One Hundred Years' History Of The Chinese In Singapore: The Annotated Edition. Ong Siang Song
by Mr Down in the native trading community. Mr Down replied in Malay, remarking that:
people sometimes said there was no friendship in business, but, from many years’ experience, they all knew that those who met daily in business could esteem and respect one another without any arrière-pensée, and that matters were made much easier for all concerned when business men were on friendly terms.44
Low Kim Pong owned considerable property at his death, which took place on the 18th December 1909 at the age of 72. As he left no will, there was a great deal of litigation in connection with his estate among persons claiming to be his next of kin. One of these claimants was Ngai Lau Shia, who sued Low Chee Neo, the administratrix of the intestate’s estate, for her share as a lawful daughter of the deceased. The evidence led on her behalf that her mother had been [109] married as a tsai (i.e. with first marriage ceremonies) to the deceased was rejected, and it was then argued for her that her mother should have been presumed from the fact of cohabitation and repute to have been a tsip (or secondary wife) of the deceased. The Court upheld this contention and decided that such presumption might be made upon satisfactory evidence being offered. This case went before the Appeal Court, which decided that the ‘Six Widows’ Case’ had concluded the point that the law would presume marriage from repute and cohabitation. The Court further held that it was not necessary to prove in each case that the Chinese were polygamous. It could accept that fact without proof. Mr Justice Earnshaw commented on the need for legislation, after an inquiry by a properly constituted Commission of Inquiry, as he considered the position with regard to Chinese marriages somewhat unsatisfactory.
The ‘Siong-lim-si’ Temple45 was begun about the year 1902 and took more than six years to complete. The total cost, it is believed, was in the neighbourhood of half a million dollars.
… Besides its fine architectural proportions there are deposited in the building several large marble Siamese Buddhas, and a fine specimen of Kuan-yin, the Buddhistic Goddess of Mercy. …
On the temple walls is a long series of pictures depicting the tortures of souls of men and women after death, preparatory for the various stages of transmigration, prior to admission to Nirvana, the state of non-existence or perfect bliss.
‘Siong-Lim-Si’ Buddhist Temple in Kim Keat Road
Group of Chinese Buddhist monks
The pictures show scenes of prisoners at the bar, arranged before a judge and his officers – in fact a Mandarin’s yamen and all its accessories – and the punishments inflicted are gruesome, cruel and terrible. …
Lost souls are depicted in chains or wearing the cangue and are being driven along by whips of thorns.
Others, who have been beef-eaters, or butchers, are being gored by bulls: sportsmen with their guns in hand are having their brains plucked out by the birds they shot: others about to cross a bridge are being [110] hurled by pitchforks into a river of fire: while others are allowed to pass on. Another scene is where arms and legs and other parts of the body are being cut off, and one woman is having her eyes scooped out with a gouge: others are hung on trees the leaves of which are sharp knives, or are thrown on to banks where they are pierced through by projecting sharp stakes.
Liars are having their tongues cut out: while those who have used false weights and measures have their limbs and other portions of their bodies hung up or spread on the stalls of what looks like a butcher’s shop. Other scenes illustrate human beings boiling in oil over fierce fires, being pounded to death, or having their entrails cut out while still alive. The last pictures in the long series show the final stage of the Buddhistic purgatory, where human beings rise at last after ages of sinning and suffering to reach Nirvana.46
The firm of Lee Cheng Yan & Co chop Chin Joo commenced its career in 1858 as commission agents and general traders. The founder was Lee Cheng Yan, who came from Malacca, where he was born in 1841, and who started, as usual, a small business in Telok Ayer Street. He was joined by his brother Lee Cheng Gum, and in ten years’ time the firm had become one of the principal Chinese houses dealing with Europeans. The firm later removed to No. 10 Malacca Street and developed its business as financiers and house-property investors, and is now as prosperous as ever. Mr Lee Cheng Yan took a great deal of interest in all matters concerning the Chinese, and was on the Committee of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the Chinese Advisory Board and the Po Leung Kuk, and a JP. Realising the necessity of doing something in the matter of education for the poor, he founded and endowed the Hong Joo Chinese Free School in Serangoon Road which is attended by over seventy scholars. He was also one of the original trustees of the Gan Eng Seng (now known as the Anglo-Chinese) Free School, and on the Committee of the Toh Lam Chinese School in North Bridge Road (since re[111]-moved to Armenian Street). In company with Tay Geok Teat, he visited Europe in 1883. On his retirement from active business, his son, Mr Lee Choon Guan, took over the management, and after his death in May 1911 Mr Lee Choon Guan47 became the sole proprietor. The interest of Mr Lee Cheng Gum in the firm ceased with his death. Mr Cheng Gum left considerable property to his son, Lee Keng Hee, who was born in 1870 and was educated at the High School, Malacca. In 1900 Mr Keng Hee opened up 5,000 acres of land at Bekoh, and planted tapioca and, later, rubber thereon. This estate has since been acquired by the Bekoh Rubber Estates Ltd. Mr Keng Hee is a partner of Guan Joo & Co, General Merchants and Commission Agents, carrying on business at No 10 Malacca Street.
Lee Cheng Yan
Lee Choon Guan
Mr Lee Choon Guan was born in 1868 and was educated privately. He served as assistant in his father’s business of Lee Cheng Yan & Co, chop Chin Joo, where he acquired his training as a merchant and financier. In the early days of the Straits Chinese Recreation Club, Mr Lee Choon Guan was an enthusiastic member and a keen tennis player, and for some years held the office of President of that Club. For five years he sat as elected member for Central Ward on the Municipal Board. Following in his father’s footsteps, he has taken a great interest in public affairs and in all movements for the social and educational advancement of the Straits Chinese community. He is a JP and a member of the Chinese Advisory Board and of the Committee of Management, Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He served on the Singapore Housing Commission and on the Board of Food Control. For many years he has been a director of the Straits Steamship Co Ltd and the South British Insurance Co Ltd (Malaya Branch) and is Chairman of Directors of the Chinese Commercial Bank. A number of rubber, tin and industrial companies has [sic] the advantage of his valuable experience and sound counsel as a director. By his first wife, who was a daughter of the late Mr Wee Boon Teck,48 he has two [112] sons, Lee Pang Seng and Lee Pang Chuan, both well educated and young men of great promise, and two daughters, Mrs Choa Eng Wan and Mrs Tan Soon Keng. On the death of his first wife, Mr Lee Choon Guan married a daughter of the late Mr Tan Keong Saik49 and has a son, Lee Pang Soo, who like his elder brothers was educated in England, and a daughter, Miss Lee Poh Neo. Mr and Mrs Lee Choon Guan have travelled extensively and have made more than one trip round the world. Endowed with a considerable fortune, Mr Lee Choon Guan has given liberally to charitable and educational institutions, including a handsome gift of $50,000 to the proposed Methodist College, and another of $60,000 to the endowment fund of Raffles College. He and his wife each gave $5,000 to the building fund of the St Andrew’s Hospital for Women and Children. During the absence of Dr Lim Boon Keng in China towards the end of 1918, Mr Lee Choon Guan was acting Chinese member of the Legislative Council.
It was in the early days of the year 1859 that a boy of 10 arrived from Penang to stay with his uncle, Mr Hoo Ah Kay Whampoa,50 by whom he was sent to Raffles Institution for his education. This was Tchan Chun Fook, whose grandfather, Tchan Faat, had emigrated from the Kwangtung province to Penang, where he started a