Tong Meng Hui (TMH)
The
Tongmenghui
aka the
Chinese
United League
was
a secret society and underground resistance movement organized by Sun
Yat-sen
in Tokyo,
Japan,
on August 20,1905. Its aim was to overthrow the Manchu Dynasty and to
establish a Chinese
republic.
In 1906, a branch was formed in Singapore,
following Sun's visit here and it was known as the Nanyang branch
covering South-East Asia. The Singapore Nanyang branch Tongmenghui
had only 250 members and my great grand-father Chew Joo Chiat was one of them.
Chew
Joo Chiat's family suffered hardship in China. He came to Singapore
to find wealth, to better the lives of his family back home. He was
a patriot and supported the society, hoping the Qing Dynasty would
collapsed and China would be restored to the Chinese. In1908 Chew had a
ship chandler business which supplied provisions and hardwares to ships that called at Singapore port. His shipping business was
probably used by the society to ship provisions and firearms to the
resistance forces in China.
Chew
was a man who kept a very low profile. It was a personal secret and nobody in the family knew his membership in the TMH. In 2013 a relative who visited the exhibition at San Yat Sen Memorial Hall at Tai Gin Road found out his TMH membership. He prompted me. By the time I went there, the
exhibits had been removed. Later, Raymond Goh, gave me a copy. The list had his name in both Chinese and English as indicated by a red arrow..
Name list of Tongmenghui memebers
On
Saturday 5 November 2016 evening, I attended the opening ceremony of
Wan Qing Culture Fest 2016 at San Yat Sen Memorial Hall, at Tai Gin
Road. Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean was the guest of honour. I
met him at the reception hall and I had a picture taken with him.
On
that evening there was also exhibits of “One Night In Wuchang”
1911 Revolution and Nanyang. My purpose of attending the function was
actually to see the TMH name list. Secondly, I hope to find Chew Joo
Chiat's picture among the group photo. As he kept a very low profile,
it was unlikely I would succeed.
While
other guests were busy on the ground floor, I went upstairs to check
the name list of TMH. Instead I found another name list written in
Chinese. Red arrow pointed to Chew Joo Chiat's name. As for the photo I had search in vain.
TMH name list in Chinese
With Dy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean
A Chew Joo Chiat's secret had been discovered. Has he another secret we do not know? Watch out for my next posting.
