He was born in Nan'an, Fujian, China, as the 11th child but the first son in the family. His father was a building constructor. He married Gan Choo Neo, a Nonya woman, in 1930 and had 8 child, one of whom died in infancy. He came to Singapore in 1925, when he was 16, to study at Raffles Institution and later went on to study business at the University of Hong Kong.
When the Second Sino-Japanese War happened in 1937, Lim and I both participated in anti-Japanese activities such as boycotting of Japanese goods and also raised funds to support the war effort in China. I heard from Lim, then, that he met a British officer who persuaded him to join the British efforts in building up a joint China-Britain network in Malaya, known as Force 136. He then moved on to nationalist China to recruit overseas Malayan Chinese for this job. Lim was held in high regard by the British and other members of Force 136 for his patriotism, leadership and organisational activities. He then became one of the leaders of Force 136. Being the head of the Labour Services Corps, he provided the British government with labourers for the war effort before the Japanese Invasion.
Lim left Singapore for Sumatra with other Chinese community leaders, on 11 February 1942, and then went to India later on. Lim told me that he managed to recruit and trained hundreds of secret agents, from China and India, through intensive military intelligence missions. After organizing the things in China and India, he then sent the first batch of Force 136 agents to Malaya in 1943, Japanese-occupied then, to set up an intelligence network in the urban areas in Pangkor, Lumut, Tapah and Ipoh. According to certain sources, secret messages were smuggled in empty tubes of toothpaste, salted fish and even in the members' personal diaries. To avoid identification, Lim even pretended to be a businessman at checkpoints.
When Lim found out that there were traitors in Force 136, he was so devastated. I heard that there was a triple agent, between the British and Japanese, his name was Lai Teck. He betrayed Force 136 and soon after in march 1944, Lim was also betrayed. Lai Teck leaked out valuable information and hence, caused many Force 136 members to be captured, including me. Lim was captured by the Japanese around March 1944, because of Lai Teck.
After I came out of prison, I found out that Lim had unfortunately passed away in prison on 29 June 1944 due to an illness caused by the lack of food and unhealthy living conditions.
I heard that Lim, although severely tortured by the Japanese, he did not reveal the names of the people who worked with him against the Japanese. He also shared food with the other prisoners despite the little amount of food that he had.
I am so grateful to have befriended Lim. He was selfless, discerning and brave. I admire his bravery and loyalty for Force 136, he is indeed a well-deserved leader...
Rest in peace, my old friend... You will live in our hearts forever...
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