Bukit Brown Cemetery: Our Roots, Our Future

‘I was at a wedding party with the dondang sayang players and I was invited to sing. A Malay gentleman agreed to start the singing and another from the party must reply. He directed himself at me: “Encik nyanyi dulu. Saya jawab.”

‘I was struck, I blushed. The music was playing and the audience urged me to reply. It was shameful. The Malay gentleman was asking:

Baba pandeh, saya tanya:
Bulan berjalan, mana kaki-nya?
(Baba is clever, so I ask of you:
The moon moves but where are its legs?)

‘I answered:
The moon moves not a length of padi,
The clouds move, the world revolves;
The moon moves through the power of God
The snake crawls, where are his feet?’

So profound an answer was given that soon Gwee’s formidable reputation as a stylish pantun composer grew.

Taken from http://peranakan.org.sg/culture/culture-thearts/the-romantic-master-of-dondang-sayang-gwee-peng-kwee/

On May 31, 1943, the woman who bought up 6 children,  Song Chwee Neo died.  Some of her sons became guardians of Peranakan culture, and Gwee Peng Kwee became

the champion of Dondang sayang.  William Tan was to acknowledge repeatedly that Gwee Peng Kwee was his mentor.

William Tan Wee Liam (1928 - 2009). 
We will miss the sweet soothing voice of Baba William Tan. Among his contributions to the cultural scene of the Baba community were the three plays he directed: Buang Keroh Pungut Jernih (1985), Biji Mata Mak (1989) and Tak Sangka (1990); the sessions he conducted for the members of the Gunong Sayang Association; and the collaborations with authors on the Peranakan Chinese culture.
Performing with Baba William Tan was Nyonya Jessie Chiang and GT Lye.

Tomb of Song Chwee Neo in Bukit Brown Cemetery

Even during the occupation year in 1943 when life was difficult, he did not hesitate but to give her a good funeral and grand send off to Bukit Brown
where she was laid to rest, at a age of 70 years.

G loved her mother a lot, 15 years after she died, he still published in ST – In Memoriam.

Her grandson, William Gwee Thian Hock, wrote some books on Baba culture for example A Nyonya Mosaic: My Mother’s children and also a dictionary of Baba Malay.

Another grandson, G T Lye continues the tradition his father Gwee Peng Kwee has left behind.

27th April 2008, Peranakan Wedding by Peranakan Association, GT Lye, Terry Lim

Mr Gwee passed away in 1986 leaving behind about 7,000 handwritten pantuns, most of which were his own compositions, in specially bound volumes. The majority of the verses have not been published.

From: http://peranakan.org.sg/culture/culture-thearts/the-romantic-master-of-dondang-sayang-gwee-peng-kwee/

Dr. Lim Boon Keng himself was buried at Bidadari, disintered and ashes at Mt Vernon.
Tan Tock Seng’s tomb cluster stands out along Outram Road. Tan Boo Liat is the father of my grandmother Polly Tan, and Tan Kim Ching is grandfather of Tan Boo Liat.

Into this alliance of two great families is the Seow connection. Mrs Seow Watt Chye is mother of my grandfather Seow Poh Leng;

Confused? Let me, Lim Su Min attempt to unravel for you my ancestry by sharing with
you personal stories on my heritage run to visit the tombs of my direct ancestors who are buried in Bukit Brown

Lim Boon Keng was a second-generation Straits-born Chinese. His grandfather Lim Mah Peng was born in Hai Teng District, Fujian Province, China. Lim Mah Peng arrived in Penang in 1839 and married a local-born Chinese lady. Their only son was Lim Thean Geow, who was born in Penang.

Shortly after Lim Thean Geow was born, Lim Mah Peng moved his young family to Singapore to work for Cheang Hong Lim. The elder Lim was a manager in Cheang’s liquor business. The family stayed in Telok Ayer Street. Lim Thean Geow attended school at Raffles Institution and he later also worked for Cheang Hong Lim in his opium business.

Tomb of Lim Mah Peng and his wife Mdm Khoo in Bukit Brown. They have 2 sons including Thean Geow and 2 daughters, including Jin Kim

Mdm Lim Jin Kim had married into the Yap family. She died in 1883 leaving a son and a daughter

Lim Boon Keng was born on 18 October 1869, the third son of Lim Thean Geow and his Malacca-born Chinese bride. He had two elder brothers, two younger brothers and four younger sisters. Lim lost his mother when he was about eight years old. His father then remarried and had another three daughters.

Mdm Soo. Lim Boon Keng’s mother’s tomb in Bukit Brown. She died when Boon Keng was only 8 years old

As soon as he was ready, Lim Thean Geow sent his son to study Confucian classics at a school established by the Hokkien Huay Kuan (Clan Association). He stayed there briefly before proceeding to the Government School at Cross Street where he began his studies in English.

Lim Boon Keng grandfather Lim Mah Peng died in 1879. Some time in 1885, when Lim was about 16 years old, his father also passed away. He had died of blood poisoning after a razor cut and no doctor could help him. Also, one of Lim’s brothers died at the age of 7 after falling off a chair. These two unfortunate accidents affected Lim deeply and he resolved to study medicine so he could save lives and heal the sick.

In December 1896, Lim married Margaret Wong Tuan Keng, daughter of Wong Nai Siong of Foo-chow, China. Margaret was a refined, enlightened and well-educated woman who had visited England and America. She died in 1905, leaving four sons.

Margaret Wong’s tomb in Bukit Brown.  4 sons’ names were inscribed in the tomb : Kho Seng, Kho Beng, Kho Leng and Kho Liau.(NB: She had been originally buried in the family burial ground located at Lim Boon Keng’s plantation at Alexandra Road in 1905 and  on 10 Jun 1935 reburied in Bukit Brown Cemetery along with 6 other family members)

The eldest, Dr Robert Lim Kho Seng (1897-1969), was Minister of Health in the Nationalist Government of China until the outbreak of the civil war in 1948 when he resigned to become Professor of Physiology at the University of Illinois, U.S.A.

The second son, Francis Lim Kho Beng (d 1960), was a mechanical engineer. The third son, Walter Lim Kho Leng (1901-1942), was the manager of Ban Hin Lee Bank. His son Dr Lim Kok Ann (1920-2003) was also a Queen’s scholar and became a lecturer in the King Edward VII College of Medicine, Singapore. Dr Lim Kok Ann gained world-wide fame in 1957 when he isolated the flu virus at the height of an Asian influenza epidemic. His work on a vaccine brought the epidemic to a halt. Lim Boon Keng’s fourth son was John Lim Kho Liau.

On 4 April 1908, Lim married Grace Yin Pek Ha (1884-1972), sister of Dr. SC Yin. Grace was born on 1 July 1884 in Amoy, China. Before World War I, together with Mrs Lee Choon Guan and other ladies, she founded the Singapore Chinese Ladies’ Association. In 1938, she and other Chinese ladies started the Singapore Chinese Orphanage. She was made a Justice of the Peace in 1948. She died from a stroke on 20 August 1972 in Singapore at the age of eighty-eight.

Taken from the “Sage of Singapore”  ST, 22 Oct 1984