The Marriage of Ong Siong Ngoh To Lim Cheng Keat - By Ninie Lim

The marriage of Ong Siong Ngoh to Lim Cheng Keat.
 Photo taken at the home of Lim Seok Tan, Tapah 1940

My name is Ninie Lim. My mother was Ong Siong Ngoh who married Lim Cheng Keat in 1940.

Like most marriages in the early days it was arranged. It was a very grand and elaborate
wedding. I know because my mother kept the photo album of her marriage. It portrayed the families coming together for a joyous occasion. 

Ong Siong Ngoh with
daughterNinie Lim

Unfortunately it ended quickly when my mother discovered that my father had earlier taken another wife.

My mother Ong Siong Ngoh was the daughter of   liquor   traders Ong Kim Soo and Goh Lean Sim.   They operated from a shop at No1 Hill Street,  Gopeng. 

My grandmother Goh Lean Sim had two other   sisters.     She  was the eldest then came Goh Lean Kee and the third was Goh Lean Giok.

Aunt Goh Lean Kee married wealthy tin miner Chew Boon Juan. When my grandmother was married it was Chew Boon Juan that set up the liquor business and gave it to them to operate in Gopeng.  

My father Lim Cheng Keat was the son of Lim Seok Tan of Tapah. Seok Tan operated a provision shop in Tapah located on 46 Station Road. His shop supplied provisions to Tapah as well as to Cameron Highlands which was then being developed. From there he made his fortune and eventually became a landlord owning properties around Tapah.

The marriage of Ong Seong Ngoh and Lim Cheng Keat was significant for it was the first time the families of Yeoh- Lim-Chew got together.

The Yeoh name is because Lim Seok Tan’s sister Lim Siew Tong married Yeoh Kuan Joo. On the day of the marriage his daughter Yeoh Suan Bee was the bridesmaid and his granddaughters Saw Paik Hoon and Saw Paik Sim were the flower girls.

On the day of her marriage Ong Siong Ngoh was at the spacious bunglow of Chew Boon Juan at 61 Chamberlain Hulu Road, Ipoh.

The bride was at the home of Chew Boon Juan where all the relatives had gathered

The wedding planner makes adjustments to the bridal gown 

All of the family ie my grandmother, her sisters with the Chew’s and Yeoh’s were there to send off the bride. That the family had an English wedding planner to dress the bride was just one instance of how elaborate was the wedding.

Goh Lean Sim, Ong Siong Ngoh and brother Ong Kok Hoo escort the bride.....

..to the bridal car sent by Lim Cheng Keat

Mr Lim Cheng Keat sent a car for her to take to his home in Tapah. It is estimated that there was at least thirty cars belonging to the Chews, Lim’s and Yeoh's that made up the convoy that escorted Ong Siong Ngoh to Tapah. 

At the home of Lim Seok Tan. (l-r) Lim Seok Lam, Lim Seok Tan, magistrate and wife, bestman Lim, Lim Cheng Keat, Ong Siong Ngoh, Monica Yeoh Suan Bee, Ong Kok Hoo, Teoh Eng Yu, Wedding planner, Flower girls Saw Paik Hoon  (Mimi) and  Saw Paik Sim (Nana) 

It was another grand gathering of relatives at the Lim house in Tapah. Lim Seok Tan and his brother Seok Lam with my parents gathered for a photo in front of the verandah.

But alas all the grandness of the union was not to last. It ended quickly, probably less than twenty four months, after my mother discovered that my father had taken a wife earlier. 

She was carrying me when she left him and returned to her mother’s house in Gopeng. You could say that I was conceived in Tapah and born in Gopeng in 1942 at a time of the Japanese occupation of Malaya.

My mum had to hide in the jungles of Gopeng. She told me that I was deprived of milk. Till today I always felt weak.

After the war mum with me, her sister Saw Ngoh and brother Ong Kok Lay moved to Ipoh to stay at the 3rd floor of Ban Hoe Seng building in Old Town.

I studied at Anglo Chinese Girls School now the Methodist Girls School from primary 1 till the 5th form.

Occasionally my cousin Yeoh Poh See would take me to Chew Boon Juan’s banglo. It was there I met Chew Boon Juan’s wife and another cousin Teoh Ghim Loo. Sometimes I would join my cousins when they went to Penang during the school holidays.

Upon completing my schooling I took commercial classes and started working to support my mother and uncle. 

Some years later after my father died his third wife, a Shanghainese called Ah Nui (by Yeoh Saw Kin) met with me. That was the last we met as a family.

When Ignatius started the Chew museum in 2012 Ninie brought over her mother’s album of photos for duplication.

In 2017 Ignatius Chew received the Lim’s from Tapah at his museum. Datuk Lim Si Boon brought the descendants of Lim Cheng Chuan, the son of Lim Seok Tan.   

They knew the story of their uncle Lim Cheng Keat but they had never seen the wedding photographs. 

They were fascinated and requested to take a photograph with a poster of the wedding photos. Two brothers, Lim Keng Yue and Lim Keng Seong held the poster of photos and together with the descendants took a photograph.

This was a revelation to them. The poster was a graphic detail of the connection to the past and how the Chew family connection came about.  

JAG