Chew Hoe Kean - First Time Visitor To Chew Museum

From left: Andrew Chew, Chew Yew Kong, Chew Hoe Kean, Noelle Chew and Jordan Tan

Chew Hoe Kean and his family were first time visitors to the Chew Museum. He was accompanied by his son Andrew and daughter Noelle and son in law Jordan Tan on his maiden visit.

He had heard of the museum from his cousins Datin Sharizan and Chew Hoe Peng and had wanted to drop by for some time.

Hoe Kean is the grandson of Chew Boon Hong, the youngest of four brothers that Chew Boon Juan brought over from China to help him with his business.

He was given a tour of the museum by cousin Chew Yew Kong, a grandson of Chew Boon Juan as Ignatius Chew, the museum’s curator was away.

(L) Cousins Yew Kong and Hoe Kean (R) Hoe Kean keenly viewing over the family photos

As he walked around the exhibits Hoe Kean reminisced about his young days when he lived at his grandfather’s house at 33 Gopeng Road (now Jalan Nazrin Shah).

He described the house as large with a main hall and two dining rooms.

“Uncle Chew Choon Siew (the son of Chew Boon Juan) used to visit often. There were twenty of us staying at No 33 at the time. These included all the married brothers and the unmarried sisters too.

Grandfather's house at  33 Gopeng Road was 'large ...with two dining rooms'. Seated are grandparents Lim Keng Bee and Chew Boon Hong

Chew Hoe Kean (extreme left) and grandfather Chew Boon Hong (sixth from left) with uncles,aunts and cousins

At dinnertime  we would join our grandfather. We had two dining rooms and used the one closer to the kitchen which had two tables.

At one table grandfather would sit in the middle joined with the sons and grandsons while the daughters would be at the next table.

My dad Chew Beng Hee was the eldest and had to sit next to grandfather and I was forced to sit in between them” laughing as he recalled good memories from long ago.

  

Hoe Kean described the museum as a great place to relive and understand our family history of the Chews.

Andrew Chew, Chew Hoe Kean, Noelle Chew and Jordan Tan

He thanked Ignatius Chew the curator for doing a wonderful job of reuniting the families of the four brothers.

JAG

A Visit to Ignatius Chew Museum - Kim Tan Discovers Her Roots

At the Chew Museum. Kim Tan with hubby Danny Cheung and daughter Naomi

It took one visit to the Ignatius Chew museum for Kim Tan to realize that her family was large.

  

Kim Tan lives in Singapore and visited Ipoh recently. It was a casual visit with her husband Danny Cheung and daughter Naomi to savor Ipoh’s good food and to find some family history.

Not unexpectedly it was ‘family history’ which became the interesting point of the trip after visiting the museum.

She described it as a surprise for her while her husband was ‘very impressed’ and her ‘7 year old daughter Naomi was excited and fascinated that the family was popular’.

Kim Tan is the grand-daughter of Yeoh Ghim Seng, the son of Yeoh Khuan Joo and Winnie Khong Sau Meng the daughter of illustrious Dr Khong Kam Tak

“My grandparents were from Ipoh and moved to Singapore 70 years ago and settled there. I have never stayed in Ipoh. My grandmother Khong told me stories about Ipoh but they were just names without pictures.

She described her grandmother now 99 years old as very alert for her age and does a lot of things on her own.

Before I came up to Ipoh I researched about the museum and its location. I hadn’t announced my visit and on the day when I dropped by I was lucky that Ignatius was on hand to open the door and explained the family to me.

Going through the museum I never realized I belonged to such a big family, much too large for me to remember all the names.  

Kim described the museum as very interesting and informative and discovered that both her great-grandfathers have street names named after them.

I visited the homes of my great grandparents. Sri Maju office’s was where my Yeoh great grand parents lived. The staff very kindly allowed us to go upstairs of the building.   

Naomi at Sri Maju the former home of her great great grand parents the Yeoh's.  

A road name of another great great grandfather, Dato Khong Kam Tak in Ipoh

Sadly the Khong family home that used to be on Gopeng Road was torn down and is now an Indian restaurant. I took pictures and videos at both locations to show to my grandmother.

Kim thanked Ignatius for putting in the long hours to piece together the family tree and plans to visit again next time hoping to get in touch with more relatives and of course to savor the Ipoh food.

JAG

DJY (Datin Janet Yeoh) Charity Team – Doing Good For Community

Datin Janet Yeoh (standing 7th form left) with the DJY Team and Orang Asli residents. Patrick Ong (standing 2nd from right in white cap) and Sean Chan (front row 1st from right)

A month ago I was alerted by my charity activist friend Patrick Ong, who mainly aids the Orang Asli (OA) families around the Kinta Valley, of a group distributing aid at Tg Tualang.

