“I cannot forget, but forgive.”: The Benevolence of a WWII Survivor and Heroine
Elizabeth Choy: Her Story graphic novel
“I cannot forget, but forgive.”
These were the words of Elizabeth Choy when she was asked to name the captors who imprisoned her after the end of the Japanese Occupation during World War II in Singapore. In spite of having suffered at their hands, Choy chose not to reveal their identities, but instead to extend her forgiveness.
During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, Choy was imprisoned for a total of 193 days, as a suspect of Operation Jaywick, an operation in which allied soldiers infiltrated Japanese naval vessels to plant bombs in them. Prior to her imprisonment, she had actively served her local community by providing many war victims with medical aid, food, and shelter, as well as delivering supplies to prisoners-of-war housed in Changi Prison.
While Choy was being detained, she remained a tenacious and selfless individual who her cellmates could look to for strength and support. She endured a long period of interrogation and torture by her captors, who had questioned her affiliation to Operation Jaywick and doubted her genuine intentions behind providing aid to war patients and prisoners-of-war. Throughout, Choy maintained that she had never once held on to any resentment towards the Japanese, and that altruism for one’s kin does not entail hatred towards one’s enemies.
War is indeed a wicked thing, and turns mankind against one another. When asked about the tragic and horrific events that took place during her internment, Choy explained that the cruelty of her captors were only a product of war and of their extreme circumstances. Her benevolence and magnanimous treatment of the Japanese soldiers after the war is truly an admirable feat. Even though the internment had left indelible scars on her physically and mentally, she had chosen empathy over hatred.
As we learn of Choy’s story, we recognise that one can find comfort and solace in her act of forgiveness and humanitarian spirit, even in the darkest of times. Elizabeth Choy was more than a war heroine. She had fought for a better society with compassion and generosity, and her legacy is a testament of the extraordinary things that can be achieved by caring for others.
Find out more about Elizabeth Choy and how she grew to become the larger-than-life heroine we know today in Elizabeth Choy: Her Story, an all-new graphic novel adaptation by Singaporean comic creators Danny Jalil and Zaki Ragman.
Elizabeth Choy: Her Story graphic novel is available for purchase and international shipping on the Asiapac Books webstore.
