Chew Boon San's Ban Hoe Bee & Tin And Rubber Trading.

Ban Hoe Bee

When Chew Boon San shifted to Gopeng he started with tin trading operating from his shop house at 6, Sungai Raia Road the main trunk road that ran through Gopeng town.

His trading company was called Ban Hoe Bee Tin Ore Shop and traded in tin ore at the time.

His customers were the dulang washers, mainly Chinese with some being Malay, that panned the land surrounding Gopeng for tin

The site of their former rubber factory (now a driving school) behind No 6 Sungai Raia Road

In later years due to the demand for rubber he purchased a plot of land behind Ban Hoe Bee and opened a rubber trading outlet and factory which processed rubber. 

The outlet was a sizable and consisted of a working area, a space for drying the rubber sheets and worker quarters. 

His clients were the rubber small holders surrounding Gopeng who would bring in rubber and latex to the centre.

Boon San also owned a rubber plantation in Segari near Lumut which had a factory for processing rubber.

When he was getting on in years Boon San requested his second son Chew Choo Peng to return from Penang to assist him and his elder brother in the business.

On returning to Gopeng he became the treasurer for the local Chinese school SJK ( M ) Man Ming and was active in the local Hokkkien Association and temple.

Chew Choo Peng with his wife and family

Choo Peng married Chang Poh Yoke and they were blessed with 6 daughters and 1 son.

Chew Soak Leng with her
mother Chang Poh Yoke

Chew Soak Leng, Choo Peng's 2nd daughter said she and her sisters used to help their father in the tin trading shop. This would involve receiving the tin, drying and packing the tin ore in standard amounts.

When there was sufficient volume of tin and rubber stocks their father would load their lorry and send the stock to Ipoh to be sold.

Regarding the rubber plantation at Segari her father would visit it once every fortnight taking his family with him.

On those excursions father would drop the family off at Lumut and proceed to the plantation. Only occasionally would he take them to Segari. When at the estate they were to remain in the office due to ‘the ferocious mosquitoes’.

On the return journey home they would stopover at Sitiawan for dinner before heading home.

Several times a year father would go to Penang for a weekend at the beach sometimes staying at the holiday bungalow belonging to Eastern Smelting Company. 

In the late seventies there was a recession. It affected both the commodities of rubber then tin causing the family to sell off their assets gradually until family had to shift from No 6 Sungai Raia Road.

End

Chew Boon San (1) – The Third of the Chew Brothers

Chew Boon San 

Chew Boon San was the third of the Chew brothers. He came over to Malaya from China after their mother died in early in the 20^th century. 

Boon San came over bringing his family which included his wife Toh Bok Wai, Chew Gaik Khim, Chew Choo Beng and Chew Choo Peng. The family stayed at Kg. Kepayang.  

In 1909 he moved to Gopeng, a shop house he purchased, at No 6 Sungai Raia Road which became his new residence as well as his business premises.

From here he operated his business, Ban Hoe Bee Tin Ore Shop first trading in tin and later in rubber.

Chew Boon San and Toh Bok Wai had 4 sons and 5 daughters

In time to come he built his Gopeng Bungalow which was situated at the next the block.His eldest son, Choo Beng was married in the Gopeng bungalow.

Chew Boon San's Gopeng bungalow was located after his block now occupied by the Petron gas station.

When elder brother, Boon Juan was building his bungalow at Jalan Chamberlan Hulu Boon San decided to join him and built his unit behind his home.

Not long after he built another bungalow located at Kampar Road. This bungalow was eventually turned over to the Salvation Army.

Boon San’s second son Choo Peng was married at the Kampar Road bungalow.

In later years, according to Soak Leng the grandaughter, Boon San lived in a rented house next door to his house No 4 Sungai Raia Road.

“This house was large. It had a big hall and he and grandmother lived downstairs. Upstairs there were five rooms where the family lived”

Chew Boon San was a quiet man and similarly his wife Bok Wai.

Boon San's built his 2nd bungalow (left photo) back to back with Chew Boon Juan's bungalow at Jalan Chamberlain Hulu (currently the Raja Perempuan School)

Boon San's 3rd bungalow, currently the Salvation Army Girls Home on Kampar Road. (Inset) Chew Choo Peng marriage photo was taken at the Kampar road home.

During the day he would be in the tin ore shop. He read the newspaper while his sons Choo Beng and Choo Peng, tended the business.

