Sybil Kathigasu is a Japanese Resistance Fighter during 1942's war-torn Malaya, and a forever friend to the Malayan Chinese. Though not having native blood, she loved Malaya as her own. Fondly known as Missy to her patients, Sybil Kathigasu, Bil to her mother and husband, Sybil Medan Daly made naming a child after a country cool before Paris Hilton made it famous. Born in Medan to Eurasian parents, married in Bukit Nenas, Kuala Lumpur, she settled down in Perak and laid to rest at St. Michael's church.
Her love story is a mix of the usual Bollywood and Hollywood story - they met while he, Admond Clement Kathigasu. was studying to become a medical doctor and she a nurse, their one true love came from contrasting race and religion but her love for her country is truly Malayan.
Her competitive edge among her unsung/ non-rectified heroine peers was her love-child communication device, 'Josephine', a hidden and forbidden radio she kept well in her Papan clinic.
Missy had an illegal affair with the local chinese community, she supplied them with medical attention, food, and most importantly information received from Josephine.
Communication with the chinese was fairly a breeze for her as she spoke fluent Cantonese.
Like any other loyal and proud British subject, she fought her enemies and helped the oppressed,so she thought. She was actually assisting Communism in disguise. I wouldn't blame her as she was loyal to Britain yet had the empathy, will, and power to assist her fellow Perak-ians. Plus she could not see pass the notion the Malay's native land would finally be physically free.
She received a George Medal for bravery from the royal Highness himself just days before she succumbed to her injuries, gifted and sustained by the Japanese.
No Dram of Mercy was personally penned down by Sybil Karthigasu. Likened as the Florence Nightingale of Malaya, she is survived by her husband and children. Her Papan dispensary is still intact and preserved to honour her legacy and she is immortalised in No Dram of Mercy, a road in Ipoh, and a 10-part miniseries entitled, "Apa Dosaku?" (What is my Sin?)
This French-Irish-Penang Eurasian was survived by two Michaels' and she laid to rest at St. Michael. Her children are as the following;
William Kathigasu ( adopted)
Michael Kathigasu (died in infantry)
Olga Kathigasu
Dawn Karthigasu
She lived mercifully and will be remembered as a resistance fighter martyr.
Links related to Sybil Karthigasu;
http://www.lestariheritage.net/perak/webpages/papan01.html
http://www.thestar.com.my/story.aspx/?file=%2f2007%2f3%2f10%2fnation%2f17051500&sec=nation baca balik
http://www.ipohworld.org/2009/04/01/faces-of-courage-the-story-of-sybil-kathigasu-gm/
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/sybil-kathigasu-and-chin-peng-imperialism-and-umnoputra-rama-ramanathan
http://hornbillunleashed.wordpress.com/2010/06/13/7532/
http://www.thestar.com.my/story.aspx/?file=%2f2007%2f3%2f10%2fnation%2f17051500&sec=nation
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