Heart and Soul: Retracing war hero Lim Bo Seng's final journey

SOURCE: THE STAR

By : Dr. Melvyn Tan Chin Beng

A gentle breeze wafts over the unkempt cemetery near Batu Gajah prison in Perak. The place is ominously dark, a reminder of its tragic past.

Flashback to December 1945. Her heart heavy with grief, Gan Choo Neo – a young widow – together with her eldest son Lim Leong Geok, are searching for the mortal remains of her beloved husband Major General Lim Bo Seng. He was a prominent businessman and leader of Force 136, a British-led World War II resistance movement in collaboration with the Malayan Peoples’ Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA).

Some 80 years later, in May 2024, two other sons – Dr Lim Whye Geok and Lim Lam Geok – together with some relatives and close friends, made an attempt to retrace Bo Seng's final journey. The heritage tour was organised by a grandnephew Daniel Teo Tong How, and led by war historian and professor Gary Lit, a Perak native.

Pointing to the surrounding limestone caves and hills, Prof Lit reminded us of how the unique geography of Kinta Valley shaped its history and economy. He explained how the MPAJA and Force 136 agents lived and fought together against the Japanese during WWII.

As a Boy Scout, he used to roam around these caves and hills until they became familiar territory to him.

“Every time I pass by here, I can’t help but recall my father’s wartime stories. I can almost hear the guns go off and bombs exploding as well as the terrifying cries of the poor victims of Sook Ching (which, in Chinese, means purge through cleansing) during the war,” Prof Lit said.

The highlight of the tour was our visit to the now-abandoned house in Ipoh that Bo Seng used as the operational base during the war. Although dusty with cobwebs, the long kitchen table, around which he might have conducted secret meetings with his agents, was still intact.

Subsequently, we visited St Michael’s Institution (SMI) in Ipoh. Its principal Phoon Kean Loon welcomed us and, together with his student leaders, led us on a symbolic walk along the nearby Jalan Lim Bo Seng, a bustling thoroughfare. Walking down the road brought back memories of the struggles of our war hero who had made the ultimate sacrifice during the tragic days of the war.

During our tour around SMI later, we visited the classroom where he was interrogated and tortured. The commemorative plaque outside the classroom states: “Kempeitei Interrogation Room (1942-1945)”. Today, far detached from its past, the quiet classroom is filled with young students with happy smiles and enquiring minds. Whye Geok and Lam Geok had a chat with the teacher and students.

The next day, we went to the Gopeng checkpoint where Bo Seng was apprehended by the Japanese Kempeitai. We observed a moment of silence and pondered how that fateful day had changed the lives of Force 136's leader and his agents and how it affected the course of the war in Malaya.

After months of torture and deprivation, Bo Seng was a broken man when he was brought to Batu Gajah Prison – there he languished in pain, suffering from dysentery. Despite enduring all the atrocities, Bo Seng did not betray his comrades nor divulge any secrets. He died on June 29, 1944.

What gave Bo Seng such courage remains a mystery, even to his family, until today.

Before the war, Bo Seng ran a successful family business in construction. They constructed the Victoria Memorial Hall and Old Parliament House. He was also Chairman of the Singapore Building Industry Association.

Bo Seng’s fourth son Lam Geok, 86, said: “I wonder how my father would have turned out if he had survived the war. Until today, I don’t understand why he was prepared to sacrifice himself.”

His eldest child, daughter Oon Geok, 93, recalled that he was a strict, old-fashioned father who loved his children and wife greatly. "He bid us a final goodbye in February 1942, hugging each of us and our mother, not knowing that would be the last time we would see him.”

“How were we going to survive as a family when our father left us – a young mother with seven children – and the Japanese were looking for us?” said Whye Geok, Lim’s third son, 87. “My father died for his country, and my mother lived for all of us. She worked hard to provide a sound education for all of us.”

In 1979, after her terminal cancer diagnosis, all seven of her children returned from overseas to be by her side, which brought her immense joy and satisfaction.

Granddaughter Kim Faulkner said: "My grandfather Lim Bo Seng died long before I was born. I knew of him and experienced his legacy through my father Lim Leong Geok, learned about his values of honour and self-sacrifice, and how he contributed to a cause larger than himself.”

Lim Bo Seng’s initials LBS could be an acronym for Loyalty, Bravery and Sacrifice – uncommon traits these days where self-preservation is the buzzword.

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Dr Melvyn Tan Chin Beng is the grandnephew of Lim Bo Seng.

The late Lim Leong Geok was the first executive director of Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) who oversaw the initial construction of the MRT in Singapore.

Copy and paste: 28/12/2024: 11.47 a.m