Ong Sam Leong

Ong Sam Leong (b. 1857, Singapore–d. 7 February 1918, Singapore) was a successful and respected Chinese businessman.¹ Besides being the key contractor supplying labourers to mines in the phosphate-rich Christmas Island, he also owned other businesses such as brickworks and plantations in the Straits Settlements.² His remains are housed in the largest tomb at Bukit Brown Cemetery in Singapore.³ His two sons, Boon Tat and Peng Hock, established the New World amusement park, in Jalan Besar in 1923.⁴

Early life
Born in 1857, Ong came from a humble background and received little formal education.⁵ It was his perseverance and business acumen that helped him build his fortune.⁶

Business ventures
Ong started work as a small commission agent when he was 21. His early land transactions turned out profitably. He then became interested in timber concessions in Pahang and Kemaman in Terengganu. In 1899, Ong secured a contract with the Christmas Island Phosphate Company Limited to supply mining workers to Christmas Island, 400 km south of Java.⁷ His company, Ong Sam Leong and Company, held the monopoly.⁸ The company obtained the labour from “coolie” houses located along Pagoda Street in Singapore. Most of the coolies (unskilled labourers) were from either Guangdong or Guangxi, China. Ong also owned a sundry shop on Christmas Island, making profits from supplying daily provisions to the labourers.⁹

In addition, Ong owned brickworks in Batam, Indonesia, and held large interests in numerous sawmills in Singapore.¹⁰

By the time of his death in 1918, Ong’s estate comprised many landed properties and rubber estates in Singapore and elsewhere.¹¹

Personal life
Ong was a popular member of several old and respected Chinese clubs. One of these was the Ban Chye Hoe Club, where he was the president for many years.¹² Ong was also keenly interested in the patriotic movement of the Straits Chinese community during World War I.¹³ He contributed generously to various fund-raising initiatives during the war. In appreciation of the Straits Volunteer Corps (SVC), which defended the settlements by managing several outposts there, Ong built a garage at the SVC Drill Hall at his own expense for use by the corps.¹⁴

Ong was a hardworking man who kept himself busy till his last days. The only known forms of relaxation he allowed himself were going on motoring and sea trips. Before his death, Ong built a mansion on Bukit Timah Road and named it Bukit Rose. This was where Ong entertained friends on a lavish scale.¹⁵

Ong died of heart failure in 1918 at 60 years of age.¹⁶ His wife, Yeo Yean Neo, survived him and passed away at the age of 73 years in 1935.¹⁷

The Ong tomb
The biggest tomb in Bukit Brown Cemetery belongs to Ong and his wife. At the time of Ong’s death, the burial place was restricted only to Hokkiens with the surname Ong.¹⁸

Comparable to the size of ten typical three-room Housing and Development Board flats in Singapore, Ong’s 600-square-metre tomb was discovered in early May 2006 by Tan Beng Luan, a pre-school principal and former employee of the National Archives of Singapore.¹⁹

The Ong tomb is the grandest among the approximately 100,000 tombs in the cemetery. It contains many ornaments typically found in Chinese tombs, except that most of the items are significantly larger. The earth deity shrine, which is about the size of a brick in most graves, is as big as a normal tomb. Similarly, the moat, which is usually a small ditch or groove in a typical tomb, is 15 m long. Cemetery workers were said to have used it as a swimming pool.²⁰ There is a pair of lion statues and a pair of Sikh guard figures watching over the grave,²¹ all measuring 2 m in height. These statues are a mere 30 cm tall at his son’s tomb.²²

The Singapore Heritage Society had been searching for Ong’s tomb for several years before it was discovered in 2006.²³ At the time, the tomb was neglected and completely overgrown. It was cleared of weeds and other foliage by the National Environment Agency on 17 May 2006.²⁴ The National Archives also produced a video documentation of the tomb.²⁵

The Ong brothers
Ong had two sons, Boon Tat and Peng Hock, and a daughter, Mrs Khoo Peck Lock.²⁶ His sons, referred to as the Ong brothers, were educated at Raffles Institution and became prominent members of the Straits Chinese community. Elder son Boon Tat commenced his business training under Ong when he was 19 years old, while his brother Peng Hock was trained in the timber trade.²⁷

The brothers opened the New World amusement park – the first of three amusement parks to open in Singapore, the others being Great World (1931) and Happy World (1937) – in Jalan Besar on 1 August 1923.²⁸ The park closed in 1987, and on its site today stands the City Square Mall.²⁹

Sam Leong Road
Sam Leong Road was named after Ong.³⁰ It is a stretch of road connecting Jalan Besar and Verdun Road.³¹ Originally named Paya Road, it was renamed Sam Leong Road by the Singapore Municipal Commissioners in 1928.³²



