AUKUS Chronicles: No child is ever ‘collateral damage’. Excerpts from my father’s unfinished memoirs of a child at war.
My dad, Ramanathan Gopalkrishnan, Sweden 1972
My dad, Ramanathan Gopalkrishnan 2014
Updated 7th October 2023
This post is a little drip-feed post of excerpts from my Dad’s unfinished memoirs. I’ll keep adding to it off and on. He died in 2018. Dad (Ramanathan Gopalkrishnan) was only 8 years old when war came to Penang in Malaysia in what we now call the ‘Indo-Pacific’.
His father, my grandad, was assumed dead after not returning home after the attack on Penang by the Japanese. I thought it would be helpful to post some parts from his writings and photos as I find them as part of my AUKUS Chronicles project. It grounds me after the pointless social media war mongering we have to read. These people know nothing about the effects of war on children and families.
The loudest advocates for militarising our Asian region don’t see themselves as part of the emotional shared landscape of humanity in this part of the world. Asia-Pacific-‘Indo-Pacific’- all geopolitical catchphrases don’t matter if they’re simply not from here. It is just a place ‘other’ than home. The shared intercultural, interfaith, inter-racial, diverse family memories of this region are mirrors of my own family. They are threads between all the different cultures which define this region which has lived in peace for decades and want to keep it that way.
Excerpts from my Dad’s diary
"Watching the 'dog fight' of the Japanese & British fighter planes about a week or so prior to Penang being bombed; & walking to the harbour to cross over to Butterworth was an unforgettable experience of the war period..."
"Walking along to the Ferry Pier treading broken tiles from damaged buildings & broken glass strewn everywhere was an experience that has remained with me for a long time…"
"Those 27 Japanese planes which flew in formation and bombed Penang changed the trajectory of life for not just our family...my family lost our father to that bombing & our life changed forever after that. It was easily the most poignant day of my life..."
“I see the [war] now as a time evoking intense challenging emotions of an 8 year old who did not at that time know if there was a reason to cry, sob or laugh about…”
Children (the military’s “collateral damage” in wars) can grow up to make incredible contributions to the world. Dad helped to found The Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists in 1963
Dad was one of small group of doctors who founded the The Malaysian Society of Anesthesiologists in 1963. His stories were amazing, as it sounded like an episode of the TV show MASH (British doctor’s used ‘smell’ to diagnose cancer?; not much plumbing in theatre wards?). At that time there was no place for anesthetists to specialise their study and training and they were considered a ‘weird mob’ - though essential - by other medical staff. They taught each other, discovering new. techniques each day.
I often think if Dad had just died aged 8 in the Penang bombings or starved (a very real situation for many years for locals. His family opened a cafe and buried food), then he would not have played this part. From what I was told, he was the guy who did the back-end work and hassled people to get their shit together. So proud of him for that and for working hard in a profession that he had no choice in doing. After war, if you got offered a scholarship it meant survival and one less mouth to feed by his mother. He wanted to be a lawyer.
Dad was one of the few early founding members of the Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists in 1963.
History of Anaesthesia in Malaysia, Dr A.I Gurubatham & Dato’ Dr A. Damodaran, Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists, College of Anaesthesiologists, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia , June 2013
Dad (Ramanathan Gopalkrishnan) with his teachers & study colleagues (middle row, 2nd from left) at his medical studies in 1953.
History of Anaesthesia in Malaysia, Dr A.I Gurubatham & Dato’ Dr A. Damodaran, Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists, College of Anaesthesiologists, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia , June 2013
History of Anaesthesia in Malaysia, Dr A.I Gurubatham & Dato’ Dr A. Damodaran, Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists, College of Anaesthesiologists, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia , June 2013
History of Anaesthesia in Malaysia, Dr A.I Gurubatham & Dato’ Dr A. Damodaran, Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists, College of Anaesthesiologists, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia , June 2013
Mum and Dad’s 47th wedding anniversary greeting video is quite funny, and brings back a lot of memories for us. This is the same 8 year old boy who watched Japanese bombs fall on Penang in 1941 in shock and horror. He survived and built a life of layered experiences and love, but certainly not without deep scars. Nobody is simply “collateral damage”. Every single life is worth something. Every single child deserves to grow up without war.
the last year
Christmas 2016, 13 months before he died, Dad was reflecting over a family dinner and showing his character. After this video, he had a gradual decline and he died in February 2018
