The girl next door who became a spy

Free Malaysia Today

7 hours ago

Retired Lt Col Carol Loo bucked tradition to enlist, launching a career that would inspire patriotism and women empowerment.
KUALA LUMPUR : In Carol's secret military role, reversing her surname 'Loo' transformed it into '007.'
Carol Loo Lee Fum, Malaysia's pioneer Chinese female intelligence officer, embraced 007 not as a frivolous moniker, but as a reminder of the precision and resourcefulness she would need.
While James Bond's world revolved around glitzy casinos and high‑speed chases, Carol's missions were against communist guerillas in the 1970s and '80s.
It was a non-combatant role because women were then barred from the frontlines.
With her backstage contributions, Carol carved out a covert career that helped turn the tide against the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).
She gathered, analysed and interpreted information on the CPM in Peninsular Malaysia.
It was a task that demanded exhaustive study of CPM tactics, organisational structure, and weaponry.
She worked closely with senior police and military intelligence officers to compile data on communist cadres, supply routes, and planned ambushes.
Her fluency in multiple languages enabled her to cultivate informants within Chinese-speaking communities that sometimes harboured CPM sympathisers.
Carol's network of grassroots sources delivered her most vivid insights.
'I quickly learned that intelligence is a puzzle of people, places and patterns,' Lt Col Carol, 68, noted in a sit-down with FMT.
Unlikely heroine
Born into a conservative family, Carol was the very image of the girl next door — demure, studious, and dutiful.
Yet beneath her gentle exterior lay steely determination.
In 1976, at 20 years old, and fresh out of school, she bucked tradition to enlist.
She came across a newspaper advertisement that would change her life: the Malaysian army was recruiting its first cohort of female cadets.
Aware that her community deemed military service 'unsuitable' for daughters, she concealed her application from her parents.
Carol, who grew up in Baling, Kedah, amid daily reminders of the CPM menace, didn't know what lay ahead, 'but I knew I had to try.'
When her acceptance letter arrived, excitement warred with nerves: she was about to step into a world dominated by men and danger alike.
'I did not know what to do,' she reflected, 'but I decided to just go through with it. What did I have to lose?'
Little did Carol know that she would go on to rewrite the narrative for women in uniform.
The story of Carol, detailed in the book, Memoirs of the Malaysian Armed Forces Veterans, shines a light on the early heroines of Malaysia's army.
The book's follow‑up, Memoirs: Malaya and Borneo at War, published by the Malaysian Armed Forces Chinese Veterans Association (Macva), was launched on June 1.
It is a collection of firsthand recollections spanning the Malayan Emergency, Indonesian Confrontation and decades of counter‑insurgency.
Rigorous beginnings
Carol passed a gruelling selection at the Penang local defence corps.
Out of hundreds nationwide, 70 men and women earned spots for central training at Tambun, Ipoh.
Some of those who went on to become the first female army cadet officers in 1977, with Carol Loo (fourth from right) and Toh Lian Sim (front row second from right). (Carol Loo pic)
Alongside Carol were three other non-Malay female cadets, Toh Lian Sim, K Ranney and Harbans Kaur.
They endured months of drills, fieldcraft and leadership lessons.
On January 7, 1978, Carol and her peers were commissioned as second lieutenants, and absorbed into the army's non-combatant units.
She recalled: 'I felt equal parts fear and pride when they pinned on my bars.'
Intellect and tenacity
Carol and Toh (later Siti Linziana) were chosen for the royal intelligence corps given their educational backgrounds, multilingual capabilities and understanding of local dynamics.
Carol Loo was a well-respected intelligence officer who was also held in high esteem by Lt Gen Ghazali Che Mat (right), a former director of military intelligence. (Carol Loo pic)
In the military intelligence special branch at Bukit Aman in Kuala Lumpur, Carol said she initially faced raised eyebrows in briefing rooms.
She said some senior officers assumed she lacked the 'field toughness' required.
'I proved them wrong time and again,' Carol said. 'I learned that accuracy earns respect faster than rank.'
By the mid‑1980s, Carol served as a foreign liaison officer, enhancing intelligence-sharing frameworks with regional counterparts and Western services.
Appointed strategic officer for East Asia, Carol monitored China's military buildup and Taiwan's defences.
It involved monitoring troop movements, defence procurement trends, and shifts in diplomatic posturing.
In doing so, she became one of the first Malaysian officers to produce policy briefs on potential flashpoints in the Taiwan Strait, at a time when China's military modernisation was accelerating.
Her foresight influenced diplomatic outreach and contingency plans that endure today.
'Serving as an intelligence officer was a tremendous privilege and responsibility,' she said of assuming important posts in Malaysia's defence intelligence apparatus.
Her most visible achievement came with her appointment as the first woman officer, and simultaneously the first female intelligence officer, to serve in the defence operations room (DOR) at the armed forces headquarters.
The DOR functions as the nerve centre for national military operations, coordinating troop deployments, real-time intelligence analysis, and crisis response.
Carol Loo (first right) with members of the Malaysian peacekeeping force in Glamoc, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1996. (Carol Loo pic)
In this capacity, Carol oversaw the mobilisation of Malaysian peacekeeping contingents bound for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the mid-1990s.
When international tensions in former Yugoslavia escalated, Malaysia deployed Malbatt VII under the auspices of the United Nations.
Carol furnished ground intelligence, ensuring that Malbatt commanders received timely updates on ceasefire violations, humanitarian corridors, and potential threats to Malaysian peacekeepers.
Her work extended to supporting domestic operations —monitoring border security, counter-terrorism movements, and natural disaster relief assignments.
While excelling in the field, Carol also pursued formal academic qualifications.
She earned a diploma in defence and strategic studies from the University of Malaya, deepening her understanding of geopolitics and military theory.
Her leadership skills, strategic acumen, and dedication to duty led to successive promotions.
From a major in the early 1990s, she was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 2000, and was later appointed as commanding officer of an intelligence detachment in the ministry of defence.
She retired from active service in 2008, having dedicated 31 years to the nation.
Family of defenders
Military service was not entirely foreign to the Loo family.
In 1953, Carol's rubber trader father, Loo Yok Tian, enlisted as a member of the home guard, an auxiliary force formed to counter the communist insurgency.
During the early 1950s, British and Malayan authorities relied heavily on local home guard units for jungle patrols, village security, and intelligence collection.
Lt Col Carol Loo and her husband, retired navy lieutenant Soon Tet Leong, with their family. (Carol Loo pic)
Carol's husband is retired navy lieutenant Soon Tet Leong, 74, whose family, from Penang, has been intertwined with uniformed ranks for decades.
Seven Soons once stood in uniform together across the army, air force and navy.
The couple's sons, Pow Lee, 43, and Pow Yik, 39, honed their discipline at the Royal Military College.
Carol has not fully stepped away from the defence community.
Five patriots from the maiden squad of women army officers at a reunion during the launch of Macva's second book on June 1. (Left to right) Lt Col Esah Sulaiman, Major Fatimah Khatijah Musa, Lt Col Carol Loo, Major K Ranney and Major Harbans Kaur. (Carol Loo pic)
In 2016, when Macva was established, she became one of its founding members, advocating for the welfare of former service members across the tri-service.
Macva lobbies for improved healthcare benefits, reintegration programmes for veterans, and social initiatives to preserve the history of their contributions to Malaysia's security.
Carol's post-retirement advocacy underscores a lifelong commitment to the country she served, an ethos inherited from her father's wartime service and reinforced by her own pioneering career.
Her story illustrates that courage, intellect, and a willingness to defy convention can transform not only an individual's destiny but also the fate of a nation's armed forces.