Author
Lee Hwee Hoon



References
1. “Death of Mr Ong Sam Leong,” Straits Times, 7 February 1918, 8; “Another Chinese Y.M.C.A. Hut,” Straits Times, 9 April 1918, 6. (From NewspaperSG)
2. “Our Heritage: Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail,” National Heritage Board, accessed 12 July 2016; Gloria Chandy, “Nee Soon Named After ‘Pineapple King’,”  New Nation, 10 September 1979, 9. (From NewspaperSG)
3. “Jalan Besar A Heritage Trail,” National Heritage Board, accessed 15 July 2016.  
4. Lee Kip Lin, Emerald Hill, The Story of a Street in Words and Pictures (Singapore: National Museum, 1984), 24. (Call no. RSING 959.57 LEE-[HIS])
5. Jeremy Au Yong, “Tycoon’s Tomb Uncovered,” Straits Times, 4 June 2006, 12. (From NewspaperSG)
6. Song Ong Siang, One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1985), 97–100. (Call no. RSING 959.57 SON-[HIS])
7. Song, One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore, 97–100.
8. “Untitled,” Straits Times, 27 December 1919, 8. (From NewspaperSG)
9. Sng Choon Yee, oral history interview by Lim How Seng, 26 March 1981, transcript and MP3 audio, 19:45, Reel/Disc 13 of 42, National Archives of Singapore (accession no. 000064), 95.
10. Chandy, “Nee Soon Named After ‘Pineapple King’.”  
11. “Late Mr Ong Sam Leong,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), 8 February 1918, 4. (From NewspaperSG)
12. National Heritage Board, “Jalan Besar A Heritage Trail.”
13. Ilsa Sharp, “Part of Our History Is Written on These Walls,” Straits Times, 28 April 1979, 14. (From NewspaperSG)
14. “Y.M.C.A. Hut Fund,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), 9 April 1918, 4. (From NewspaperSG)
15. Chandy, “Nee Soon Named After ‘Pineapple King’.”  
16. “Late Mr Ong Sam Leong.”
17. “Death,” Straits Times, 26 May 1935, 13. (From NewspaperSG)
18. Susan Tsang, Discover Singapore: The City’s History & Culture Redefined (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2008), 19–20. (Call no. RSING 959.57 TSA-[HIS])
19. Andy Ho, “Bukit Brown Deserves Bustle of Life,” Straits Times, 3 November 2011, 30; Deepika Shetty, “March Through History,” Straits Times, 14 July 2015, 4–5. (From NewspaperSG); Au Yong, “Tycoon’s Tomb Uncovered.” 
20. Au Yong, “Tycoon’s Tomb Uncovered.” 
21. Au Yong, “Tycoon’s Tomb Uncovered”; National Archives (Singapore), Lion Statue Found Besides The Tomb of Ong Sam Leong, photograph, 29 May 2006; National Archives of Singapore, Statue of a Sikh Guard Besides the Tomb of Ong Sam Leong, 29 May 2006, photograph. (From National Archives of Singapore)
22. Nicholas Yong, “Buried: A Life,” Straits Times, 10 April 2011, 7 (From NewspaperSG); Au Yong, “Tycoon’s Tomb Uncovered.” 
23. Yong, “Buried: A Life.”
24. National Archives (Singapore), Contrast of Ong Sam Leong’s Tomb Before and After the Vegetation Clearance on 17 May 2006, 20 May 2006, photograph (From National Archives of Singapore); Au Yong, “Tycoon’s Tomb Uncovered.” 
25. National Archives (Singapore), “Video Documentation of Ong Sam Leong’s Tomb,” 29 May 2006, video, 17:30. (From National Archives of Singapore accession no.  2006001516)
26. “Mrs Ong Sam Leong,” Straits Times, 28 May 1935, 12. (From NewspaperSG)
27. “As I Was Saying,” (1933, December 23). Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), 23 December 1933, 8 (From NewspaperSG); Song, One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore, 97–100.
28. “Development of the New World,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), 8 October 1935, 23; “Page 7 Advertisements Column 1,” Straits Times, 1 June 1931, 7; “Opening of Happy World,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), 7 May 1937, 9. (From NewspaperSG)
29. “Jalan Besar,” Urban Redevelopment Authority, accessed 12 July 2016; “New World Park’s Original Gate to Front New Park,” Straits Times, 14 April 2005, 3. (From NewspaperSG)
30. “T. F. Huang Takes You Down Memory Lane,” Straits Times, 23 April 1988, 22. (From NewspaperSG)
31. Lee Kip Lin, Jalan Besar, at Sam Leong Road: General View, 17 July 1982, photograph; Lee Kip Lin, Sam Leong Road, From Verdun Road: General View, 22 January 1982, photograph (From National Library Online); “Sam Leong Road,” Street Directory, 2016.
32. Peter K. G. Dunlop, Street Names of Singapore (Singapore: Who’s Who Publishing, 2000), 269 (Call no. RSING 959.57 DUN-[HIS]); “Municipal Affairs,” Straits Times, 7 November 1928, 12. (From NewspaperSG)

The information in this article is valid as at July 2016 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.