The Benevolent Madam Tan Say Seang: Penang philanthropist par excellence
By Eugene Quah
July 2023 LEST WE FORGET
ON SATURDAY, 14 December 1907, at 12.30pm, the sentry on duty at the police station in the rustic village of Tanjung Tokong “noticed that one of the buildings in the centre of the block of attap houses stretching between the station and the Chinese temple” was on fire. Within minutes, the telephone at the Central Police Station, then located at the junction of Farquhar Street and Leith Street, where the State Assembly Building now stands “ran[g] frantically”. An urgent message...
References
- “700-Year-Old Image,” Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle, May 11, 1940, pg. 5
- “Death of Mrs. Lim Leng Cheak,” Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle, September 19, 1930, pg. 7
- “Fire at Tanjong Tokong”. Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle, December 16, 1907, pg. 5
- “Men Who Live in the Trees,” The Straits Times, July 2, 1931, pg. 19
- “Passengers,” Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle, February 29, 1908, pg. 6
- “Penang Helped Ceylon Temple,” The Straits Times, September 12, 1948, pg. 6
- “Serious Fire To-day”, Straits Echo, December 14, 1907, pg. 4
- Eugene Quah Ter-Neng (2022), “Pepper Estate: The Untold Story,” Penang Monthly, pg. 30-33
- Jeffrey Seow (2013), “Lim Leng Cheak” In Loh Wei Leng, Badriyah Haji Salleh, Mahani Musa, Wong Yee Tuan & Marcus Langdon (Eds.), Biographical Dictionary of Mercantile Personalities of Penang (pg. 117-118)
- Jeffrey Seow (2013), “Lim Eow Thoon” In Loh Wei Leng, Badriyah Haji Salleh, Mahani Musa, Wong Yee Tuan & Marcus Langdon (Eds.), Biographical Dictionary of Mercantile Personalities of Penang (pg. 120-121)
- Jinavaravamsa, Prisdang Chumsai (1910). “The Ratna Chetiya Dipaduttamarama, Colombo.” Edited by Sumet Jumsai. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka 48 (2003): pg. 213-236
- Khoo Salma Nasution (2012), Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 100, 2012, pg. 315-316
- Lai Thiem Wah, Wong Soon Eng (2022), “The Only Female Statue in Temple of Supreme Bliss, a Mysterious Existence,” e-nanyang. Accessed: May 25, 2023. [https://www.enanyang.my/旅游/【视频】 极乐寺唯一女众塑像-神秘的存在]
- Lim Cheng Law (1931), “Yesterday’s Unique Funeral in Penang” Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle, January 19, 1931, pg. 10
- Loh-Lim Lin Lee (2005), Penang Heritage Trust Newsletter, Issue No. 85, May-Oct 2005, pg. 5
- Neil Khor Jin Keong (2013), “Lim Cheng Law” In Loh Wei Leng, Badriyah Haji Salleh, Mahani Musa, Wong Yee Tuan & Marcus Langdon (Eds.), Biographical Dictionary of Mercantile Personalities of Penang (pg. 114)
- Pairin Jotisakulratana (2012), “Mothers of All Peoples: Goddesses of Thailand from Prehistory until the Present.” Doctoral dissertation, California Institute of Integral Studies
- Tan Kim Hong (2007), 檳榔嶼華人史圖錄 (The Chinese in Penang, A Pictorial History), pg. 223.
- Wu Xiao An (2010), “Chinese Business in the Making of a Malay State, 1882-1941, Kedah and Penang,” pg. 163
- Xue Liqing (2012), “晚清民初南洋华人社群 的文化建构:一种文化空间的发现 (The Cultural Construction of Nanyang Chinese Community in Late Qing and Early Republican China: Discovery of a Cultural Space).” Doctoral dissertation, National University of Singapore.
Eugene Quah
is an independent researcher and writer who is working on a book tentatively called “Illustrated Guide to the North Coast of Penang”. He rediscovered the joys of writing after moving back to Penang from abroad.