We would all have dinner in the evening at 5pm. We had a cook who would prepare the food for the family including the workers.

Sometimes after dinner Boon San would visit his friends. They would meet in a sundry shop at Jalan Kampong Rawa and chat for about an hour.

My sister and I would tag along and grandfather would buy us sweets.

Other times we would talk with our grandparents in their room. During this time she (Soak Leng) would try to get pocket money from the grandparents for school.

She observed that her grandparents had separate beds. Grandfather slept on a big wooden bed while grandmother had a big metal bed which could hang a mosquito net.

Of her grandmother, she observed that she was a China bride as she had small feet, the kind that had been bound since young.

Chew Soak Leng at the former location of their Gopeng bungalow now a petrol station.

This is an account of Chew Boon San was told by his grand daughter Chew Soak Leng. 

End

The Bangkok Training Of 1988 - A Turning Point For Ban Hoe Seng

Seated  (second from right) Matsuro Sato followed by Pauline Hsu and Datin Loh Cheng Yuen (daughter of Loh Boon Siew). Standing (1st from right) Ignatius Chew.

When Ignatius Chew went to Bangkok Thailand for training in 1988  it made an impact on him such that when he returned he was a totally changed person and a plan for Ban Hoe Seng.

At Bangkok he was trained by Matsuro Sato, the Asian Honda Motor Co Ltd President whom Ignatius described as a “Superman who performed miracles for the Thai automobile market”

According to Ignatius, Sato at that time thought of car salesmen as unprofessional cowboys unlike the top American companies that saw the customer as Number 1.

He also saw how the big business such as banks, hotels and airlines treated their staff and had adopted that concept for the car business”.

Ignatius spent 7 days walking around showrooms and learning from Sato. When he returned he immediately implemented the Thailand system.

Both Pauline and Ignatius actually changed Ban Hoe Seng in 1988. Besides implementing the management system he gave the showroom and service centre a facelift for maximum customer comfort and introduced customer service personnel.

For all his effort he achieved the first Dealer of the Year award in 1990.

 

(left photo) Ignatius Chew receiving the 1st Dealer of the Year award from Dato Robert Wong

Every other year after that, he achieved a string of other awards for Customer Service, Technician and Sales Advisor. 

In later years the system developed between the managements of Boon Siew Motors and Kah Motors which in turn was controlled by Honda’s management brought benefits to the entire group.

In 2009 he won the award of Dealer of the Year a second time.  

"Dealer of the Year Award" in the year 2009

Since 1988 when he took over till when he divested the business to Ban Hoe Seng (Auto) in 2017 Ignatius had grown the business more than tenfold.

He had learnt from a good Master and had faithfully been a good disciple and together with sound management practices had managed to grow the company.

Ignatius Chew Takes Over

Ignatius Chew Eng Lin the son of Chew Choon Kok, took over the running of Ban Hoe Seng in 1988.

Ignatius and Pauline, 2017

The General Manager and Sales Manager were retired. Due to the recession the sales of vehicles dropped drastically and the entire sales staff were all let go.

When Ignatius returned to Ipoh in 1982, a fresh graduate from the UK where he attained the distinction of top student in psychology he was tasked to understudy the business from the management.

His wife Pauline Hsu, a graduate of accounting was computerizing the company’s accounts system at the time.

Ignatius and Pauline overshadowed the management in the early years to learn the operation from them . 

When news that the senior management had retired was announced Ignatius was put in charge of sales while Pauline took charge of the workshop and operations at Kampar Road.

During this period of recession both Ignatius and Pauline were sent to Thailand to learn from Mitsuro Sato, the President of Asian Honda Motor Co Ltd.

Sato’s style had a profound impact on Ignatius so much so when he returned he changed Ban Hoe Seng.

He refurbished the showroom and adopted the management style that he learnt from Mitsuro Sato.

The results from the training proved itself when Ban Hoe Seng won the first Honda Dealer of the Year in 1990.

Standing left Pauline Hsu, Ignatius (4th form left) and Agnes (Ignatius sister, last). Seated :Chew Choon Kok (4th from left). Pix dated 1991 

Chew Choon Kok now gave Ignatius and Pauline a free hand to run the business in 1992.

In 1994 Chew Choon Siew died and that same year Ignatius father Choon Kok retired.

According to Ignatius Honda was a product that sold itself. He theorized that if you have a good product all you had to do was to manage and service the product and it would do well.

