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Limbo
Bo Seng Memorial Singapore
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Lim
Bo Seng 1930's
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Lim
Bo Seng was a hero of the Second World War, a Singaporean who was a
Kuomintang member and vigorously raised funds for the China war efforts
from the time of the atrocities in China in 1937 to the invasion of
Malaya. He had to leave Singapore before the arrival of the Japanese
in Singapore leaving behind his wife and children. He was enlisted by
the S.O.E. to negotiate with Chiang
Kai Shek
to recruit Chinese young men for Force 136. He was much respected by
both the European officers and his Chinese colleagues for his integrity,
patriotism, courage and selflessness. He was in one of the first groups
of Force 136 to return to Malay in May 1943. Unfortunately on his first
trip from the jungle into the town of Ipoh he was arrested by the Japanese,
possibly betrayed by Lai Teck, the M.C.P. Secretary-General who was
a double agent working for the Japanese too. Lim was put in the Ipoh
Prison at Batu Gajah and here he was unmercilessly tortured. The Japanese
wanted the names of the Malaysian Communist Party (M.C.P.) members and
the whereabouts of their hideouts. In spite of great pain and suffering
he would not give in to their demands. Finally he died from dysentery
and was buried in a shallow grave in the jungle near the prison. At
the end of the war his body was exumed and he was given a proper burial
in Singapore after a state funeral. Later with funds from Hong Kong,
a pagoda-like memorial was built in his memory.
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