Three Kings

We exit one and enter another. Even stationary, we may be on one. Street names reflect the culture of an area or the contributions by a person or groups of people. Managing Editor Shirley Tan-Oehler drives you through the significance of street names in this new column.

Whether they were self-starters or had inherited wealth to jump start their careers, three men stand out in their contributions to Singapore. As a result, the King of Tin and the King of Movies have roads named after them, while the King of Rubber and Pineapples, preferred to honour his father.

Eu Tong Sen Street in Chinatown is named after the man himself. His father, Eu Kwong Pui left his hometown in Guangdong, China, for Penang to work as a grocery shop assistant. Later, he established Chop Yan Sang, a grocery shop in Gopeng, Perak, and expanded it into a Chinese dispensary to treat Chinese immigrants. When tin mining began, he secured the right to mine an area of tin-rich land. He also set up a remittance service for Chinese miners to send their earnings home.

Eu Kwong Pui died suddenly in 1890 when he was only 38 years old, leaving several tens of thousands of dollars to his daughter and most of his estate to his only son. Eu Tong Sen was just 13 and studying in China. He took over his father's business when he was 21 and multiplied his fortune over the next 10 years. He expanded his business empire in Singapore, Malaya and Hongkong to become one of the richest men in the region by the time he was 30. At the height of his success, he owned a total of 11 mines and employed 12,000 miners, earning him the title, "King of Tin". He also owned a chain of medicine shops and rubber estates that covered more than 283 hectares of land.

In 1920, at 42, Eu Tong Sen and two businessmen set up Lee Wah Bank to cater mainly to the Cantonese community. The ownership and operation remained within the Eu family until 1973 when the economic slump forced the family into a merger with United Overseas Bank.

Eu Tong Sen died of a heart attack in Hongkong in May 1941 just days before his family was to set sail for Australia, where they hoped to take peaceful refuge from World War II. He was 63. Eu Tong Sen Street was not always known by this name. It was previously known as Wayang Street. It was renamed in 1919 in recognition of his contributions of a tank that had two "eyes" and a scout fighter plane called No. 1 Eu Tong Sen, to further the British efforts in World War I.

The Singapore branch of Eu Yan Sang, founded by his father, continues its Chinese medicine and herb business in South Bridge Road. This shop was opened in 1910, extensively renovated in 1990 and reopened in 1992 by Richard Eu, Eu Tong Sen's seventh of 13 sons. The millionaire also had 11 daughters.

Kuo Chuan Avenue off East Coast Road is named after the father of Lee Kong Chian, who established the Lee Foundation from which so many educational institutions and community groups have benefited. Lee Kuo Chuan was an impoverished tailor in Fujian, China, who, in his search for greener pastures, found his way to Singapore. He became a small-time trader who reportedly also ran a smoking den with the help of his eldest son. While they did not progress very far, Lee Kuo Chuan's younger son, Lee Kong Chian, was one of the first Chinese immigrants to gain from the philanthropy of rich Chinese merchants, and who later became a philanthropist himself, nurturing education through large donations for school halls and libraries.

Lee Kong Chian was well schooled: Yang Cheng School, Tao Nan School (top right), learning English at Anglo-Tamil School and later, St Joseph's School. In 1908, he was awarded a scholarship to study at Chi Nan School in Nanjing, set up by the Manchu Government for bright overseas boys. In 1911, he went to Ching Hua College in Beijing but later transferred to the Railway and Mining College in Tangshan, known for producing some of the best engineers at that time. His education was sadly cut short when China was proclaimed a republic and his scholarship, cancelled. He returned to Singapore.

However, at 23, Lee Kong Chian was asked by Tan Kah Kee, already an established trader and philanthropist, to join his company. To keep a good worker, Tan Kah Kee later married off his daughter, Tan Ai Lay, to Lee Kong Chian.

After 10 years of working with his father-in-law, and with his blessings, Lee Kong Chian set up a small rubber smoking house in Batu Pahat, Malaya. It grew into a multi-million dollar business and he became one of the richest men in Southeast Asia. He expanded his business to rubber, pineapple and biscuits trading, then banking and real estate. He became known as "King of Rubber" and "King of Pineapples".

In 1932, when the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation was formed as a result of an amalgamation of the Chinese Commercial Bank, Ho Hong Bank and Overseas Chinese Bank, Lee Kong Chian became its vice-chairman. In 1938, he increased his stake in the bank and assumed chairmanship until 1962.

Lee Kong Chian was a progressive thinker. In the 1960s, his company was the first private enterprise to use computers when they were introduced in this region.

At a time when charity was highly dependent on the rise and fall of business fortunes, he established the Lee Foundation. He donated land and money to benefit many educational institutions in Singapore, including the now defunct Kuo Chuan Girls' and Nan Chiau Girls' High schools, The Chinese High School, Methodist Girls' School, St Margaret's School and Singapore Chinese Girls' School. Lee Kong Chian was also behind the establishment of the National Library (right), being an avid reader and firm believer that the extensive reading of books broadens the mind. He built a school in his village in China and named it Kuo Chuan School, in his father's honour. Other establishments in Singapore named after his father are Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School and Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School in Bishan Street 13, Kuo Chuan Neighbourhood Police Post off Ah Hood Road in Balestier and Kuo Chuan View, a Housing and Development Board Precinct in Lorong 1 Toa Payoh.

When Lee Kong Chian died in June 1967 at the age of 74, he left a major portion of his wealth to the Lee Foundation. Today, he continues to make a difference in the lives of the needy.

Wan Tho Avenue in Sennett Estate is named after the "King of Movies", Loke Wan Tho.

Loke Wan Tho was thrust into the limelight when his mother registered him as a fourth partner to found Cathay Organization (right) in 1935, when he was still studying in England. He returned in 1940 but unfortunately, the war broke out.

After the war, he embarked on an ambitious plan to rebuild the film industry. He formed a company that sent mobile film units into remote rubber estates, factories and villages and expanded his chain of cinemas which spread from Penang to Singapore, Thailand and Borneo. He also set up studios to make films for screening in his chain of cinemas. One company made Malay movies, while another in Hongkong produced Chinese ones, grooming screen sirens such as Ke Lan, Yu Min and Lin Dai.

At the time of his death, in an air crash in June 1964, Loke Wan Tho was chairman of Cathay Organization and Malayan Banking, and had just completed arrangements for a management merger of Cathay Hotel and Restaurant with the Board of Directors of Goodwood Park Hotel. He was the first Asian chairman of Malaysian Airways and a Board Member of the National Library and the Malayan Nature Society. Loke Wan Tho left most of his estate to his sisters, with the remainder going to charitable and cultural organisations such as the Singapore Photographic Society.

Loke Wan Tho's personal photographic works on birds can be found at Jurong Bird Park where a memorial library has been constructed in his honour. Loke Wan Tho's father, a Singapore pioneer and philanthropist, Sir Loke Yew, too, has a street named after him. Loke Yew Street connects Armenian Street and Hill Street, just next to the Armenian Church.

SOURCES: NATIONAL ARCHIVES, STREET NAMES OF SINGAPORE BY PETER KG DUNLOP, SINGAPORE CHRONICLES BY SINGAPORE TATLER, TANGLIN TAPESTRY BY PAP TANGLIN BRANCH