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LTA Adnan bin Saidi


  • As a student, in what ways can you portray the same courage and determination illustrated by Lieutenant Adnan?
  • In your opinion, why do you think Lieutenant Adnan continued to fight on against the Japanese despite being injured and outnumbered?


Thinking Questions

  • What can we learn from the cruel death of Lieutenant Adnan?


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More Facts

Death of Adnan

When they lost the battle, he was captured, dragged and pushed into a gunnysack. When the Japanese overran his Malay soldiers, they hung him by his legs, tied him to a cherry tree and bayoneted (stabbed) him again and again to death for his persistent resistance as they were angered by the death of their fellow comrades. His throat was slit repeatedly in some instances. Corporal Yaakob, who won a Medal of Gallant subsequently, was one of the few who survived Opium Hill. In the chaos of the battle, he fell and landed on top of the bodies of the dead soldiers. He escaped death by lying motionless amongst the pile of the dead bodies and witnessed the gruesome death of Adnan Saidi. Lieutenant Adnan died in battle at the age of 27. No one was allowed to bring down his body for burial in the aftermath of the battle and nobody dared. It was claimed that his mutilated body was burnt to ashes in some sources.

In 1995, a war memorial plaque at Vigilante Drive, Kent Ridge Park, was erected to honour the fighting spirit and patriotism of Lt. Adnan Saidi and his Malay Brigade. At Bukit Chandu, the bravery of Malay Regiment soldiers in memory stands in a museum. The regiment later becomes the Royal Malay Regiment of the Royal Malaysian Army. The heroic patriotism of Lt. Adnan Saidi will be hard to forget: etched on the main memorial column wall of the Kranji War Memorial  Cemetery is No. 385 – "Lt. Adnan Saidi".

 LTA Adnan bin Saidi