One Hundred Years' History Of The Chinese In Singapore: The Annotated Edition. Ong Siang Song

      Dr Lim Boon Keng’s Mandarin Class

      Mr See Teong Wah, the eldest son of Mr See Ewe Boon, was born in 1886 and educated at St Joseph’s Institution, Singapore. He joined the Hongkong Bank as his father’s assistant in 1901 and succeeded his father as compradore in 1909. He takes a keen interest in and devotes a great deal of his time to public affairs, and is a JP and a Municipal Commissioner, as well as a member of Committee of the Straits Settlements Association. He was elected in 1916 a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and is (1919) president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Hokien Huay-kuan.

      Mr See Moh Guan³⁵ was born in Malacca, but was engaged in business in Singapore, where he died in November 1879 and his remains were embarked on board the SS Benmore for interment in Malacca. His son Mr See Kee Ann was born in the same Settlement, where he first engaged in tapioca, gambier and pepper planting, and in 1897 became a partner and manager [105] of the opium and spirit farms there. In 1895 he was made a Municipal Commissioner and in 1901 a JP. All his activities and interests are confined, however, to Malacca.

      On the 2nd January 1857 all the shops were closed, the markets were deserted, and the boatmen and hack gharry syces refused to work.³⁶ The grievance alleged was that the new Municipal and Police Acts which had come into force had not been explained, and their objects were not understood by the natives. The strained state of affairs in China over the Arrow incident (which shortly after culminated in the Second China War) had given rise to some feelings of ill-will on the part of some of the lowest classes of the Chinese towards the European community in Singapore, and an attempt to induce a shopkeeper to open his shop resulted in a riot in which the police were roughly handled. The merchants lost no time in nipping the trouble in the bud. The Sheriff, who was an officer annually elected among the European merchants, convened a meeting on the same day, and a deputation of nine Europeans, with Messrs Whampoa and Tan Kim Ching³⁷, called on the Governor and asked him to issue a proclamation in Chinese, which was done that very day. It reads as follows:

      Now on account of all classes of the people closing their shops, and not wishing to do business because they have heard that the words of the new Act are not clearly understood; people do not understand it, therefore it is difficult for them to obey, and in consequence the present misunderstanding has arisen, and the closing of the shops has taken place. Now be it known that within one month hence, the definitions of the Act will be more clearly explained in order that it may be fully understood. If in the body of the Act there is anything objectionable to the mass of the population, such as know thereof may come within one month to the Court, and to the Governor may make known their complaint. Now you ought all to open [106] your shops and transact your business as usual and do not disobey this. This is given to understand.³⁸

      To this there was a counter-proclamation, which was pasted over the Government circular, to the effect that no faith was to be put in the Governor’s promise to have the law explained, that he only wished to gain time and secure provisions, while the Chinese were quite ready to sweep away every ‘barbarian’ from the island. The shops were, however, opened shortly afterwards and general business was resumed. The enforcement by the Police of this Act did cause a disturbance a month later, but it was among the Tamils. This was an unfortunate affair causing much bloodshed and loss of life. The law-abiding section of the Chinese people realised fully the value of British rule, as was shown by the address presented by the Chinese merchants on 6th June 1857 to Lord Elgin, who was on his way to China as British High Commissioner and Plenipotentiary. In that address, emphasis was laid on the great advantage the Chinese population here was enjoying under English government.

      In 1855 Mr T Braddell (afterwards Attorney-General) had written his interesting ‘Notes on the Chinese in the Straits’ for Logan’s Journal³⁹ in which he said:

      The details of the great European trade of these settlements are managed almost exclusively by Chinese. The character and general habits of an European gentleman quite preclude him from dealing directly with the native traders, who visit our ports and bring the produce of their several countries to exchange with articles of different climates found collected there. These traders – Malays, Bugis, Chinese, Siamese, Cochin Chinese, Burmese – have their own modes of conducting business, founded on a status of civilisation very far below European models and which Europeans [107] cannot condescend to adopt. Here the Chinese step in as a middle class and conduct the business, apparently on their own account but really as a mere go-between. The Chinese puts himself on a level with the native traders, takes them to his shop, supplies them with sireh and other luxuries of a more questionable shape and joins them in their indulgences. Surrounding them with his numerous retainers and studious to make their stay agreeable, he listens calmly for hours to senseless twaddle and succeeds in dealing with the native on terms far inferior to what could have been obtained from the European merchants.⁴⁰

      Mr EA Blundell was the Governor at this time, but he was not liked either by the Singapore or Penang people. His action in connection with a quarrel between the Chinese and the police in Penang in 1856 had been strongly condemned by the Supreme Government, and the Pinang Gazette in February 1858 said that of the many unwise things that he had done during his government of the Straits, there were none which attained that which marked his treatment of the Chinese, or more undignified or childish than his reception of them.

      In 1858 there arrived here a young man from Amoy, named Low Kim Pong,⁴¹ who commenced business as a general trader. Meeting with success, he added to his business a Chinese druggist’s store which under the chop Ban San has ever since been a profitable venture. He did also a private banking business which was much patronised in days before there were Chinese banking houses. He was on the Committee of the Chinese Advisory Board, the Po Leung Kuk and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, as well as a member of the Royal Society of Arts. As one of the leaders of the Hokien community, he, in conjunction with Mr Yeo Poon Seng, took an active interest in raising funds for the erection of the Buddhist temple known as ‘Sionglim-si’ on Balestier Plain, at the farther end of Kim Keat Road. On the occasion of his sixty-ninth birthday (3rd December 1906) he gave an ‘At [108] Home’ to his European and Chinese friends at his residence in Devonshire Road.