Source: The Star, 29 August 2000
By: Ng Kit Yoong
FOR THE past 55 years, a memorial service has been held in Hiroshima, Japan, every Aug 6 to commemorate the death of a Malaysian student who was killed in the world's first atomic bomb explosion.
The solemn ceremony early this month was conducted by a temple priest, followed by a recital of the ayat yassin by three Malaysian Muslims who are students of Hiroshima University.
It was a memorial service of their senior, Nik Yusof Nik Ali, one of two Malaysians who were killed by the deadly atomic bomb that was dropped in Hiroshima at 8.15am on Aug 6, 1945. The exact date of Nik Yusof's death could not be ascertained even until today, although it was believed to be Aug 6 or 7.
However, on his tombstone was inscribed, "Nik Yusof Nik Ali'' and below his name, "passed away August 6, 1945.''
The uncertainty is due to the confusion that ensued after the bombing when fire engulfed the city, leaving gory scenes of burnt bodies, of humans walking aimlessly with peeled skin hanging from the tip of their fingers. Nik Yusof went missing from the dormitory soon after the bombing.
The only fact that could be ascertained from documents or books available in Japan was that he did not die immediately after the bombing. His junior in the university, Abdul Razak Abdul Hamid, met him before he went missing.
Abdul Razak, now 75, was a former Japanese Language lecturer at Universiti ITM.
He might have died at Raku-Raku-En station in the suburb of Itsukaichi, 11km from his dormitory. Nik Yusof was one of 13 students from Malaya who were selected for further studies in Japan under the Special Foreign Students from South-East Asia programme in 1943. He was among the first batch of nine Malayan students.
Nik Yusof, who hailed from Kota Baru, Kelantan, was killed just two months prior to his 20th birthday.
He died in a painful and cruel way, ignorant of the fact that he had been exposed to the radiation.
Nik Yusof's coursemate, Abdul Razak, confirmed that Yusof was not hurt externally after the bombing, unlike many who were turned into human fireballs or burnt alive under wrecked buildings when fire swept through the city.
Abdul Razak recounted how he met Nik Yusof on the way to their dormitory after the bombing.
"Razak, I am fine. Hurry up, go back to the dormitory and help our friends!'' Nik Yusof had told him.
Abdul Razak was invited by the Hiroshima International Centre on the 50th anniversary of the atomic bomb in 1995, along with five other students under the programme then, to give a talk and relate their experiences during the bombing. The talks were documented in a report by the organiser.
The report further quoted Abdul Razak as saying that Nik Yusof later walked towards the city centre with their dormitory warden, Professor Nagahara Toshio.
The following day, when Nik Yusof did not return to campus, Abdul Razak went to look for him in a hospital, accompanied by a coursemate.
At the hospital they saw more gory scenes: decomposing corpses, scorched bodies, patients with swollen faces and bodies, their hair falling out.
On their way back to the campus they came across the body of Professor Nagahara who was seen with Nik Yusof earlier. Nagahara was found dead on Meiji bridge, his face swollen beyond recognition. They recognised the professor from the buckle of his belt.
They began to worry if Nik Yusof had met a similar fate.
An eyewitness who was living across the dormitory saw Nik Yusof with his face, hands and feet badly burnt--one of the most common symptoms of radiation.
The eyewitness's testimony was recorded in a book written by Egami Yoshirou entitled, A Research on the Special Foreign Students Invited from South-East Asia.
Egami is currently principal of a private high school in Kyushu. He was a former officer at Hiroshima University.
According to Egami, a foreign student believed to be Nik Yusof was seen at Raku-Raku-En station on Aug 7 by Hanaoka Toshio who was living near the dormitory.
"Please give me some water,'' pleaded Nik Yusof to Hanaoka who was there to take his injured brother for treatment. Nik Yusof's face was swollen and had turned purple-black.
Hanaoka gave him water and some words of encouragement, and left.
Later that day, staff from the Itsukaichi town government brought three boxes of unclaimed cremated ashes to Hoshizuki Tokito, chief priest of Kouzen temple. One of the boxes had Nik Yusof's name on it.
Tokito buried Nik Yusof's ashes in the temple's cemetery.
Kitagawa Katsuko, 62, whom the writer met at the memorial service, remembers Nik Yusof as a quiet man of small built.
Kitagawa came to know Nik Yusof through her mother who was caretaker of the dormitory where Nik Yusof stayed. Kitagawa herself narrowly escaped death when she was buried under heaps of rubble following the bombing.
Nik Yusof's grave has since been taken care of by the Kouzen temple. The temple's chief priest then had taken great effort to build an Islamic grave for Nik Yusof.
"Nobody knew how an Islamic grave looked like then,'' said Dr Konno Yoshinobu, professor emeritus at Hiroshima University and professor of Hiroshima Jogakuin University.
"The chief priest travelled to Kyoto and Aoyama in Tokyo where there were foreign graves, to look for a model of an Islamic grave to build for Nik Yusof,'' said Konno who has been helping to organise Nik Yusof's memorial service since 1986.
Nik Yusof's grave was completed in 1964. It was believed to have cost about 200,000 yen (about RM7,000) then, which is equivalent to a few million yen or about RM100,000 now. The money came from the government and from donations.
While Nik Yusof's suffering was shortlived, his varsity mate Syed Omar Mohamad Alsagoff only started to feel the effects of the radiation three weeks later.
While waiting for a train to Tokyo on his sojourn back to Malaya, Syed Omar complained of profuse perspiration and chills despite the hot weather. He had to stay back and was admitted into a hospital in Kyoto.
Little was known about the effects of atomic radiation then. Syed Omar's doctor, Hamajima Yoshihiro, donated his own blood in a bid to save the 19-year-old lad from Johor Baru.
Syed Omar had great difficulty swallowing anything. He died 10 days later on Sept 4. A memorial service for him is held in Kyoto on the first Sunday of September every year.
According to Kitagawa and Konno, the family of Syed Omar had visited his grave a few times since then.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his wife Datin Seri Dr Siti Hasmah Ali visited Syed Omar's grave during an unofficial visit to Japan in April 1991.
The third Malaysian under the programme who died in the war was Syed Mansoor from Penang. Syed Mansoor went to Japan in 1943. A medical student of Kumamoto Medical University, Syed Mansoor was admitted into the university's hospital for tuberculosis. The hospital was bombed, but Syed Mansoor was rescued. However, he succumbed to his illness on Dec 12, 1946. He was 24.
Japanese acquaintances of the deceased or their children have been holding memorial services for the three Malaysians until today.
