Simon Soon
Leong San Tong served as an important node for the flows of opium, fighting men, and firearms during the ten day riots of 1867. Despite being outnumbered by the Ghee Hin/White Flag, the Toh Peh Kong/Red Flag had better firearms which they were able to smuggle in alongside reinforcements through a maze-like network of distribution nodes.
It was this system of conveyance that allowed the Toh Peh Kong and Red Flag societies to disrupt the opium business of the Ghee Hin and White Flag, who only just recently outbidded the Toh Peh Kong/Red for the farming license. The disruption contributed to a loss in revenue and the inability of the Ghee Hin to pay for the exhorbitant opium farming licensing fee. As a result the British authorities revoked the license and the Toh Peh Kong managed to secure the monopoly again when it went on auction.
On the 5th day of the 5th Moon in the 2nd year of Dao Guang’s reign (1835), when the Khoos gathered to celebrate the birthday of the Patron Saint Tua Sai Yah, they expressed interest in establishing a clanhouse to unite and look after the welfare of the clansmen as well as to worship their ancestors. Soon after, on the 8th day of the same month, 102 clansmen congregated and decided to set up the Ee Kok Tong. A sum of 528 Dollars was collected during the meeting and it was put into investments for more than ten years.
In 1850, on the 5th day of the 7th Moon, the Khoos bought the present site of Leong San Tong in the name of Tua Sai Yah. It measured 97,035 sq. ft. on which stood a British owned local bungalow.
The bungalow became the first Leong San Tong. The premise was used for gathering, ancestral worship and weddings. On the Double Fifth Festival (the 5th day of the 5th Moon) every year, the Khoo clansmen would come to worship Tua Sai Yah and a procession would be held to mark the event.
A few years later, the Board of Trustees built a block of office building on the vacant lot of the courtyard, housing the conference and administration hall. The current architecture dates to 1906.
NOTES
2019. ' History' Khoo Kongsi.
https://www.khookongsi.com.my/history/ (Accessed 18 August 2019)
Wong Yee Tuan. 2015. Penang Chinese Commerce in the 19th Century. Singapore: ISEAS- Yusof Ishak Institute.
