Mention the name “Elizabeth Choy”, and the image of a courageous war heroine springs into mind. People remember her as an elegant lady who bravely helped to smuggle food, medicine and radio parts to prison internees during the Second World War.
Helping others in need was simply how Elizabeth led her life. The war changed her circumstances, but it left no impact on her principles, and her plucky and selfless nature.
Born Yong Su-Moi in 1910 in British North Borneo (modern day Sabah, Malaysia), being a “war heroine” was but a chapter in Elizabeth’s life. She was also a dedicated teacher, social worker, volunteer, the first female legislative councillor and a person who would never turn her back on anyone who needed help. As her sister-in-law put it, Elizabeth was “a living saint”.
When Singapore was bombed during the war, Elizabeth and her husband, Choy Khun Heng, warmly opened their house to victims, giving them temporary shelter and hot drinks. It was also during this time Elizabeth joined the medical auxiliary services as a volunteer nurse.
The Choys were urged by doctors and nurses to run a canteen at Miyako Hospital to provide some of the basic goods needed by everyone during the occupation. It eventually became an effective conduit of messages between the internment camp in Changi and the ‘outside world’. The Choys readily helped everyone who asked for help, especially when it was within their means to do so. So they passed messages and packages, hoping their help could bring some comfort to the innocent victims of the war. It was for this reason that the Choys were suspected of being accomplices in a sabotage attack, caught and badly tortured. Despite the agony she suffered in jail, Elizabeth readily forgave the soldiers who had tortured her, choosing not to submit any names for execution after the war.
Elizabeth was a committed educator. Teaching for 40 years, education was, to her, a noble calling. She believed that teachers are crucial in moulding the minds of the young; setting the right examples and inculcating in them good values. She was an exceptionally gifted teacher who was well loved by children, being able to strike a balance between being stern when the occasion called for it, and also being kind.
At St. Andrew’s School, Elizabeth became a legend, well known for her ability to get naughty schoolboys to behave and cooperate. Naughty students who could not be handled by other teachers were promptly sent to her. She would go the extra mile for her students; visiting the families of boys who were problematic and spending extra time or providing material help to children who needed it.
After 21 years, Elizabeth left St. Andrew’s to be the pioneer principal of the Singapore School for the Blind. As pioneering principal, Elizabeth started from scratch, from finding students to having the teachers trained. She would personally comb the streets in search of children who were blind, and encourage their parents to send their children to the school.
Explaining Elizabeth’s nomination to be an unofficial member of the Legislative Council in 1951, Mike Gorrie, then governor’s private secretary, said, “Throughout your life, you have always put others before yourself and no words of mine can adequately describe the excellent service you have given your country, your fellow men.” Elizabeth was initially reluctant to join the council and decided to accept the nomination after being told that there would be nobody else in the assembly who could represent the interests of women and children, a concern close to her heart.
Making full use of her nomination, Elizabeth spoke out on behalf of the poor, of the sufferings and frustrations of people struggling to make ends meet.
As the first lady legislative councillor, Elizabeth was a role model to the women in Singapore. She urged them to take greater interest in issues outside of the home and encouraged them to exercise their right vote and volunteer their time.
In volunteer work, Elizabeth became an example to women by volunteering in the women’s auxiliary of the Singapore Volunteer Corps, where she earned the nickname ‘Gunner Choy’.
Beyond legislative representation, Elizabeth also offered her services to help them directly. She volunteered to be a nurse and helped to wash and dress the sores of villagers in the Queenstown kampongs. When 13,000 children of school age were at risk of being unable to attend school due to the Government’s decision to curtail the Education Department’s building programme, she offered to convert her front sitting room into a classroom if the Government accepted her proposal of double sessions at existing schools and classes to be allowed at private homes, emphasising, “education of the children must not wait.”.
Elizabeth passed away in 2006, remembered the way she wanted to be remembered, “as someone who loves peace”, having lived an inspiring life according to her own advice, “be kind to everybody… the strong helping the weak, the rich helping the poor.”
By Christabel Khoo
