Lim Boon Keng

Dr. Lim Boon Keng OBE
Lim Boon Keng
Born	(1869-10-18)October 18, 1869 Penang, Malaya
Died	1 January 1957(1957-01-01) (aged 87) Singapore
Resting place	Bidadari Cemetery
Education	MBBS (Hons)
Alma mater	Edinburgh University
Occupation(s)	Physician, social activist
Known for	Promoting social and educational reforms in Singapore
Spouse(s)	Margaret Huang Grace Yin
Children	(Born to Margaret Huang) Sons: Robert Kho-Seng Francis Kho-Beng Walter Kho-Leng John Kho-Liau (Born to Grace Yin) Son: Lim Peng Han
Parent	Lim Thean Geow (father)

Lim Boon Keng (simplified Chinese: 林文庆; traditional Chinese: 林文慶; pinyin: Lín Wénqìng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lîm Bûn-khìng; 18 October 1869–1 January 1957), OBE, was a Chinese physician who promoted social and educational reforms in Singapore in the early 20th century. Lim was of Peranakan descent, with ancestry from Hai Teng district in Fujian, China.

Early life

Lim was born as the third-generation of a Peranakan family in Penang, Malaya. His father, Lim Thean Geow, had moved his family to Singapore when Lim was a young boy. Lim was later enrolled into Raffles Institution. However, the death of his parents during his childhood inspired Lim to pursue a career in medicine. In 1887, Lim became the first Malayan to receive a Queen's Scholarship, and entered Edinburgh University. He graduated in 1892 with a first class honours degree in medicine.

Career

In 1895, Lim became a member of the British Legislative Council in Singapore. The following year, he headed a Commission of Inquiry into the sources of poverty in Singapore. Lim was also a Justice of the Peace and a member of the Chinese Advisory Board.

Lim founded the Philomatic society and published the first Chinese magazine in the Straits in 1897. In the same year, he also campaigned against the wearing of queues among Chinese men, with the intention of toppling the Qing Dynasty in China.

In 1899, Lim co-founded the Singapore Chinese Girls' School (SCGS) with his friend, Song Ong Siang, to facilitate the education of Straits Chinese women. (Chinese girls were not encouraged to be educated before the 20th century, thus many were illiterate.) The next year, Lim founded the Straits Chinese British Association, and later became a president.

As a member of the Legislative Council, Lim wanted opium banned, forming the Anti-Opium Society. However, opium was not banned until 1943 during the Japanese occupation of Singapore. The British reasoned that imposing a ban on opium would mean that the government would lose a source of income from the tax on opium. To make up for the loss, the governor suggested taxing the people's incomes. The main group that would be affected by this tax would be the merchants. Therefore, the European and Asian merchants opposed to this, and opium was not banned, although heavier taxes on opium were imposed.

Lim was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) as an officer in 1918 for his services to the British Empire.

Together with Lim Nee Soon, Lim co-founded OAC Insurance in 1920. OAC was the first locally-owned insurance company to be set up in Singapore. The following year in June, upon the request of Sun Yat-sen, Lim served as the second president of the University of Amoy (now Xiamen University), until the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in July 1937. The university was founded by Lim's friend Tan Kah Kee.

Lim later went into banking, and co-founded the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC)

As the President of Xiamen University, Lim published the Li Sao, also known as An Elegy on Encountering Sorrows.

In 1937, Lim founded the Straits Chinese China Relief Fund Committee of Singapore to support China in her war efforts against Japan.

President of OCA

In 1942, Lim's family were interned at a Japanese concentration camp at Arab Street. According to Shinozaki Mamoru, Lim was in a state that he was so shocked that his voice was inaudible. However, with Shinozaki's help, Lim was able to get home with Shinozaki's protection cards.

Lim was asked by the Japanese to become the leader of the Overseas Chinese Association (OCA), an association which was designated to serve the needs of the local Chinese community under the approval of the Japanese. In response, Lim refused, claiming that he was too old to take up the role of a president. Lim's wife was then made to kneel down under the scorching sun for four hours at a stretch, in addition to bearing other insults. After Shinozaki persuaded him, telling him that Lim's position as president was merely to be a figurehead without needing to do much work, Lim finally relented.

In March 1942, Lim was ordered by the Japanese to raise a "donation" of $50 million for Japan. However, only $28 million was raised with much difficulty. In response to the anger of the Japanese, Lim made an emotional speech:

"We never told a lie. When we promised to give the military contribution, we mean to do it. Financial conditions are now such as to be beyond our control. If we are unable to pay, then die we will. I wish to point out, however, that the manner in which the Government raise this military contribution is without any parallel in any country."

In the end, the Japanese agreed to a loan for the remaining sum through the Yokohama Specie Bank.

Lim also supervised the construction of the Endau settlement in 1944. In view of Singapore's inability to feed her large population, it was meant to be a place for local citizens to migrate to.

Known as the grand old man of Singapore's Chinese society, during the Japanese occupation, he would feign a drunken stupor rather than cooperate with the Japanese.

Later life

Lim led his remaining years in recluse in Singapore as an ordinary citizen. He died at the age of 88 on 1 January 1957, and was buried at Bidadari Cemetery in Singapore.

Family

Lim married twice. His first marriage was to Margaret Huang in 1896 at a Presbyterian Church, and they had four sons: Robert Kho-Seng, Francis Kho-Beng, Walter Kho-Leng and John Kho-Liau. However, Lim's wife died in 1905.

Lim remarried in 1908, to Grace Yin. They had one son, Peng Han, who later became a race car driver, and daughter Ena Guat-Kheng. Lim also had another son, Peng Thiam, with Chui Geok, niece of one of Lim's wives, probably out of wedlock.

Lim's son Lim Peng Han was the first Chinese to race at Brooklands, United Kingdom. His granddaughter, Annalisa Ee Nga Landymore-Lim, began her education at the school her grandfather co-founded, the Singapore Chinese Girls' School. She obtained her BSc (First Class) and PhD in the United Kingdom in biomedical chemistry. Like her grandfather, she has also published and campaigned against the harmful effects of drugs used in medicine. She is author of 'Poisonous Prescriptions - Do Antibiotics Cause Asthma and Diabetes?'.

Legacy

The area now known as Boon Keng, including Boon Keng MRT Station, Boon Keng Road and Upper Boon Keng Road are named after Lim.

Bibliography

• Cook, John Angus Bethune, Sunny Singapore: An account of the place and its people, with a sketch of the results of missionary work, E. Stock, 1907