“Today v had a successful trip to OA Kg Ayer Tenak, Tg Tualang ..with superstar's mama leading her team wearing t-shirts with d logo, DJY …Datin Janet Yeoh came in her Porsche!... She tried riding on my old Proton Arena! What an experience 4 a grand old mama in her 80s! … 80 packs, comprising, cooking oil, soap, slipper, bee hoon, colgate n 10kg rice, was distributed to d poor.+ clothes” … read a text from Patrick.

The DJY Team came with came with Sean Chan (a member of DJY) and his ESS Engineering team of ten staff. Their contribution was 4 wheel drive vehicles to carry the goodies and proposed to fix the wiring for three OA houses.

Distribution time at Kg Ayer Ternak, Tg Tualang. (Left pix) Patrick Ong and Datin Janet . Some of the 80 packs of goodies..

Several stops were made to distribute the goodies

The DJY Team and the team from ESS Engineering with a resident from Kg Ayer Ternak.

That ‘superstar mama’ which Patrick was referring to was Datin Janet Yeoh, the mother of international actress Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh.

I had so far seen Datin Janet in evening dress handing out prizes and this was a first seeing her in trousers handing out goodies to the Orang Asli.

I subsequently contacted Datin Janet herself and discovered that DJY team was now 4 years old.

Janet who is 80 this year said at the time she was free at home and needed something to occupy her time. That was when she decided to start a charity.

“I am old but I can walk, think and still can come out to help people so I started DJY Charity Team.

It’s a small team of just 13 members. We contribute Rm100 a month including my daughter Michelle and do charity in cash and kind every month mainly to the Old Folks Home.

Sean Chan, of ESS Engineering said the trip to the Orang Asli was an annual affair.

The Team pose with their DJY T-shirts

..and at their 4th Anniversary dinner earlier

“We always will work with Patrick who knows the OA families and their needs. DJY Team will donate the major portion and ESS will contribute with cash and kind like logistic support and expertise to contribute to the community of orang asli”.

Overall it’s a fun and win-win outing on a weekend for everyone including my staff.

JAG

Yu Yue’s 1st Birthday Celebration At Chew Museum

From left: Chew Yew Kong, Mary Chew, Chong Yu Yue, Chew Yee Kheng, Chong Soon Cien, Agnes Chew, Florence Chew and Ignatius Chew

It was joyous day when a descendant of the Chew Boon Juan celebrates their birthday at the Chew Museum.

So it was when Chew Yee Kheng celebrated her daughter Chong Yu Yue first birthday at grand - uncle Ignatius Chew museum. Undoubtedly Ignatius was thrilled at the idea.

Chew Yee Kheng is a 4^th generation great grand-daughter of Chew Boon Juan. She is married to Chong Soon Cien and had their daughter Chong Yu Yue when they were in England.

 

Mr Chong, Chong Soon Cien, Chong Yu Yue, Chew Yee Kheng, Chew Yew Kong and Mrs Chong

(from left) Ignatius Chew. Tan Boon Tin, Florence Chew and Agnes Chew

Joining in the celebration was the respective grandparents and grand aunts and uncles and friends of the family.

JAG

Ipoh Echo’s Chan See Foon Visits Chew Museum

See Foon meets the family. Seated: Ignatius Chew, Chan See Foon, Datin Stella Lim, Christine Yeoh Choo Hoon and Dato' Lim Si Boon. Standing: Agnes Chew, LS Yeoh, Yeoh Choo Swee, Yeoh Choo Siew and Lim Pui San

Ipoh's popular food critique and journalist with the community paper Ipoh Echo, Chan See Foon visited Ignatius’s Chew Museum recently, a far cry from the good food trails she regularly posts about.

(l) Chan See Foon signs into the museum guest book (r) Ignatius giving Puan Sri Sandra Lee and See Foon a tour of the museun while Pauline Chew looks on. 

Ignatius was informed that it would be about the Chew family museum which prompted him to invite the family, meaning the extended family members of the Yeoh, Lim and Chew.

(seated) Chew Yew Kong, Yeoh Oon Kok, Chew Chow Fee, Chew Soak Leng, Chew Soak Heng. (standing) Agnes Chew, Goh Saw Chan, Chan See Foon, Ignatius Chew, LS Yeoh.

From left. Ignatius Chew, Chan See Foon, Dr Ho Tak Meng, Datin Stella Lim, Puan Sri Sandra Lee, Pauline Chew

Puan Sri Sandra Lee, Datin Stella Lim, Chan See Foon

Seated Puan Sri Sandra Lee, Yeoh Oon Kok, Datin Stella Lim, Chan See Foon. Standing Ignatius Chew, James Gough, Dr Ho Tak Meng, Pauline Chew and Agnes Chew

Was it a casual visit? Was the presence of Dato Lim Si Boon and Christine Yeoh Choo Hoon a coincidence.

