MacDonald House attack during Konfrontasi remembered
Members of the public laying flowers to remember the victims of the MacDonald House bombing. Photo: Wee Teck Hian
SINGAPORE — It has been 51 years since the MacDonald House was bombed on March 10 in the worst terror attack to hit post-war Singapore, leaving three people dead and 33 injured.
For Madam Esther Lin, now 75 and a retiree, it still brings back painful memories — the smell of smoke and the sightings of blood as she made her escape from the building situated near the Istana and Cathay building on Handy Road.
During the Konfrontasi (Confrontation) period from 1963 to 1966, the attack there in 1965 was one of more than 40 acts of sabotage committed by Indonesian agents in opposition to the newly-formed Federation of Malaysia, of which Singapore was a part of. On the day of the bombing, Madam Lin, who was working at a record shop called Decca Orient on the fifth level, was waiting at the lift landing, when her boss called her back to the office.
That was when a blast went off at around 3pm on the mezzanine level and a man in the lift was badly hurt, Madam Lin recounted. She would have most likely been hurt as well if she had been in the lift, she said.
One of her other bosses, an ex-British army major, smelling the bomb fumes, told everyone to follow his instructions and go down the fire escape, and to go home once they reached to safety. Madam Lin said: “When I went down, I could see the smoke and all that. I got very upset, I got very worried. I saw some blood. It was scary. The girl that died, the secretary, I remember seeing her at 1pm (that day), and then I later learnt she died at 3pm. It’s just terrible.”
The three victims who lost their lives were private secretary Elizabeth Choo, 36, assistant secretary Juliet Goh, 23, and driver Mohammed Yasin Kesit, 45, who died after a coma in hospital. Two Indonesian marine commandos Osman Haji Mohamed Ali and Harun Said were later convicted and hanged in Singapore that year for the bombing.
Yesterday evening, Madam Lin was joined by about 150 others at the Konfrontasi Memorial Ceremony which took place opposite MacDonald House at Dhoby Ghaut Green. They included family members of the victims, as well as veterans from the First and Second Battalions and the Singapore Infantry Regiment who were deployed during the crisis.
Speaking at the memorial, Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman, Senior Minister of State for Defence, commented on the fresh threats by terrorist groups such as ISIS: “We draw lessons from that dark chapter in our history, so that we can face today’s challenge against a different threat from extremist organisations, one that threatens the security of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the region.” He called on Singaporeans to play their part to keep Singapore safe and resilient on all fronts, and to “work hard at building trust and creating common spaces among different ethnic and religious groups”.
Religious leaders from various faiths gathered for prayers and flowers were laid.
