Chung Thye Phin (1879-1935)

Picture 1. Chung Thye Phin's residence in Penang (c. 1907).

Photographs and a short passage on Chung Thye Phin (1879-1935), the last Kapitan China of Perak, extracted from the book "Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources" (1908) (Pictures 1-7).

Picture 2. Chung Thye Phin's residence in Penang (c. 1907).

Picture 3. Passage from "Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources" (1908).

Picture 4. Perak State Council, (c. 1907).

Picture 5. Chung Thye Phin's mine near Tronoh.

Picture 6. Chung Thye Phin's mine in Taiping

Picture 7. Chung Thye Phin's offices in Ipoh & Penang

A tin miner, a revenue farmer, a member of the Perak State Council, and later a member of the Federal Council, he was one of the richest man in Malaya. The mansion which is also depicted in an old postcard (Picture 8) came with grand entertaining rooms and subterranean passageways that connects to underground chambers and an undersea wing. 

Picture 8. Chung Thye Phin' residence in Penang (c. 1900s).

Picture 9. Shanghai Hotel, Penang (c. 1950s).

This palatial structure was located at Kelawai Road, Gurney Drive, Penang. After Chung Thye Phin's death, it was sold and turned into a hotel (The Shanghai Hotel) in the late 1930s (Picture 9). It was later demolished in 1964 and on its footprint now stands 1 Persiaran Gurney Condominium.

References:

1.  "Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources" Arnold Wright, H. A. Cartwright, Lloyd's Greater Britain Publishing Co. Ltd., 1908.

2. "Penang: 500 Early Postcards". Cheah Jin Seng, 2012. Didier Millet.

3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chung_Thye_Phin

Kayaroganam Thamboosamy Pillay (1850-1902)

Kayaroganam Thamboosamy Pillay (1850-1902) (Picture 1) worked as a clerk at the legal firm of Woods & Davidson, Singapore. He moved to Klang in the early 1870s with James Guthrie Davidson, when the latter was appointed Malaya’s first British Resident. He was later transferred to the Treasury where he eventually became chief clerk and acted as State Treasurer on a few occasions. He was also a Justice of Peace and member of the Kuala Lumpur Sanitary Board. 

Picture 1 : Kayaroganam Thamboosamy Pillay

He founded the famous Sri Mahamariamman Temple in 1873. The temple was first sited near the Railway Station and moved to its current location in Jalan Tun H.S. Lee in 1885. In the 1880s, he resigned from the government and went into partnership with Loke Yew in the Rawang Mining Concession in which they both did extraordinarily well. He promoted Batu Caves as a place of worship and decided to dedicate it to Lord Murugan around 1891 by establishing the Sri Subramaniar Swamy Temple. He also contributed a sizeable amount of money to the building fund of St Mary’s Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur in 1893. Thamboosamy, together with Sultan Abdul Samad, Yap Kwan Seng and Loke Yew, proposed to set up an English-medium school for boys in Kuala Lumpur. It led to the establishment of the Victoria Institution in 1894. 

Picture 2: The Padang with the old Selangor Club in the foreground (c. late 1880s)

Picture 3: K.T. Pillay's family residence at 1st mile Batu Road (c. 1906)

Picture 4: Luncheon party at K. Thamboosamy Pillay's residence at Batu Road (c. 1899).

Picture 5: Sekolah Kebangsaan Lelaki Jalan Batu

The earliest record of power generation can be traced back to a small mining town in Rawang, Selangor. Here, Thamboosamy Pillai and Loke Yew and installed an electric generator in 1894 to operate their mines; thereby making them the first to use electric pumps for mining in Malaya, and marked the beginning of electricity use in Malaysia. In the same year, private supply for street lighting purposes was extended from their mines to Rawang town.  Thamboosamy Pillay was also a committee member of the Kuala Lumpur Electricity Board and played a key role in supplying electricity to the city. One of the first organization to receive electricity supply was the Kuala Lumpur Railway Station around 1895.

Thamboosamy was the acknowledged leader of the Tamil Community and was consulted by the Government on all matters of importance. He was a Member of the Selangor Club (Picture 2) and a strong supporter of the Turf Club, owning many race horses and was a member of practically every public body in the State. He died in Singapore in 1902, where he had gone for a race meeting. Sir Frank Swettenham sent his body back in the Governor’s yacht to Port Swettenham, Klang, and it was then transported in a gun carriage from the Royal Selangor Club to his house. His eldest son, K.T. Parimanan Pillay, took over the family business. Upon Parimanan's death in 1918, his younger brother K.T. Ganapathy Pillay took charge. It is believed that their family house at 1st mile Batu Road (Picture 3 & 4) was demolished around 1920s to make way for a primary school managed by the trustees of Victoria Institution, known as Batu Road School (now Sekolah Kebangsaan (Lelaki) Jalan Batu).(Picture 5).

Source:

1. Bygone Selangor: A Souvenir (1922), Rimba.

2.  "Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources" Arnold Wright, H. A. Cartwright, Lloyd's Greater Britain Publishing Co. Ltd., 1908.