We won’t know until the article appears in a future issue of Ipoh Echo.  

JAG

Visitors To Chew Museum

Visitors Tan and Khng from Bank of Singapore, Singapore

It was a busy time at the Chew Museum receiving the many visitors who have heard of the family museum.

Visitors such as Ms Fanny Khng, Director and Mr Kenneth Tan, Managing Director both from the Bank of Singapore, Singapore.

They had been in Ipoh to meet with clients of the bank and enquired after the museum having been told about it by their same clients.

Mr Ignatius Chew the owner/ curator gladly gave them a tour of the exhibits.

Next to visit was Tan Sri Chong Wai Lin, Director of Ban Hoe Seng Auto and Dato Seri Dorothy Lim daughter of Mr Lim Siang Guan JP.

Visitors  Lim (l) and Chong with Ignatius 

L-r seated. Pauline Chew, Chong and Lim. Back row. Annie Ho, Ignatius and Fiona Chen 

Ignatius gave both Chong and Lim the grand tour while they obliged with a photo with Ban Hoe Seng Auto’s senior sales staff.  

JAG

Cousin Prof Henny Yeoh Kian Hian Visits Ignatius’s Chew Museum

Dr Yeoh Chee Kheng with her father Prof Henny Yeoh Kian Hian

Ignatius’s Chew museum received a pair of prominent visitors recently namely Prof Henny Yeoh Kian Hian and his daughter Dr Yeoh Chee Kheng.

Prof Henny Yeoh, 82 who lives in Singapore comes home regularly. However his daughter Chee Kheng who was brought up in Singapore and now lives in London had not been back to Ipoh for 40 years.

Back to our roots... 

Aunt Yeoh Saw Kin 

She described her visit to the museum as ‘cool and exciting but so very confusing’ though she indicated that she might return again next year.  

Prof Henny Yeoh is a retired ENT surgeon. He described coming back to Ipoh as fantastic but always makes him emotional.

 “Somehow what I feel for Singapore cannot match how I feel for Ipoh. I grew up here and studied at St Michael’s Institution so Ipoh is close to my heart.

When my brother Kian Hin was still alive I would come home 2 maybe 3 times a year. I have lived in Singapore since 1959. Now when I return to Singapore I feel like it is a temporary home as my heart is here”

He praised Ignatius Chew for maintaining this museum and even updating the information of him.

That morning saw a steady stream of relatives who had dropped by at the museum to greet Prof Yeoh and his daughter. The previous day the pair met with another batch of relatives.  

Between meeting the various relatives and Ignatius Chew explaining the connection between the Yeohs, Chews, Lim and Oh’s it was a very enlightening morning.

                               

Prof Yeoh viewing photos of popular niece and actress Michelle Yeoh

With relatives dropping by at different times it took three group photos just so all who showed up would be documented that momentous morning.

JAG

Ignatius Chew Celebrates 9th Day Of Chinese New Year With The Lim’s

(l-r) Mrs Veronica Lim Keng Guan, Lim Lam Pheng, Lim Keng Loy, Toh Puan Lim Keng Yaik, Datin KK Lim,Lim Kheng Hoo, Lim Si Howe. Ignatius Chew and Pauline Chew

Ignatius Chew celebrated Phai Thien Kong or the 9^th day of Chinese New Year with his cousins the Lim’s.

Ms Lim Lam Pheng had been in his museum earlier in the week and invited Ignatius to join in their family celebration held at the home of the late Dato KK Lim.

 

(left photo) Lim Keng Poon, Lim Lam Pheng, Lim Keng Loy,. Lim Keng Hoo (r) held at the Lim family home 

The table with red tablecloth and full of food

The celebration started around 11pm on the 8^th night. On a table draped in a red table cloth full of food such as roast pig, red colored buns, cakes or kueh muih and much more.

They burnt a pile gold colored paper and lit firecrackers to mark the beginning of the 9^th day.

 

..burnt a pile of gold colored paper ...

.... while the men carved the roast pork 

the ladies did their part

According to Lim Lam Pheng, Phai Thien Kong was celebrated since the time of her grandfather Lim Seok Tan where all the family members would congregate at his home.  

Later it was held in the home of her father Lim Cheng Chye and subsequently her eldest brother Dato Lim Keng Kay who built a family home called China House.

 

.... and took their supper 

To wind down the night the family then sat down and had their supper together. 

JAG