Heart and Soul: Retracing war hero Lim Bo Seng's final journey

SMI's principal Phoon Kean Loon (front row, centre), with his student leaders, and Lim Bo Seng's family members and friends on Jalan Lim Bo Seng, Ipoh, during the heritage tour led by Prof Lit (back row, second from left). The organiser is Daniel Teo (left of Phoon). The writer is second from right (front row). Photos: Dr Melvyn Tan Chin Beng

A gentle breeze wafts over the unkempt cemetery near Batu Gajah prison in Perak. The place is ominously dark, a reminder of its tragic past.

Flashback to December 1945. Her heart heavy with grief, Gan Choo Neo – a young widow – together with her eldest son Lim Leong Geok, are searching for the mortal remains of her beloved husband Major General Lim Bo Seng. He was a prominent businessman and leader of Force 136, a British-led World War II resistance movement in collaboration with the Malayan Peoples’ Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA).