Adnan was born in a Minangkabau family in Sungai Ramal (present-day Bandar Baru Bangi), near Kajang, Selangor, Malaya. He was the eldest of six children in his family and attended Pekan Sungei Ramal School. After graduating, he worked as a trainee teacher at his alma mater for over a year.[2]
Career
Adnan enlisted in the Malay Regiment in 1933 and was selected as the regiment's best recruit for his outstanding performance. He was promoted to sergeant in 1936. A year later, he marched in a contingent representing the Federated Malay States at the coronation parade of George VI and earned a coronation medal.[2]
In late 1941, Adnan was posted to Singapore to attend an officer conversion course and lived with his family in a house at Pasir Panjang reserved for the Malay Regiment's officers. After completing his training, he was commissioned as a lieutenant and appointed as company officer of the 7th Platoon in C Company of the Malay Regiment's 1st Battalion. In December 1941, he sent his family back to their hometown in Kajang, Selangor for their safety.[2]
In February 1942, Adnan led his 42-men platoon of the 1st Malaya Infantry Brigade to defend Singapore from attacks by the 56th Infantry Regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army. They fought at Pasir Panjang Ridge around Bukit Chandu between 12 and 14 February.[3] Despite being heavily outnumbered, Adnan refused to surrender and urged his men to fight to the end. They held off the Japanese for two days amid heavy shelling from Japanese artillery and tanks, as well as chronic shortages of food, medical supplies and ammunition. On the last day of the battle, Adnan and his men were left with only a few grenades and had to fight the Japanese with their bayonets in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Adnan was shot but continued fighting.
During the battle, Adnan identified Japanese soldiers who were attempting to infiltrate the Malay Regiment's base in disguise as "Punjabi soldiers",[4] who were marching four abreast (Japanese style) instead of three (British style).[5]
Capture and death
Although it is widely agreed that Adnan was killed during the Battle of Pasir Panjang on 14 February 1942,[2] the exact details surrounding his death differed between accounts from both sides of the war. The actual circumstances of his death were never officially recorded.
The Imperial Japanese Army's official account indicated that Adnan was executed and then hung upside down from a cherry tree after two days of stubborn resistance and refusal to surrender. Other accounts suggest that he might have been tied to the tree and repeatedly bayoneted to death.[5][6] British accounts confirmed that his corpse was found hung upside down after the surrender and this has been repeated in a number of authoritative texts on the Malayan Campaign. His remains are buried at the Kranji War Memorial.
Personal life
Adnan's younger brothers, Ahmad and Amarullah, also served in the armed forces. Ahmad was killed in action after his ship, HMS Pelandok, was sunk in January 1942 in a Japanese air raid en route to Australia.[2]
Adnan married Sophia Pakih, an Islamic religious teacher, in 1938. They had a daughter who died soon after birth, and two sons: Mokhtar, who lives in Seremban, and Zainudin, who lives in Johor. Mokhtar recalled that his father "did not talk a lot", was "a strict man and believed in discipline", and was "always serious and fierce ... yet had a good heart. There seemed to be a 'light' illuminating his face."[7] Sophia died in 1949.
Legacy
Adnan is considered a war hero in Singapore due to his courageous and valiant actions at the Battle of Pasir Panjang.[8] The promotion of Adnan as a national hero was championed by the Singaporean Malay-language newspaper Berita Harian in 1995. In 1999, Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong honoured Adnan as a national hero and his story begun appearing in history school books.[9]
Adnan is also well recognised in Malaysia as a national hero and his story is made into a novel used in secondary schools as part of the Malay-language curriculum.
War memorial
A war memorial plaque honouring Adnan and the Malay Brigade was commissioned by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1995 at Vigilante Drive, Kent Ridge Park, Singapore.[10]
He was also portrayed by an unknown Malay actor in the 2001 Singaporean television series A War Diary.
Aaron Aziz also portrayed Adnan in an episode of the 2004 historical series Life Story from Mediacorp Channel 5, which also covers his personal life.[14]
On 5 June 2019, on Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Singapore President Halimah Yacob launched commemorative notes featuring Adnan along with 7 other historical Singaporean figures in a $20 commemorative notes marking Singapore's bicentennial celebrations, 1819–2019 edition.[15]
