On an October morning in 1951, the principal of Nanyang Girls’ School in Singapore was walking to work when a group of youths threw a toxic solution of nitric acid on her. Liew Yuen Sien survived and served at Nanyang’s helm for another fifteen years, but she suffered painful chemical burns to her face, eyes, and shoulders and could only resume work after three years of recovery. Liew’s attackers were never caught. One of
the few descriptions of them on the official record is that they were simply “Chinese ruffians.” Contemporary opinion was that the assault was an act of retribution by local Chinese Communist sympathizers for Liew’s cooperation with British colonial authorities against them. Perpetrators and victim alike were ethnic Chinese.