3. The Star 26.10.2013, retrieved from https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2013/10/26/a-reminder-of-a-philanthropic-man-sri-mahamariamman-temple-and-victoria-institution-part-of-thamboos

4. https://agathiyarvanam.blogspot.com/2015/09/thambusamy-pillai-in-malaya.html

5. https://www.bfm.my/podcast/the-bigger-picture/live-learn/santa-kumarie-k-thamboosamy-pillai-life-legacy

Orang Kaya Kaya Seri Adika Raja Ke-10

Orang Kaya Kaya Seri Adika Raja Ke-10 iaitu Wan Muhammad Saleh Bin Wan Abu Bakar (1861-1917) (Gambar 1) adalah seorang pembesar negeri Perak di zaman pemerintahan Sultan Idris Murshidul Azzam Shah Ibni Almarhum Raja Bendahara Alang Iskandar (1849-1916) (Sultan Idris I, Sultan Perak ke-28). Ayahanda beliau, Wan Abu Bakar, berasal dari Kampung Laut, Kelantan. Ibunda beliau, Busu Atikah, adalah anak kepada Orang Kaya Kaya Seri Adika Raja Ke-8 iaitu Meor Abdullah Alang Juah.

Gambar 1. OKK Seri Adika Raja Wan Muhammad Saleh Bin Wan Abu Bakar ketika berusia 36 tahun. (c. 1897) (Sumber: Leiden University Library, Amsterdam)

Beliau menyertai perkhidmatan awam Negeri Perak pada tahun 1881 ketika berusia 20 tahun sebagai penterjemah dan penulis Bahasa Melayu-Inggeris. Pada tahun 1892 beliau dilantik sebagai Orang Kaya Kaya Seri Adika Raja Ke-10.

Wan Muhammad Saleh kemudian bertugas sebagai Ketua Penghulu bagi daerah Hulu Kuala Kangsar.  Sekitar 1902 beliau dilantik sebagai Pembantu Pemungut Hasil Tanah. Beliau kemudian dilantik sebagai ahli Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan Negeri Perak. Atas khidmat cemerlang yang diberikan, beliau juga adalah orang Melayu yang pertama menerima anugerah Imperial Service Order (I.S.O.). 

Kediaman Wan Muhammad Saleh di Ipoh pernah direkod sebagai salah sebuah dari rumah-rumah agam golongan elit dari Negeri-Negeri Melayu Bersekutu dalam kompilasi buku yang diterbitkan di London (Gambar 2-4). Ianya mempamirkan bahagian hadapan dan ruang tamu rumah kediaman beliau di Ipoh sekitar tahun 1903 hingga 1908.

Gambar 2: Kediaman OKK Seri Adika Raja Wan Muhammad Saleh Bin Wan Abu Bakar di Ipoh c. 1903-1908.

Gambar 3: Kediaman OKK Seri Adika Raja Wan Muhammad Saleh Bin Wan Abu Bakar di Ipoh c. 1903-1908.

Gambar 4: Kediaman OKK Seri Adika Raja Wan Muhammad Saleh Bin Wan Abu Bakar di Ipoh c. 1903-1908.

Antara tugasan rasmi Wan Muhammad Saleh yang pernah direkodkan adalah menghadiri Durbar 1897 di Kuala Kangsar (Gambar 5, 6 & 7); sebagai pengiring Sultan Idris I semasa di Singapura (Gambar 8 & 9); sebagai pengiring Sultan Idris I semasa pertabalan King Edward VII pada tahun 1902 di London; sebagai ahli Majlis Kerajaan Negeri Perak (Gambar 10 & 11); sebagai wakil dalam upacara penyerahan Hulu Perak oleh Siam kepada Perak pada tahun 1909; dan sebagai pengiring Sultan Idris I semasa pertabalan King George V pada tahun 1911 di London. 

Gambar 5: Durbar 1897. Wan Muhammad Saleh di barisan belakang, kedua dari kanan (Sumber: Leiden University Library, Amsterdam)

Gambar 6

Gambar 7: Minit Mesyuarat Durbar 1897 (Sumber: Arkib Negara)

Gambar 8: Sultan Idris I, Wan Muhammad Saleh, Hugh Charles Clifford, & Hugh Low, di Government House, Singapura (1901).

Gambar 9: Di Government House, Singapura (1901).

Gambar 10: Ahli Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan Negeri Perak (c. 1907)

Gambar 11: OKK Seri Adika Raja Wan Muhammad Saleh Bin Wan Abu Bakar ketika berusia 46 tahun (c. 1907)

Wan Muhammad Saleh telah meninggal dunia pada 14.3.1917 ketika berusia 56 tahun. Ketika itu beliau sedang mengiring Sultan Abdul Jalil (Sultan Perak ke-29) semasa menziarahi makam Sultan Tajul Ariffin (Sultan Perak ke-4) di Pulau Semat, Mukim Senggang, Kuala Kangsar pada 14.3.1917. Jenazah beliau dibawa pulang dan dikebumikan di pekarangan Masjid Kampung Paloh. Masjid tertua di Ipoh tersebut dibina atas usaha dan pembiayaan oleh Wan Muhammad Saleh dan Long Kassim sekitar tahun 1912.

Rujukan:

1. "Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources" Arnold Wright, H. A. Cartwright, Lloyd's Greater Britain Publishing Co. Ltd., 1908.

2. Leiden University Library, Amsterdam.

3. https://www.orangperak.com/wan-muhammad-saleh-orang-melayu-pertama-dilantik-sebagai-ketua-penghulu-di-perak.html

4. http://kuluplembang-abdulaziz.blogspot.com/2016/09/wan-abubakar-father-sri-adika-raja-wan-mohamed-salleh.html