Khoo Thean Teik

Khoo Thean Teik (Chinese: 邱天德; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Khu Thian-tik) was one of the most powerful and notorious Hokkien leaders of 19th-century Penang. His name, "Thean Teik", means "Heavenly Virtue". He was the leader of the Tokong or Khian Teik society that was involved in the Penang Riots of 1867 and through its connection with the Hai San, the internecine Larut Wars of 1861 to 1874. He traded through the companies Khoon Ho and Chin Bee. He was a towkay, trading in immigrant labour and had interests in the Opium Farms in Penang and Hong Kong. Thean Teik Estate, a residential neighbourhood in Penang, and Jalan Thean Teik are named after him.[1][2][3]

Chronology
  • 1826: Born in Penang.[2]
  • 1851: Founding director of the Khoo Kongsi.[1][4]
  • 1858: First arrested for fighting. The Hokkien community goes on strike to get the government to release him.[1]
  • 1860 (circa): Takes over as Elder Brother of the Khian Teik secret society, at just 34 years of age.[1][4]
  • 1867: The Penang Riots. Gang war between Chinese Khian Teik and Ghee Hin societies and involving the Malay Red Flag and White Flag societies.[1][4][5]
  • 1868: Arrested for having planned and instigated the riots. Death sentence pronounced but unenforced by skeleton police force, and eventually commuted to life imprisonment.[1][4][6]
  • 1875: Released after seven years in prison.[1][4][6]
  • 1878: Founding director of Boon San Tong Khoo Kongsi for descendants of Hai Jee lineage, of which he was one.[1] The Boon San Tong Khoo Kongsi is the subordinate pillar of the Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi. Khoo Thean Teik made Boon San Tong the most powerful pillar of Leong San Tong.[7]
  • 1879: Principal donor to the Temple of the City God (Seng Ong Beow), in Jelutong, Penang, dedicated to the government of the Nether-world.[1]
  • 1881: Founding director of the Penang Chinese Town Hall.[1]
  • 1886: Major donor to the Batu Cantong and Batu Lanchang cemeteries.[1]
  • 1888: Major donor to the construction of the Thean Hock Keong Temple in Bagan Ajam, one of the oldest temples in Butterworth, Penang.[8]
  • 1889: Together with Chung Keng Quee, secured the monopoly for the Perak revenue farms (tobacco, liquor, opium, pawnbroking, and gambling). Donated a bell to the Snake Temple.[1][3]
  • 1890: Major donor to the Pulau Tikus Hokkien cemeteries.[1]
  • 1891: Died, one year after the abolition of secret societies in the Straits Settlements.[1][2]

Towkay, The Protector of Coolies

Khoo Thean Teik had the monopoly for indentured migrant workers from China. He was paid a thousand or more dollars a year by parties in Shantou to be a Khehtau or Towkay or Protector of Coolies.[9]

Chung Keng Quee and Khoo Thean Teik

Chung Keng Quee and Khoo Thean Teik were connected both politically and commercially, the politics of the day being commercially motivated in any case. Apart from the monopolies for tobacco, liquor, opium and gambling revenue farming in Perak that these two jointly obtained from Sir Hugh Low, British Resident at Perak in 1889, they were both heads of their respective secret societies which were allied against their common foe, the Ghee Hin. While Chung, Keng Quee was head of the Hai San his ally Khoo, Thean Teik was head of the Tua Pek Kong or Kien Tek Society. Chung, Keng Quee and Khoo Thean Teik together represented the allied Haisan-Khianteik group of Perak Hakkas and Penang Hockiens.

Both Chung and Khoo were in the business of procuring, supplying or employing coolies. Khoo Thean Teik aided by Koh, Seang Thye on one occasion supplied $60,000 in goods, money and ammunition to Chung, Keng Quee and Tan, Yit Hoon for their mining activities and for their military activities against the Ghee Hin in return for seven-tenths of the percentage of the tin they produced.[10][11][12][13]

See also

Court Cases
  • Khoo Hooi Leong v Khoo Chong Yeok, [1930] AC 346, Privy Council: Blanesburgh, Warrington, Russell.[14][15][16]
  • Re Khoo Thean Tek's Settlements. [1929] S.S.L.R. 50. 5.
  • "The houses belonged to Hassan Kudus and Chew Hock Seng the judgment-debtors, but had been mortgaged by them to one Khoo Thean Tek since deceased, ..."[17]

