SINGAPORE — Held in remand by the police for their roles in the 1965 MacDonald House bombing, Indonesian marines Usman Hj Mohd Ali and Harun Said had asked to see Ms Janet Ng Lin Seong, whose mother Elizabeth Suzie Choo was one of three killed in the attack, making her and her five siblings orphans overnight. She refused to see them. “I didn’t want to see them because it was too painful,” said Ms Ng, who was 20 at the time of the bombing and the eldest child.

Nevertheless, on Oct 17, 1968, when the two marines were to be hanged, she forgave them after they asked for her forgiveness. She felt they knew they had done something wrong. She even asked the police if they could be released.

But she was reminded of the hurt earlier this week when news broke that the Indonesian government had named a warship after the two marines.

Speaking to TODAY over the phone from Australia where she was visiting her family, Ms Ng, now 69, said she had considered the chapter closed and was shocked by the news.

“Innocent lives were lost … six of us were made orphans overnight. We lost our mother, the only supporter of the family. It was very painful for us and it is still painful whenever we pass MacDonald House,” said Ms Ng, whose parents were separated.

“The two men asked for forgiveness and I had given (it) before they were executed. It is part of history and we have learned from it. The good relationship (between Singapore and Indonesia) should be maintained. It should not be brought up to remind us again.”

The bombing on March 10, 1965 of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Building, known as MacDonald House, was the worst attack in Singapore during Konfrontasi, which took place from 1963 to 1966.

Apart from Ms Ng’s mother, who was then 36 and working as the secretary to the bank manager, the attack killed her mother’s assistant Juliet Goh Hwee Kuang, 23, and Mohammed Yasin Kesit, 45 — and wounded more than 30 others.

The Indonesian marines were members of the special force that infiltrated Singapore. They were later conferred the status of national heroes in Indonesia and given a ceremonial funeral.

Indonesia’s policy of confrontation was formally abandoned in August 1966. Bilateral relations were restored in 1973 after Singapore’s then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew sprinkled flowers on the graves of the two men.

Ms Ng, who has two children and four grandchildren, remembers the day of the bombing vividly.

Then a student at the Teachers’ Training College, she was in a teaching practical when a phone call informed her that her mother had been in an accident.

Her dread turned to horror at the hospital when she saw a figure covered in a white sheet. “They lifted the sheet ... I fainted at the table,” said Ms Ng.

Her siblings were schooling at the time. Ms Ng said the family coped with support from the bank which provided them with an allowance, while she supplemented the family income by giving private tuition.

Today, whenever she passes MacDonald House with her grandchildren, she would point out to them that the place was where their great-grandmother died and tell them about the attack.

“It was a shock (to hear about the naming of the warship),” she said. “I thought it was over.”

She added: “Why did they want to bring it up again after so long? Why did they want to do it, to bring back the pain to all three families again? I wish that the whole subject is closed, and I want to thank the (Singapore) Government for trying to stop the whole issue.”

Mr Kenny Yeo, who is in his 70s, was left blind in one eye after he was injured in the bomb blast. He required more than 300 stitches all over his body. However, he just wants to move on. “I am angry, but since this is an event of the past, we should just forgive. If they want to provoke us, just let them,” said Mr Yeo.

Mr Lee Khoon Choy served as Singapore’s Ambassador to Indonesia between 1970 and 1974, and was tasked to help mend bilateral ties.

He said: “I feel that once Mr Lee Kuan Yew had put the flowers (on the marines’ graves), the matter is settled. You should not take it out again. They’re already in heroes’ graves.”

ADDITIONAL REPORTING CHANNEL NEWSASIA