On 15th February 1942, Singapore fell to the Japanese.

Three young men lived through these times.

Frederick Arthur Chua, Choor Singh and Abdul Wahab Ghows would later rise to become judges in independent Singapore.

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Abdul Wahab Ghows

Born in Ipoh on 30 January 1921, Abdul Wahab Ghows attended Raffles College. He was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in 1952. Upon his return to Singapore, he commenced his legal career as a traffic Magistrate. In 1954, he was appointed Assistant Official Assignee. Four years later, he was Deputy Public Prosecutor and Crown Counsel, and then appointed Solicitor-General in 1971, aged 50. In 1980, he was elevated to the High Court Bench where he served for five years. Ghows retired in October 1986, aged 65, after 34 years in legal service and the Judiciary. He passed away on 27 January 1997, aged 76.

Frederick Arthur Chua

Born in Singapore on 15 May 1913, Frederick Arthur Chua attended St Joseph’s Institution and Raffles Institution. He read law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and graduated in 1936. He was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in 1937. Upon his return to Singapore, he joined the Straits Settlements Civil Service and was appointed, in 1938, Assistant Official Assignee and Assistant Public Trustee in Singapore. He was transferred to Penang in 1940, and held various positions in Penang and Malacca before returning to Singapore in 1953 as District Judge and Magistrate. In February 1957, he was elevated to Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court, and served on the High Court Bench until 1992. Chua passed away on 24 January 1994, aged 81.

Choor Singh

Born in Korte, India, on 19th January 1911, Choor Singh completed his education, in 1929, at Raffles Institution. Thereafter, he worked as a solicitor’s clerk in Mallal & Namazie. He was the founding member of the Singapore Khalsa Association, which was established in 1931. In 1934, he joined the Official Assignee’s chambers as a clerk. With the ending of the war, he registered for admission to London University in 1946; thereupon he joined Gray’s Inn. In 1949, he was the first Indian to be appointed Magistrate. Six years later, in 1955, he was called to the English Bar. In 1963, he was appointed Supreme Court Judge, where he served for 17 years. Singh retired in November 1980.

With the end of the war, the taste for self-rule in the region had been whetted.

The Straits Settlements was dissolved in 1946, replaced by the Malayan Union in the peninsula. Singapore became a separate colony.

Young men whose lives had been interrupted by the war looked to securing places in the region’s independent future. Both Abdul Wahab Ghows and Choor Singh would find ways to pursue their respective legal educations.

And Frederick Arthur Chua would continue to rise within the legal service, spending most of the immediate post-war years in Malaysia.