Person:Elizabeth Choy (1)

Elizabeth's great-grandparents' missionary work saw them leaving Hong Kong for British North Borneo (today Sabah). There, the Yong family set up a coconut plantation. Her father, the eldest of 11 children, married the daughter of a priest from a well-respected family.In 1921, Elizabeth enrolled into St Monica's School, an Anglican missionary boarding school in Sandakan. It is here she adopted the English name Elizabeth. In December 1929, she came to Singapore to further her studies at the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus at Victoria Street. She stayed with her fourth uncle at Selegie where he ran a music shop. When her mother died two years later, Elizabeth had to give up a college education to raise her six younger siblings.During the Japanese Occupation, Elizabeth and her husband worked at the Mental Hospital which was renamed Miyako Hospital. Caught by the Japanese for helping the British internees, she was starved and tortured for 200 days before being released.The celebrated war heroine was invited to England where she stayed for four years. While there, she posed for the famed sculptress, Dora Gordine. Elizabeth gave her copy of one of the two sculptures, Serene Jade, to her daughters who, in turn, donated it to the Singapore Art Museum.In 1951, Elizabeth became the only woman member of the Legislative Council. In August 2006, the "Dayak woman of Singapore" was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer and passed away one month later at her home in MacKenzie Road.

[[Moreinfo wikipedia|Elizabeth Choy}}

1.   Elizabeth Choy
   17 April 1999.

   http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_816_2005-01-25.html

2.   Elizabeth Choy, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.