A STATUE of a Palestine charity co-founder has gone on display in Scotland.
The Palestine Museum Scotland, in Edinburgh, has unveiled a ceramic statue of Dr Swee Chai Ang, co-founder of Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).
Dr Ang was born in Malaysia in 1948 and trained as an orthopaedic surgeon.
She volunteered to treat war casualties in refugee camps in Lebanon, and survived the Sabra-Shatila massacre, which took place during Israel's second invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
The invasion was launched in an attempt to root out the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) from Lebanon, where it was launching guerrilla attacks against Israel.
During that invasion, it is estimated around 19,000 people were killed – with upwards of 3500 people killed in the Sabra-Shatila massacre alone.
The horrors Dr Ang witnessed led her to co-found MAP in 1984 along with two other people, Derek and Pamela Cooper.
More than 40 years on, the charity continues to offer medical services in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon, and campaigns for Palestinians' rights to health and dignity.
And in 1987, she was awarded the Star of Palestine by then-president Yasser Arafat – the highest award for service to the Palestinian people.
She was accused of antisemitism and was dropped from a speaking engagement by the British Medical Association after The Telegraph reported she had forwarded a link to a video by former Klu Klux Clan leader David Duke, in which he claimed that “the Zionist matrix of power controls media, politics and banking” and that “some of the Jewish elite practices racism and tribalism to advance their supremacist agenda”.
Dr Ang said in response: “I didn’t know who David Duke was, or that he was connected to the Ku Klux Klan. I am concerned that if there is any truth in the video, that Jews control the media, politics and banking, what on earth is going on? I was worried.”
Dr Ang reportedly apologised for forwarding on the video and said she immediately regretted it, but according to the Middle East Monitor, this apology was not included in The Telegraph's reporting.
Now in her late seventies, Dr Ang still practices medicine, and continues to advocate for Palestine.
The statue was sculpted by Glasgow-based artist Amanda Adler, who has been in close contact with Dr Ang throughout the process.
"She's very happy about the sculpture going in the museum," Adler told The National.
"She's a very humble woman and couldn't understand why I was doing a sculpture in the first place."
Adler described Dr Ang as "a heroic activist and a fantastic person".
"She's one of the kindest, gentlest, most decent people anyone could ever meet," Adler said.
"I'm really pleased with the ceramic that I've made, and I'm really hoping that she will be pleased with it as well."
Adler added that it was a "privilege" to have her work displayed in the Palestine Museum Scotland, which became Europe's first museum of Palestinian art when it opened last year.
Faisal Saleh, executive director of Palestine Museum Scotland, said that Dr Ang represents "the absolute best of humanity", adding that she has "dedicated her life to a cause far greater than herself".
"To exhibit this new sculpture at the Palestine Museum Scotland is both a deep privilege and a vital tribute," he said.
Saleh said the artwork captures Dr Ang's "unyielding spirit of defiance, compassion and resilience that she has embodied for over 40 years".
He added: "In hosting this piece, we celebrate a true legend of international solidarity whose life's work reminds us that witness, empathy, and care are universal duties."
