Still possessing a sharp mind and a good memory, she is a voracious reader, particularly of law books. She also remembers in vivid detail the events that led to her bold decision to become a policewoman all those years ago.

“I wanted something different,” Ng said simply.

She told FMT Lifestyle that even as a young woman, she knew she was different from others. She was just tougher, a bit of a daredevil.

During the Japanese occupation of Malaya, she hardly ever recoiled at the sight of the severed heads of civilians the invading soldiers would put on display. Or of dead bodies on the streets. She realised it took a lot more to scare her.

Born to a well-to-do family in Taiping, Perak, her father owned a rubber trading business. While her three older siblings enjoyed time indoors, Ng, a former student of Lady Treacher Girls’ School, loved the outdoors and excelled at being a Girl Guide.

The law fascinated her, she said, particularly the job of upholding it. So instead of accepting a teaching position, she headed to Singapore to join the police force.

Her mother, she shared, was aghast. “She thought it was very dangerous, and that I would die,” she said. But Ng was resolute. “I told her, ‘You can die anywhere!’”

Her father, however, understood how strong-willed his daughter was, and let her have her way, she said.

But while serving in Singapore, an exciting opportunity arose in Kuala Lumpur.

“My boss said, ‘You better apply, I will recommend you as there are better prospects in Kuala Lumpur’,” she said of the opportunity to apply to become a member of the country’s first batch of women police officers.

And so it was that, on Oct 8, 1955, Ng and six others would form the country’s pioneer batch of women police officers.

Her mother would eventually warm up to the idea of her daughter serving in the police force. In fact, Ng said her successes, especially the ones highlighted in the newspapers, would fill her mother with immense pride.

After completing a rigorous eight-month training course, she was officially made a probationary police inspector, and put in charge of 18 women constables fresh from training themselves. She was confirmed as an inspector in 1957.

Two years later, Ng created history again when she became the first woman to be an “Officer-in-Charge of Secret Societies.”

“In Ipoh, they knew my name, and when they saw me, they went, ‘Miss Ng is coming, Miss Ng is coming!’”

She was now part of the anti-vice department. To curb prostitution, she and her team conducted raids on brothels and in hotels. She was also called upon to give evidence in court for cases involving striptease shows, including Rose Chan’s.

She was a no-nonsense policewoman, she said, and never succumbed to corruption, no matter how sweet the deal.

Clearly, she was not the kind of person anyone wanted to mess with, and for good reason. “I had a ‘parang’ with me when I went to bed!”

Despite loving every bit of her job and its attendant dangers, Ng did succumb to one thing – love.

After marrying Looi Kum Pak, an engineer she met through her brother, she found herself torn between work and family. She chose family.

That decision was made when she became pregnant for the first time. Ranked inspector at the time, she left the force on July 31, 1961. Ng and her husband have been blessed with four children and 10 grandchildren.

Looking back, Ng admits missing being in the thick of things as a policewoman. “I learned a lot through the force.”

All the same, hers is an inspiring story – that of a determined young Taiping woman who paved the way for other women simply because she dared to dream differently.