Now, you can read the words of this courageous woman in Bahasa Malaysia, with independent publisher Gerakbudaya’s recent launch of “Kenangan Luka”, the Malay translation of Sybil’s memoir.
“Her memoir is a very important book. This was a woman who was not trying to be historical, or make a history book. She was simply trying to tell her story, but it was very important as the first eyewitness account for the things that happened in Papan and Ipoh at that time,” Malay translator Fahmi Mustaffa told FMT Lifestyle about “Kenangan Luka”.
Sybil Kathigasu (1899–1948) was a courageous Eurasian nurse and midwife who secretly aided the anti‑Japanese resistance during World War II by sheltering injured guerrillas and providing them with medical care and messages.
She and her husband Dr Abdon Clement Kathigasu were arrested and endured brutal torture by the Kempeitai for nearly two years, yet steadfastly refused to betray anyone.
For her valiant efforts, Sybil is the only Malayan woman to have received the George Medal for Gallantry.
“No Dram of Mercy” has been translated into Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and now Malay, and adapted into “Apa Dosaku: The Sybil Kathigasu Story”, a 2010 telemovie on Astro Citra.
According to Fahmi, he made a deliberate effort to accurately reflect Sybil’s manner of speech in his translation. Since she was not highly fluent in Bahasa Melayu, he avoided using overly poetic language when portraying her voice.
Capturing the character’s change in tone, voice and choice of words before and after her torture were also affected by the poetics and politics of trauma.
“I and Sybil lived in very different times, and we’re different in so many aspects. But the one thing that connected us was her spirit of hope for betterment. I could really relate to that,” Fahmi said.
“She’s lauded as a hero, but Sybil was also just a human being, who went through moments of happiness and sadness. And I hope people can enjoy all the moments of humanity in her amazing story,” he added.
The launch of “Kenangan Luka” was held at Muzium Telekom here on July 26.
Also present were project coordinator Dr Elsa Lafaye de Micheaux; Japanese translator Yasuo Izumi; French translator Jean-Charles Khalifa; and Dr Wong Soak Koon, who wrote the afterword for the latest English version of “No Dram of Mercy”.
The memoir was published with the support of the Perak Heritage Society, a local NGO advocating for the preservation of historical sites in Perak, including the former premises of Sybil Kathigasu’s residence in Papan.
Izumi also shared what inspired him to translate Sybil’s memoir into Japanese during a session at Riwayat Bookstore here on July 27.
He said he first visited this region in the 1980s and several incidents, including an encounter in Singapore with a local waiter upset about wartime atrocities, led him to discovering Sybil’s story, leading to many further trips to Malaysia.
“Sybil was a very brave woman, who risked her life to help people regardless of their background. We must remember what happened and never forget the lessons of history,” he concluded.
For more information on ‘Kenangan Luka’, visit Gerakbudaya’s website.