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| Kampong Kepayang where Chew Boon Juan started from |
Malaya at
the end of 19th century was a place of opportunity. If you were
willing to work hard and long hours and take a chance you were able to find wealth
possibly beyond your wildest imagination.
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| Chew Boon Juan |
That were true
for most of the migrants that arrived from China but for some like Chew Boon
Juan, his destiny was somehow charmed.
From the
time he received an invitation from his migrant Uncle in Malaya to come Kg Kepayang,
Perak to work for him first as a cook and then working at the tin mine till he became
fabulously rich, his life was like a door opening at every opportunity as if by
design.
His wealth enabled him to buy properties throughout the state and beyond.and start Ban Hoe Seng which initially was a rice trading company but much
later became an established automobile dealership,
Three
generations later we are able to hear of his wildly wonderful fortune,
previously thought to be from ill-gotten gains, and share in the joy and
success that his prosperity brought for his future generations.
This is the
amazing story of a gentle mannered, caring and likable man named Chew Boon
Juan.
China to Kg. Kepayang
Chew Boon
Juan was born in 1875 in the province of Fujian, China. His father was a
businessman cum Taoist devotee who offered prayers for the dead at funerals.
When he was
sixteen years old his father died and he had to earn his living together with
his brothers helping the farmers and fisherman in the fishing village.
In 1892 at
the age of seventeen he received an invitation from an uncle, Chew Si Pian who
came over to Malaya, Perak earlier, to work for him.
Chew Si Pian owned a tin mine and had established Ban Chin Hoe Tin Ore Shop in Kg Kepayang trading
in tin ore.
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| Ignatius Chew with his cousin Chew Yew Kong, grandsons of Boon Juan at the shop in Kg. Kepayang. |
Boon Juan
initially worked as a cook. He soon gained the trust of his Uncle who then put
him in charge of purchasing goods. As time went by the Uncle allocated him some shares
in the company.
Sometime
later the Uncle returned to China for a visit. On his journey his boat
capsized. Shaken by the ordeal he changed his mind about returning to Malaya.
He offered
to sell half his business to Boon Juan provided he look after his son who owned
the other half of the business. Boon Juan agreed.
But the son
was a spendthrift and kept getting into debt and each time turning to Boon Juan
for money. He soon got into serious debt and had to sell his shares to Boon
Juan.
Boon Juan,
now the sole proprietor of the business wasted no time expanding his business.
He took over the tin ore shop buying tin ore from miners for sale to the smelters, a sundry
shop, a liquor shop, a mahjong house and a pawnshop.
The
rationale for the expansion was the workers from the many nearby tin mines in the
vicinity patronised the sundry shop for their provision and the mahjong house
and liquor shop for their entertainment and the pawn shop when they were broke.
As things
progressed Boon Juan wrote to his brother Boon Seong to come over to help him
in his business.
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| Ignatius Chew with the grant of the shop lot in 2015 before it was demolished |
In 1901 Boon
Juan returned to see his mother in China taking with him a large sum of money and
leaving the business in the charge of his elder bother Boon Seong.
In the short
span of time from coming to Kampong Kepayang in 1892 till 1901 when he returned
to visit his family in China, Chew Boon Juan due to his good character as well
as his hard work and possibly a dash of luck had prospered.
But his
wealth was just about to take off at his Golden Mountain otherwise known as
Gunong Lanno.
End.
