About Lim Bo Seng

Lim Bo Seng was a Chinese resistance fighter based in Singapore and Malaya during World War II. He is regarded as a war hero in Singapore

Lim Bo Seng was born in Nan'an, Fujian, China, in the final years of the Qing Dynasty, as the 11th child but the first son in the family. His father, Lim Loh was a building constructor. In 1925, Lim came to Singapore at the age of 16 to study in Raffles Institution under the British colonial government. He went on to read business at theUniversity of Hong Kong.In 1930; Lim married Gan Choo Neo, a Nyonya woman from the Lim clan association hall of Singapore. They had eight children, one of whom died in infancy. Initially a Taoist, Lim converted to Christianity after his marriage to Gan. He was born in 27 April 1909

When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, Lim and other Chinese in Singapore participated in anti-Japanese activities, such as the boycotting of Japanese goods and fund-raising to support the war effort in China.

Towards the end of 1937, hundreds of overseas Chinese working in Japanese-owned industries in Malaya went on strike. At that time, the Japanese government owned a tin mine in Dungun , Terengganu, Malaya, where nearly 3,000 Chinese labourers were employed. The tin was shipped to Japan and used as raw material to manufacture weapons. Lim felt that if the workers in the Dungun mine went on strike, the Japanese would suffer a huge loss, so he planned to make the workers go on strike. Around February 1938, Lim travelled to Dungun with Zhuang Huiquan of the Singapore Anxi Association to carry out their plan. Zhuang went to the mine to persuade the workers to go on strike while Lim contacted the local police and gained their support. By early March, Lim and Zhuang achieved success as many workers left the mine and followed them to Singapore. On March 11, 1938, Lim Bo Seng and the Singapore Chinese community held a welcoming ceremony for the workers, who were later resettled and found employment in Singapore.

In December 1941, Lim Bo Seng was put in charge of organising a group of volunteers to resist the Japanese, who were advancing towards Southeast Asia. The volunteers put up a fierce fight against the Japanese during the Battle of Singapore in February 1942.

Lim Bo Seng was captured by the Japanese under Marshal Ōnishi Satoru at a roadblock in Gopeng around March-April 1944. He was taken to the Kempeitai headquarters for interrogation and he refused to provide the Japanese with any information about Force 136 despite being subjected to severe torture. Instead, he protested against the ill treatment of his comrades in prison. He fell ill with dysentery and was bedridden by the end of May 1944. Lim died in the early hours on 29 June 1944. He was later buried behind the Batu Gajah prison compound in an unmarked spot. After the Japanese surrender, Lim's wife, Gan Choo Neo, was informed of her husband's death by the priest of St. Andrew's School. Gan travelled with her eldest son to bring her husband's remains home later.

Lim's remains arrived at the Tanjong Pagar railway station in Singapore on 7 December 1945. Upon arrival, the hearse was sent off by a large procession of British officers and prominent businessmen, from the station to Hock Ann Biscuit Factory in Upper Serangoon Road, via Armenian Street. On the same day, a memorial service for Lim was held at the Tong Teh Library of the Kuomintang Association in Singapore.

A funeral service was held on 13 January 1946 at City Hall to mourn Lim's death. Lim's remains was transported in a coffin to a hill in MacRitchie Reservoir (coordinates: 1°20'31.76"N 103°49'50.60"E) for burial with full military honours. Lim was posthumously awarded the rank of Major General by the Republic of China Nationalist Government.

Around the 1990s, Asiapac Books published a comic book (ISBN 981-229-067-2) based on Lim's life. It was written by Clara Show and illustrated by Chu Yi Min.