References
  • Triad Societies: Western Accounts of the History, Sociology and Linguistics ... by Kingsley Bolton, Gustaaf Schlegel, Herbert Allen Giles, Christopher Hutton, J. S. M. Ward, Mervyn Llewelyn Wynne, W. P. Morgan, William Stanton, W. G. Stirling; 2000
  • Chinese Secret Societies in Malaya: A Survey of the Triad Society from 1800... by Leon Comber; 1959
  • The Western Malay States, 1850–1873: the effects of commercial development on Malay politics By Kay Kim Khoo Published by Oxford University Press, 1972; p. 209[18]
  1. Xiao En Magazine, 23 September, 2002, Xiao En Cultural Foundation Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Twentieth century impressions of British Malaya: its history, People, commerce, industries, and resources by Wright, Arnold (1908), p.155 (Khoo Siew Jin | Khoo Hun Yeang | Khoo Thean Tek | Khoo Seng Kay)
  3. Gangsters into Gentlemen: The Breakup of Multiethnic Conglomerates and The Rise of A Straits Chinese Identity in Penang by Engseng Ho, Department of Anthropology, William James Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 Email [email protected], presented at The Penang Story – International Conference 2002, 18–21 April 2002, The City Bayview Hotel, Penang, Malaysia organised by The Penang Heritage Trust & STAR Publications
  4. The Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi (Penang) Registered)
  5. "The Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi (Penang) Registered)". Archived from the original on 5 September 2008. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
  6. Doubtful Associations: Reviewing Penang through the 1867 Riots by Anoma Pieris Ph.D. Candidate, U.C. Berkeley. Email [email protected] presented at The Penang Story – International Conference 2002, 18–21 April 2002, The City Bayview Hotel, Penang, Malaysia organised by The Penang Heritage Trust & STAR Publications.
  7. Boon San Tong Khoo Kongsi, Asia Explorer
  8. "Thean Hock Keong Temple, Asia Explorers". Archived from the original on 23 March 2008. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
  9. E. Karl, Chinese Interpreter, 1867, An Indonesian frontier: Acehnese and other histories of Sumatra By Anthony Reid Published by NUS Press; ISBN 9971-69-298-8, ISBN 978-9971-69-298-8; pp. 203, 204, 210
  10. The Big Five Hokkien Families in Penang, 1830s–1890s 2007 Yeetuan Wong Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies, Volume 1, 2007 Archived 19 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Khoo Kay Kim, The Western Malay States 1850–1873: the Effects of Commercial Development on Malay Politics, p. 209
  12. Wong Choon San, A Gallery of Chinese Kapitans (Singapore: Ministry of Culture, 963), pp. 77, 78, 104
  13. Cases heard and determined in her Majesty’s Supreme Court of the Straits Settlements, Somerset: Legal Library (Publishing) Services, vol.4 (1885/1890), pp. 136–40.
  14. The question arising upon appeal was whether the appellant’s father, Khoo Hun Tee, was a legitimate son and therefore a beneficiary of Khoo Thean Tek (‘the settler’), a wealthy Chinese resident of Penang who had died in 1890.�The registrar had found that Khoo Hun Tee’s mother Petronella was a t’sip or secondary wife of Khoo Thean Tek and that, even if she was not, Khoo Hun Tee was his legitimate son by recognition. �Upon a summons, Judge Sproule decreed that Khoo Hun Tee was not a legitimate son of the settler on two grounds: Petronella was not a t’sip; and the custom of legitimation by recognition, which was repugnant to English law, did not operate in the colony. That decree was affirmed on appeal. �If Petronella had occupied the status of a t’sip, Khoo Hun Tee would have been legitimate as the son of a lawful wife because polygamy amongst the Chinese is recognised by the courts of the Colony. However, even if Petronella had been free to marry, the evidence suggests that her relationship with the settler was temporary or casual.�On the question of the Chinese custom of legitimation by recognition, their lordships upheld the view that this was not part of the law operative in the Colony. ‘Legitimation of a child, whose parents are not husband and wife, is unknown and repugnant to the common law of England’.
  15. The Law Journal Reports Published by E.B. Ince; pp. 12, 13
  16. The Law Times Reports: Containing All the Cases Argued and Determined in the House of Lords, [etc.]; Together with a Selection of Cases of Universal Application Decided in the Superior Courts in Ireland and in Scotland Published by Law Times Office, 1859; pp. 25, 26
  17. Cases Heard and Determined in Her Majesty's Supreme Court of the Straits Settlements 1808–1890 By Straits Settlements Supreme Court, James William Norton-Kyshe Published by Singapore and Straits Printing Office, 1890; Item notes: 4; p. 675
  18. In 1880, Khoo Thean Tek also held the following Farms in Perak: (i) Krian and Kurau, including export of opium to Selama, and the South Larut Farms...
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