Simon Soon
Meng Eng Soo was founded in 1890 as a new organisation to inherit Ghee Hin's social welfare mandate. Over the course of twenty years since the Penang riots, the increased autonomy of the Straits Settlement allowed the European administrative elite to enact laws and set up institutions that not only heavily regulated the activities of secret societies but also made public assembly increasingly difficult.
By 1890, the Ghee Hin was banned. Chua Ah Wat, Wong Tong, Chu Wan Siew and four others transferred proprietorship rights of premises and land belonging to Hong Eng Tong at 48, Rope Walk to new trustees. They changed its name to Meng Eng Soo which functions as a commemoration hall to memorialise the founders of Ghee Hin. Within the temple are the 165 ancestral tablets of those founding members. Rentals from a house next door and an endowment fund of $3000 were jointly set aside to maintain the temple and pay for its expenses.
NOTES:
Arnold Loh. 2019. 'Open Day to Honour Ghee Hin Legacy' The Star Online. 28 June. https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2019/06/28/open-day-to-honour-ghee-hin-legacy (Accessed 18 August 2019)
Kim Hong Tan. 2007. 檳榔嶼華人史圖錄. Penang: Areca Books, 73.
