An Extract from Lim Hong Bee's "Born Into War"

[M.G.G. Pillai]

This extract is from Hong Bee Lim's (actually Lim Hong Bee)
autobiography "Born Into War". He was in London since the
war representing the Malayan Communist Party, and banned
from returning to Singapore by the British and, I think,
the post-British government, as he was to Malaya and
Malaysia. The book was self published -- by Excalibur
Press of London -- and, according to its blurb, "is a
fascinating and well-written autobiography -- the author's
style is distinctive, lucid, coherent and thoroughly
accessible to the reader.

This extract is from pp 431-432, is part of a three-page
paragraph, which I have paragraph for use of reading:

.... The safeguarding of the population's assets was, at
the best of times, a tricky affair. Under conditions of
Japanese occupation i could be, and frequently was,
dangerous. For this reason, I would like to single out
the record of two sympathisers of the Resistance movement
among the Banking and Commercial fraternity. One was Mr
Lee Kong Chian, a director of the Overseas Chinese Bank.
The other was Mr Kwa Siew Tee of the same corporation.
Both these Merchant Bankers had a clear grasp of the
political situation in general terms and they were not
politically active in any way other than as community
representatives during British colonial times, they were
always forthcoming in helping to safeguard the welfare
of the population under the Occupation.

I had known Mr Kwa. (His son) Soon Lock, whom I had
met when we were both studying The Queen's Scholarship.
It had always been one of my personal regrets that Soon
Lock did not win the Scholarship when I did. He was an
intellectually sensitive, well read and personable young
man who, I am sure, would have made a good co-worker in
any social reform. However, the accident of history did,
for a while, bring us together again. It was during the
last days of the stand against the Japanese invaders of
Singapore ...

Soon Lock, then a corporal in the British-officered
"C" company of the Singapore Volunteer Corps (S.V.C.) and
another Queen Scholar, Sergeant Tan Sim Eng, also of the
"C" company, joinedd forceds of the Cambridgeshire Regiment
and the Northumberland Fusiliers. It is to my profound
regret to this day that when we were eventualy forced to
surrender Soon Lock and Sim Eng turned down my advice NOT
to surrender under a suspect order from their C.O., Capt.
Yap Pheng Gaik.

more to come

I had investigated the situation before hand and found
that the Japanese Army of Occupation had commandeered the
Singapore Recreation Club and installed Capt. Yap for a
debriefing session. Neither Capt. Yap nor any of his aides
could assure me of the status which members of the S.V.C.
would be accorded by the Japanese. I had heard persistent
and disturbing rumours that the Japanese Command had no
intention of allowing the Geneva Convention or similar
international war protocols to apply to non-Regulars of
the Allied Forces.

[M.G.G. Pillai]

Continuation of Lim Hong Bee's "Born Into War" -- pp 430-431

This could only mean one thing -- that only Allied personnel
designated as Regulars by the Japanese terms of Singapore's
surrender would be granted immunity from punishment and
would be accorded the proper facilities of prisoners-of-war.
I warned Capt. Yap that what he was doing was tantamount to
sacrificing the safety, if not the lives of the personnel
under his command, by agreeing to the process of so-called
debriefing.

I returned to our billet and tried once more to persuade
Soon Lock, Sim Eng and others in the same Category to go
underground with me rather than attend the Japanese debriefing
session. They refused and were never seen again. By the time
I saw Soon Lock's father on business matters relating to the
Resistance and safeguard of civil resources, I was almost certain
that his son was dead.

Those were the days when rough justice under the Japanese
was even roughter and more brutal than was generally supposed.
I had not the heart to tell Soon Lock's father of the slender
nature of the hope which he strove to keep alive with the
portrait of his son on his desk. The Japanese have indeed a
great deal to answer for on the question of their handling of
prisoners-of-war alone. Incidentally, one of Mr Kwa Siew Tee's
daughters, a younger sister of Soon Lock, later married Mr Lee
Kuan Yew, who was to emerge and function in a totally different
political scene and atmostphere.

End of extract

Capt. Yap later rose to be a community leader of note, controlling
if not founding the Sze Hai Tong Bank (I think that was how it was
spelt) which later transformed into the Four Seas Communications
Bank; Mr Kwa Siew Tee, BG Lee's maternal grandfather, and Soon
Lock his maternal uncle; Mr Lee Kuan Yew is, of course, the current
senior minister.

M.G.G. Pillai
pil...@mgg.pc.my