On the night of Jan 28, 1945, Suriani Abdullah was sleeping in a wooden house near Tanjong Tualang in the Kinta Valley, Perak. It was an unplanned arrangement.

According to the original plan, she was to have spent the night in a safe house but, due to illness, she was unable to continue with the journey to the location prepared for her.

"That night, Japanese fascists came to conduct a sook ching (cleansing and purification) operation in the village...," Suriani recalled the incident, her voice filled with emotion.