Sun Yat Sen trail with Friends of the Museum

 

In March 2024, I met a group of docents from Friends of the Museum (FOM) Singapore, when they were in Johor Bahru for an exciting live experience of the Johor Chingay, an annual tradition of the Johor Old Temple.

 

With Friends of the Museum (FOM) Singapore
at the Johor Bahru Chinese Heritage Museum

Thanks to Susan Chong, who arranged for this interesting experience, I had a pleasant meet-up with this FOM group over a hearty lunch.

 

In January 2025, when Susan sent me greetings for a Happy New Year, she told me about another plan with a small group of FOM docents who were keen to explore the Sun Yat Sen heritage trail in Johor Bahru.

 

Susan went on to say that they were trying to locate his followers in Johor Bahru and reminded me that I had written on this subject in My Johor Stories.

 

It was good to share Johor stories with
a keen and attentive group of visitors

This certainly sparked my interest because I have covered many subjects on Johor culture and heritage so I quickly turned back the pages of my blog to see which subject Susan was referring to. She was quick to provide a hint and said, “Johor Bahru Ngee Heng Kongsi.”

 

This jolted my thoughts and I instantly figured out why this FOM group was keen to discover more about the Ngee Heng Kongsi or society, here.

 

As I pondered over Susan’s request to arrange a Heritage Walk with this group of FOM docents, I was happy to welcome them to Johor Bahru to discover the interesting link between the Johor Bahru Ngee Heng Kongsi and Sun Yat Sen.

 

The FOM group with a much
cherished portrait of Sun Yat Sen

We know Sun Yat Sen as the paramount leader of the 1911 Revolution and was credited for overthrowing the Qing (Manchu) dynasty.

 

Sun served as the first president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China in 1912 and as the inaugural leader of the Kuomintang. He was married to Soong Ching Ling (1915 – 1925), one of the renowned Soong Sisters, three prominent women in modern Chinese history.

 

As for the Ngee Heng Kongsi, it is believed that this society was derived from the Hong Men or Red Door society, a Teochew group that developed from the Tian Di Hui or Heaven and Earth society. Ngee Heng is the Teochew version of, Ghee Hin, its name in Hokkien dialect.

 

While people may walk or drive along Jalan Ngee Heng and students and teachers went to the Ngee Heng School – now known as Sekolah Kebangsaan Ngee Heng – few may know about the origin of this name and its rich heritage in Johor Bahru.

 

Reading a template for a form used to
pledge support for the revolution cause

As I joined the dots between Sun Yat Sen and the Johor Ngee Heng Kongsi, I was able to tailor my own Sun Yat Sen heritage trail to meet the requests of this FOM group.

 

There was no better place to start than in the lobby of the Johor Bahru Chinese Heritage Museum where I introduced myself and My Johor Stories and kicked off our time together in an enjoyable time of storytelling and information sharing.

 

I started with saying that the Teochew made up the majority of the Chinese dialect groups who responded to the Johor Ruler who invited Chinese planters to open up land to cultivate pepper and gambier in Johor.

 

Photo memento with the portraits of pioneers
Wong Ah Fook, Tan Hiok Nee, Lim Ah Siang
  

Led by Ngee Heng Kongsi leader, Tan Kee Soon, the Teochew arrived in Johor Bahru, then known as Iskander Petrie, in 1844 and settled mainly in the area known as Kangkar Tebrau.

 

While kang means river in Teochew dialect, a kangkar was the disembarking point, usually its middle or upper reaches along the river.

 

When the Chinese came to Johor, they not only brought along their culture and farming skills but also their own brand of justice, gangsterism and vice.

 

At the archway for the
Tan Hiok Nee Heritage Walk

As revolutionaries, the Ngee Heng Kongsi activities were largely underground, with a tradition of covert activities that used secret codes and languages. After a period of anarchy, they agreed to surrender their secret society activities.

 

Even though the Ngee Heng Kongsi started as a quasi-military revolutionary brotherhood that was opposed to the Qing dynasty, their activities here gradually evolved into valuable social, political and administrative work which contributed to Johor’s early economic growth.

 

The Johor Ngee Heng Kongsi had a significant role in helping Temenggong Ibrahim settle the unrest in Muar and his son, who ascended to the throne as Sultan Abu Bakar in 1885, continued to tap on the strength and spirit of the brotherhood of this society.

 

Having fun at the top of the Segget Walk

Sultan Abu Bakar acknowledged that a brotherhood like the Ngee Heng Kongsi with its combination of muscle and moral authority, was the best barrier against unwanted infiltration and the best way to unite the Chinese to remain loyal to him.

