00:00The Catholic Bishop of Penang, Cardinal Sebastian Francis, has started a cause for the beatification
00:09and canonization of civilian hero Sibyl Katigesu.
00:13Francis said he had consulted and received the blessings of Kuala Lumpur Archbishop Julian
00:18Liao on the matter.
00:20He said the beatification and canonization of Sibyl is an opportunity to bring the Catholic
00:25community together.
00:27Sibyl, an Indonesian-born nurse who ran a free clinic in Papan Perak with her husband,
00:32Dr. Abdon Clement Katigesu, during the Japanese occupation of Malaya, supported the resistance
00:38movement at the time.
00:40She secretly supplied medicines and medical services to Allied forces and shared information
00:45from BBC shortwave broadcasts.
00:49She was eventually captured and interrogated by the Japanese secret police, who subjected
00:53her to brutal torture, but Sibyl refused to break, surviving until the end of the war.
00:59However, the health effects sustained during her ordeal led to her eventual death in 1948.
01:06She was buried at the Church of St. Michael's Cemetery in Ipoh.
