Early life
Elizabeth Choy-Yong Su-Moi was born on 29 November 1910 to a
Hakka family in
Kudat, British
North Borneo. Her great-grandparents first came to Kudat from
Hong Kong to assist German missionaries in their work. The eldest of 11 children, Choy's father worked as a civil servant after completing his early education in China with some English education in North Borneo, where he married the daughter of a priest. He transferred to work in
Jesselton and was later promoted to District Officer, moving to
Kalimantan.
Choy was looked after by a
Kadazan nanny and acquired Kadazan as her first language.She became an Anglican at St Monica's boarding school in
Sandakan, where she took the name Elizabeth, and went on to complete her education at
Raffles College in Singapore. As her family could not afford the fees, she started to teach, first at
St Margaret’s School and then at
St Andrew’s.
In August 1941 she married Choy Khun Heng, a book-keeper employed by the Borneo Company.
[edit] World War II
During the
Japanese invasion of Malaya, Choy became a volunteer nurse with the Medical Auxiliary Service. After the
fall of Singapore in 1942, the Choys set up a canteen at the
Tan Tock Seng Hospital, after all the patients and doctors had been moved from the Miyako Hospital (former
Woodbridge Hospital), where they soon started a regular ambulance run for British civilian internees. The couple helped the Changi prisoners-of-war (POW) by passing on cash and parcels containing such things as fresh clothing, medicine and letters during their deliveries, and incurred further risk by sending in radio parts for hidden receivers until the Japanese crackdown following
Operation Jaywick.
During the subsequent
Double Tenth Incident, an
informant told the
Kempeitai that the Choys were involved in smuggling money into Changi Prison, and Khun Heng was arrested. After several days, Elizabeth went to the
Kempeitai East District Branch at the
YMCA building on
Stamford Road to inquire about her husband. The Japanese denied all knowledge of him, but lured her back to the YMCA three weeks later and confined her with other Chinese and Changi prisoners. She was imprisoned and subjected to
torture. Mr 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, had witnessed Choy being stripped and severely beaten "on at least one occasion".
[1]
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,
Sir Shenton Thomas, and his wife, to whom she had sent medicine in Changi.
[edit] Post-War
After the war, the Choys were invited to England to recuperate. During their stay,
Lady Baden-Powell awarded her the
Girl Guides' highest honour, the Bronze Cross, and the
Rajah of Sarawak presented her with the
Order of the Star of Sarawak. Mr and Mrs Choy were bestowed with the
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in June 1946.
[2] They were honoured for their work in assisting British POWs in Malaya during the Japanese Occupation. In addition, Mrs Choy received the honour of having a half-hour private audience with the
Queen at the
St. James's Palace on 25 July 1946.
[3]
During her four year stay in England, she took up Domestic Science at the
Northern Polytechnic and taught at a London council school. Intent on studying art but without the finances for this venture, Choy began a stint as an artist's model, posing nude for two sculptures, Serene Jade and Flawless Crystal by the sculptress
Dora Gordine.
[edit] Later life
On returning to Singapore after her visit to Britain in 1949 Elizabeth Choy resumed teaching, and became involved in the political developments preceding independence. She was persuaded to stand for elections in December 1950 for the West Ward or Cairnhill constituency under the banner of the
Labour Party, founded in 1948 by Victor J. Mendis. However, she lost in the 1951 City Council Elections, to the
Progressive Party representative, Soh Ghee Soon.
From 1951 to 1955 she was nominated by the
Governor to the
Legislative Council, 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 war-time experiences had inculcated in her the belief that civil development required effective protection from aggressors. She served as a second lieutenant in the women’s auxiliary arm of the
Singapore Volunteer Corps, where she acquired the nickname “Gunner Choy”.
Her teaching career at St Andrew’s continued until 1973, 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 nineties, impressing young Singaporeans with the need to maintain strong national defence.
On October 29, 1997, an exhibition titled
Elizabeth Choy : A Woman Ahead of Her Time was officially opened at the
Singapore History Museum in honour of her contribution to Singapore. The exhibition was the first of its kind for a living woman in Singapore history, tracing her life as a nurse, her travels to United Kingdom to meet royalty, her 22-year teaching career at St Andrews School and her vast contributions to the less fortunate. More than 100 artifacts 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 renowned artist
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.
Leong, James (October 30, 1997). "7.00pm Television Corporation of Singapore English News". Singapore: Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS).
Choy was also noted for wearing traditional Chinese and Indian clothing,
qipaos and
bangles, which earned her the nickname "Dayak Woman of Singapore".
Choy died at the age of 95 on 14 September 2006 from
pancreatic cancer.