When the Asian Financial Crisis occurred in 1996 / 97 Ban Hoe Seng was well poised to weather the storm once again.

As had been done in the 1985 crisis Ignatius’s conservative style and prudent management once again helped the company get through the crisis.  

End

Ban Hoe Seng - The Challenging Years

The last two decades of the 20the century beginning from 1988 till 1997 was a challenging time for Ban Hoe Seng.

The subsequent Honda Civic models were well received. Similarly with the Honda Accord 1.6 cc introduced later had a waiting list of one year.

Although Honda and Ban Hoe Seng continued to do well the Malaysian economy was in a tailspin due to the drop in the tin price which occurred in 1985.  

It was reported that in the period following the collapse of the International Tin Council in 1985, Malaysia shut 30 percent of its tin mines, eliminating 5000 jobs.

Before the start of the crisis there were 32 Honda dealers but the at the end were left only 8 dealers in the country.

Ban Hoe Seng was not spared this recession. Its Genaral Manager and Sales Manager were retired at this time and entire sales staff were let go.

Chew  Choon Kok’ son Ignatius Chew who returned from overseas in 1982 was understudying the business but was abruptly tasked to oversee the operations.

When the recovery returned they appointed dealers once again. But within a few years they once again experienced another economic crisis the Asian Economic Crisis of 1996/97.

Ban Hoe Seng had been a family business all along. They had seen the crises through by being conservative, prudent and lean.

With few loans and with good maintanence of their business and their sound financial strength they had pulled through both crises and came out unscathed.

End

A New Start With All New Honda Civic

Honda Civic 1st Generation

Ban Hoe Seng’s move to Kampar Road was timely for towards the mid-seventies witnessed the popularity of Japanese vehicles for both cars and bikes.

Both cars and motorbikes were on display at the showroom

The large showroom could accommodate the display of motorcars and motorcycles under one roof. 

Honda EX-5

Additionally the yard at Ban Hoe Seng was large and received a minimum one lorry of motorcycles most days. 

The exception was the Honda EX-5 which was delivered 5 lorry loads at a time.

While the motorcycle dealership kept growing the introduction of the all new Honda Civic car towards the mid 70’s saw a new growth in the Honda franchise.

The introduction of the all new Honda Civic 1^st Generation car proved to be popular known for its reliability and economy in an era of rising fuel prices.

Unlike the earlier Honda models which were 2 cylinder, air cooled and with smaller capacity the Honda Civic had a four cylinder water cooled engine displacing 1,300cc  of power and was made available as a 2 Door, 3 and 5 door variants.

With improved business conditions so too was the corresponding services at the workshop was constantly busy and so too at the administration office.  

Ban Hoe Seng's workshop servicing the 1st Generation Honda Civic

The modern office at Kampar Road

In term of administration its staff strength had increased from 18 personel at Belfield Street to well over sixty since the shift to Kampar Road.

JAG

Ban Hoe Seng Moves To A Bigger Premises - Kampar Road

Ban Hoe Seng showroom on the ground floor with Hotel Fairmont above.

The popularity of the Japanese vehicles had improved in the sixties. The trade in motorcycles was stable and gradually rising.

With the introduction of Toyota Ban Hoe Seng opened their first workshop located in Buntong.

Later when Honda cars were introduced Boon Siew wanting to improve its car sales had put pressure to provide an improved showroom. 

Chairman Chew Choon Siew had a bungalow in Chung Thye Phin Road. In the front of that bungalow were two tennis courts fronting Kampar Road and measured two acres in size. The tennis courts gave way to the new and expanded office and showroom.

Ban Hoe Seng, Kampar Road was opened in 1969 featuring a showroom on the ground floor while the upper three stories were taken up by the Fairmont Hotel.

The showroom was spacious to accommodate the display of bikes and cars.

The showroom could accommodate to display both the motorcars and motorbikes and house the administration offices and store. At the back of the showroom was a yard used for storage of motorbikes and cars.

 

The yard at the back was for storage of cars and bikes 

The move to Kampar Road was timely as the mid-seventies saw the introduction of the Honda Civic which provided further growth of the Japanese automobile industry both cars and bikes.

The move to the Kampar Road premises was far sighted for other than periodic upgrade and improvements the structure has remained unchanged till this day.

 

Ban Hoe Seng then (above) and now (below), a far sighted move.

JAG