main Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (now SMK Convent) on Brewster Road (now Jalan Sultan Idris Shah) in Ipoh.
A road in Fair Park, Ipoh was named after Sybil Kathigasu (Jalan Syabil Kathigasu) after independence to commemorate her bravery. Today, the shop house at 74, Main Road, Papan, serves as a memorial to Sybil and her efforts.

I WONDER how many people of my generation (I’m 39), or the next, know of Sybil Kathigasu? I certainly don’t recall learning about her in school or from my peers. Older relatives, in their re-telling of wartime suffering, did not mention her name.
Had I not picked up a reprint of her memoirs entitled No Dram of Mercy, I’d probably remain ignorant of Kathigasu, recipient of the George Medal, “the highest British civilian award for bravery”.
Kathigasu was unabashedly pro-British (a sample: “I reminded the guard of what Malaya owed to Britain, and of the amount of talent, labour, money and material which had gone to make Malaya the happiest and most advanced country in the East.”), but this Eurasian lady also had pride as a Malayan and did the utmost to assist her fellow nationals, particularly in the town of Papan, Perak.
Against the backdrop of the Japanese invasion and occupation of Malaya, Kathigasu, whose husband was a doctor, provided medical aid to the civilian population of all races, and to members of the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA).
Her tenacious character is first revealed in her refusal to join the British withdrawal to Singapore. Then there’s her persistence in tuning in to radios (instead of turning them in) for news from the free world. Her perilous aid to MPAJA guerrillas finally led to her betrayal and incarceration by the dreaded Kempetei (Japanese secret police).
In No Dram, the author does not wallow in self-pity, choosing not to dwell on personal suffering but telling of beatings and torture in an almost matter-of-fact way:
“The places on which the blows were concentrated were those containing no vital nerve or organ so that no permanent injury resulted to the victim ? these parts of my body were soon solid bruises.”
That which apparently mattered more to her was the well being of her loved ones, including her five-year old child, Dawn, who was strung up a tree and threatened with immolation by Kathigasu’s sadistic interrogator, Sergeant Yoshimura.
Kathigasu’s selflessness can best be summed up in her own words: “The thought (of death) did not disturb me ? and I had the consolation of knowing that my family would be safe, and that I had successfully resisted all attempts to wring from me information about the guerrillas and their contacts.”
Her sudden demise not long after liberation casts a shadow on her otherwise triumphant story, and, unfortunately, we learn not of the fate of several important characters in her book.
These include Moru, her link with the guerrillas; Chen Yen of the MPAJA; and Dr A.C. Kathigasu, her husband.
With so little in evidence today of Sybil Kathigasu’s grit and sacrifice, No Dram of Mercy serves as reminder (or introduction, for those of my generation, perhaps) of a woman who survived terrible odds with only her unwavering faith in justice and in God, and of a time when Malayans of all races persevered in the face of adversity. 


"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)