 

After Tan Kee Soon died around 1864, the identity of the Ngee Heng Kongsi changed under the leadership of Tan Hiok Nee and became an organization of kangchu or River Masters and revenue farmers who successfully developed Johor through the cultivation of pepper and gambier.

 

In 1870, Sultan Abu Bakar appointed Tan Hiok Nee as Mejar Cina of Johor as well as Council of State to look after Chinese community affairs.

At the entrance of the Johor Bahru
Kwong Siew Heritage Gallery

When the clans agreed to stop their secret society activities, the Ngee Heng Kongsi was legalised as an association in 1873, assigned by royal favour to take charge of Chinese community affairs. This association was the forerunner of the present-day Johor Bahru Tiong Hua Association.

 

In 1914, when Johor became part of the Unfederated Malay States under British colonial authority, the kangchu system was abolished and the Johor Ngee Heng Kongsi was disbanded.

 

The society’s assets were dissolved and contributed to charity, with a sum set aside to build a tomb for the burial of their ritual and sacred objects as well as ancestral tablets.

 

This grand tomb, simply adorned by two Chinese characters that read, Ming Mu which mean, Ming Tomb, is the resting place of the Ngee Heng Kongsi’s ritual and sacred objects. As a mark of respect, Johor Bahru Chinese community leaders will perform ancestor worship ceremonies at this tomb, twice a year.

 

A Sun Yat Sen memorial plate

As a benevolent ruler, Sultan Abu Bakar continued the goodwill relationship started by Temenggong Ibrahim and encouraged the Chinese community to live in peace.

 

He played a vital role in uniting the Chinese by providing them with land to build a common place of worship and land for burial grounds, with respect to their tradition of ancestor worship.

 

United with the other Chinese dialect groups as a legal society in Johor, they built the Johor Old Temple, established a common cemetery dubbed, Kongsi San and started the Foon Yew School.

 

Located along Jalan Trus, the Johor Old Temple bears the word, Johor in its name, attributed to the strong relationship between the Johor ruler and the Chinese community in Johor.

 

Photo of Sun Yat Sen with his
wife, Soong Ching Ling

This is also known as the Temple of Unity as it uniquely houses the five deities worshipped by the five main Chinese dialect groups – Hokkien, Hainan, Hakka, Cantonese and Teochew – all under one-roof.

 

Sun Yat Sen was Cantonese so I was pleased to acquaint the FOM group with the Johor Bahru Kwong Siew Heritage Gallery, housed in the property donated by Johor pioneer, Wong Ah Fook, that was once used as the Cantonese clan house.

 

His name is familiar not only because the main road through the heart of Johor Bahru, was named after him, but also because Wong and the Cantonese community in Johor were also strong supporters of Sun Yat Sen and his effort towards the revolution in China.

 

At the Kwong Siew Gallery, I was pleased to point out that the first Chinese school in Johor Bahru was the Yok Choy School, founded in 1907 exclusively for the Cantonese community that used to occupy the upper floor of the former clan house.

 

 Inside the Johor Old Temple, also
known as the Temple of Unity

In 1911, when the Qing dynasty in China was overthrown by the revolution led by Sun Yat Sen, the Chinese in Johor Bahru held a celebration procession through town.

 

The outstanding performance by the Yok Choy School band caught the attention of community leaders who were so impressed that they started discussions to form a school that was open to all the Chinese students in the community.

This led to the founding of Johor’s renowned Foon Yew School in 1913, where Wong Ah Fook was appointed Head of the School Board with Lim Ah Siang as his deputy while Wong Hee Coo held various important roles in the Board over 40 years.

 

The FOM group each holding a copy of
my book, My Johor Stories 3:
Proudly Johor, Then and Now

Our time together on my Sun Yat Sen heritage trail in Johor Bahru came to a fitting close with a delightful lunch on Johor specialties served at Sedap Corner.

 

Over luscious servings of Laksa Johor, Roti Jala, Soto Ayam, Lontong and Nasi Briyani, the group discussed some of the new things they discovered that morning, among them was the Ming Tomb and the support Sun Yat Sen received from the Chinese community in Johor.

 

It was simply a pleasure to observe that this FOM group not only enjoyed our time together but have even gained new knowledge from this experience.

Note: My Johor Stories books are available from MPH bookstores nationwide and online from mphonline. In Johor Bahru, some books are available from JARO.