Post by Chips on Jul 1, 2009 16:42:35 GMT 9.5
Selfless, loyal friend of PoWs
June 29, 2009
Chin Chee Kong, 1920-2009
A SPECIAL link between Sabahans and Australians, forged at the Sandakan prisoner of war camp during World War II, has ended with the death of Chin Chee Kong in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (formerly British North Borneo).
During the war, Chin took a job as a coolie so he could make contact with Australian prisoners of war, who were slaving on the airstrip not far from their camp. He was known to them as Sini, and daily risked his life to help them.
Chin was then 22, but he looked much younger because he was short and slight. He was a familiar sight on his bicycle around Sandakan and the camp environs but the Japanese, believing him to be about 14, regarded him with a degree of benevolence, which Chin exploited to the fullest. They had no idea that he was part of a chain, headed by an Australian civilian doctor, James Taylor, linking a local underground movement to the prison camp.
Chin, initially, was a delivery boy, carrying messages, maps, money, cigarettes and medicine from the town to a jungle post box for collection by the prisoners. Once the drop had been made, he left a sign at the aerodrome to indicate that there was a delivery awaiting pick-up.
His apparent youth worried an Australian infantry officer, Captain Ken Mosher, who asked him if he realised the enormous risks he was taking. Chin replied, "Yes, sir. I know what will happen if the Japanese catch me, but I must do my duty. I am British and I am also a boy scout."
This devotion to the ideals of the empire, and the scout movement, extended to a perilous voyage to Tawi Tawi in the nearby Philippines to check with a guerilla movement operating there and to deliver two letters from the Australian camp, which Chin hid in his shoes. Later he assisted in the escape of eight Australians from a temporary prison camp on Berhala Island. The Australians, who reached Tawi Tawi and joined the guerilla army there, owed their lives to Chin and the other local people who helped.
But in July 1943, after operating successfully for 12 months, the members of the underground organisation were betrayed. The Japanese secret police, known as the Kempeitai, arrested Chin and several others. In the naive belief that Chin would be the weakest link because of his youth, the Kempeitai subjected him to four days of torture, but he told them nothing.
A substantial number of local people, along with key prisoners of war, were sent to Kuching, in Sarawak, for trial after weeks of interrogation and torture. The following March, eight locals and the senior Australian officer involved, Captain Matthews, were executed by firing squad. Chin, the real depth of whose involvement was not discovered, was sentenced to eight years with hard labour.
Chin Piang Syn, who has died aged 88, was born in China, to Hakka parents who moved to Borneo. Soon after their arrival, Chin's father deserted the family. He was educated at the local St Michael's Secondary School and he changed his name to Chin Chee Kong when he started his war work.
After the war, Chin, now a King's Scout, received scouting's highest award for gallantry for his war service and the King's Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom from the British Government.
But although he was given a modest reward by the Australian Government, along with a certificate of appreciation, his efforts remained largely unacknowledged in this country.
In 1951 Chin married Chu Vui Oi in St Michaels and All Angels Church in Sandakan.
It was not until many years later that Captain Mosher tracked Chin down, and his bravery became known when he agreed to allow his story to be included in the book Sandakan - A Conspiracy of Silence (1998).
In his latter years, until ill health intervened, Chin met relatives of prisoners of war travelling to Sabah for Anzac Day. The bond was recognised in the 2005 unveiling of the stained-glass Windows of Remembrance at St Michael and All Angels Church, where the prisoners of war had spent the night before being marched to their camp, and where Chin had served for many years as a church warden.
At the unveiling of the Friendship Windows, three years later, Chin's contribution was recognised with a special plaque of appreciation from relatives and friends of the prisoners of war and also a second, more handsome, certificate of appreciation from the Australian Government.
Chin was a humble but courageous man. His selflessness in extending the hand of friendship to strangers from a foreign land in a time of great adversity will never be forgotten by the many Australians who respected, admired and loved him.
