Portrait of Malaysian atomic bomb victim registered with Hiroshima memorial hall

HIROSHIMA -- A foreign student and relative of a late Malaysian teen who fell victim to the atomic bombing of this southwestern Japan city has registered a portrait of his ancestor with the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for Atomic Bomb Victims.

The portrait on display at the memorial hall in Hiroshima's Naka Ward shows Nik Yusof, who came to Japan from Malaya, currently Malaysia, under a special foreign exchange student system during the Pacific War, and died in the Hiroshima atomic bombing at the age of 19. It is the second case where a portrait of a late Southeast Asian student who was a victim of the atomic bombing was registered with the memorial hall.

Nik Mustaqeem, 23, a Malaysian student who has studied since 2017 at the Muroran Institute of Technology, a national university in the city of Muroran in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, is the grandson of Yusof's younger brother. He found out about the memorial hall's project to gather pictures and private notes of those who passed away in the atomic bombing through sources including Nurhaizal Azam, 47, a fellow Malaysian and associate professor at Hiroshima City University. Mustaqeem applied to have Yusof's portrait registered with the memorial hall on Aug. 20 after receiving approval from relatives and others back home.

He said, "By doing this (registering the portrait) as one of many valuable lives that were lost in the atomic bombing, I would like to convey the truth."

Yusof was born in British Malaya, and visited Japan in 1943 under a special foreign exchange student system that aimed to raise pro-Japanese leaders following the invasion by the Imperial Japanese Army. He attended the Hiroshima Higher Normal School, currently Hiroshima University, and was studying at Hiroshima University of Literature and Science, also currently Hiroshima University, when the atomic bomb was dropped on the city by the U.S. military on Aug. 6, 1945. Yusof was inside a dorm for foreign students, which was about 900 meters away from the hypocenter. He is said to have sustained burns on his face, hands, and legs, and died the next day.

A total of eight Southeast Asian special exchange students fell victim to the A-bomb in Hiroshima. The portrait registration is the second case following that of Abdul Razak, who died at age 88 in 2013. Associate professor Azam has also been searching for the relatives of Syed Omar, a Malaysian who died at age 19 while in the capital shortly after the atomic bombing.

Regarding such portrait registrations of foreign students, Mustaqeem commented, "This will absolutely not go to waste. It will surely convey to visitors that war tears everything apart."

(Japanese original by Akihiro Nakajima, Hiroshima Bureau)