Chin is survived by Vui Oi, eight children and four grandchildren.
Lynette Silver
June 29, 2009
Chin Chee Kong, 1920-2009
A SPECIAL link between Sabahans and Australians, forged at the Sandakan prisoner of war camp during World War II, has ended with the death of Chin Chee Kong in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (formerly British North Borneo).
During the war, Chin took a job as a coolie so he could make contact with Australian prisoners of war, who were slaving on the airstrip not far from their camp. He was known to them as Sini, and daily risked his life to help them.
Chin was then 22, but he looked much younger because he was short and slight. He was a familiar sight on his bicycle around Sandakan and the camp environs but the Japanese, believing him to be about 14, regarded him with a degree of benevolence, which Chin exploited to the fullest. They had no idea that he was part of a chain, headed by an Australian civilian doctor, James Taylor, linking a local underground movement to the prison camp.
Chin, initially, was a delivery boy, carrying messages, maps, money, cigarettes and medicine from the town to a jungle post box for collection by the prisoners. Once the drop had been made, he left a sign at the aerodrome to indicate that there was a delivery awaiting pick-up.
His apparent youth worried an Australian infantry officer, Captain Ken Mosher, who asked him if he realised the enormous risks he was taking. Chin replied, "Yes, sir. I know what will happen if the Japanese catch me, but I must do my duty. I am British and I am also a boy scout."
This devotion to the ideals of the empire, and the scout movement, extended to a perilous voyage to Tawi Tawi in the nearby Philippines to check with a guerilla movement operating there and to deliver two letters from the Australian camp, which Chin hid in his shoes. Later he assisted in the escape of eight Australians from a temporary prison camp on Berhala Island. The Australians, who reached Tawi Tawi and joined the guerilla army there, owed their lives to Chin and the other local people who helped.
But in July 1943, after operating successfully for 12 months, the members of the underground organisation were betrayed. The Japanese secret police, known as the Kempeitai, arrested Chin and several others. In the naive belief that Chin would be the weakest link because of his youth, the Kempeitai subjected him to four days of torture, but he told them nothing.
A substantial number of local people, along with key prisoners of war, were sent to Kuching, in Sarawak, for trial after weeks of interrogation and torture. The following March, eight locals and the senior Australian officer involved, Captain Matthews, were executed by firing squad. Chin, the real depth of whose involvement was not discovered, was sentenced to eight years with hard labour.
Chin Piang Syn, who has died aged 88, was born in China, to Hakka parents who moved to Borneo. Soon after their arrival, Chin's father deserted the family. He was educated at the local St Michael's Secondary School and he changed his name to Chin Chee Kong when he started his war work.
After the war, Chin, now a King's Scout, received scouting's highest award for gallantry for his war service and the King's Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom from the British Government.
But although he was given a modest reward by the Australian Government, along with a certificate of appreciation, his efforts remained largely unacknowledged in this country.
In 1951 Chin married Chu Vui Oi in St Michaels and All Angels Church in Sandakan.
It was not until many years later that Captain Mosher tracked Chin down, and his bravery became known when he agreed to allow his story to be included in the book Sandakan - A Conspiracy of Silence (1998).
In his latter years, until ill health intervened, Chin met relatives of prisoners of war travelling to Sabah for Anzac Day. The bond was recognised in the 2005 unveiling of the stained-glass Windows of Remembrance at St Michael and All Angels Church, where the prisoners of war had spent the night before being marched to their camp, and where Chin had served for many years as a church warden.
At the unveiling of the Friendship Windows, three years later, Chin's contribution was recognised with a special plaque of appreciation from relatives and friends of the prisoners of war and also a second, more handsome, certificate of appreciation from the Australian Government.
Chin was a humble but courageous man. His selflessness in extending the hand of friendship to strangers from a foreign land in a time of great adversity will never be forgotten by the many Australians who respected, admired and loved him.
Chin is survived by Vui Oi, eight children and four grandchildren.
Lynette Silver