A visit to the National Museum of Singapore shines a light on Malaya's Chinese secret society past and its impact on Malayan society over the past two centuries, ALAN TEH LEAM SENG writes
A RENOWNED treasure trove of regional artefacts and local history, the National Museum of Singapore has always inspired interest, even when one has walked through its many information-filled galleries countless times.
These insights come in varied forms, including heart-rending accounts of people who lived through the Japanese Occupation and delightful tales from those witnessing the city state's phenomenal transformation in the late 1970s.
WHERE IT BEGAN
Several century-old exhibits at the History Gallery seen during a recent visit helped one to further understand Singapore's shared past with its closest neighbour, Malaysia. Aided by detailed reports by the first Chinese Protector in the Straits Settlements, William Alexander Pickering, the collection weaves a spellbinding tale about the origins of secret societies in China and how triad members became entrenched in our two nations, which were then known as Malaya.
Pickering, in his 1878 report, became the first European official to openly address secret societies as triads. The term was derived from Sam Hap, which literally means "trinity of three". In traditional Chinese custom, this refers to the union of heaven, earth and man.
Pickering traced the history of triads to the reign of Kangxi, the third Qing dynasty emperor. In the 17th century, a band of fighting monks from the Fujian Shaolin Monastery came to the rescue of the emperor's bannermen, who were fighting a losing battle against an invading army from the Hsi-Lu state (inner Mongolia today).
Eternally grateful for the timely assistance, the emperor rewarded the monastery with an Imperial seal, which gave decrees issued by the abbot equal rank to those of Imperial edicts.
Kangxi died in 1722 and was succeeded by his fourth son, Yinzhen, who ruled as Emperor Yongzheng. During Yongzheng's brief 14-year rule, a local magistrate became greatly incensed when Shaolin mandates ran counter to his judgments.
In a fit of anger, the magistrate submitted a false report to Yongzheng, alleging serious malpractices in the monastery. Without further investigation, the emperor empowered the magistrate to kill the Shaolin monks and level their monastery to the ground.
Several nights later, the magistrate and his henchmen surrounded the temple and set it ablaze. Roused from their deep slumber by billowing smoke, the monks tried their best to escape but only five were successful. The remainder, 128 of them, died.
THE FORMATION OF THE FIRST SECRET SOCIETY
The survivors sought refuge in the wilderness to elude capture. One day, while quenching thirst at a stream, they chanced upon a porcelain bowl, inscribed with the words "Overthrow the Qing, Restore the Ming", floating in the water. The men viewed the incident as a nod from heaven and adopted it as their rallying call.
The monks eventually joined forces with Chen Chin Nan, a former minister who was unfairly dismissed by Yongzheng a few years earlier. Chen proposed the formation of a secret organisation called the Tiandihui (Heaven and Earth Society) to serve as an underground resistance movement to free the people from the oppressive Manchu government.
Not strong enough to launch a large-scale uprising, the men dispersed throughout China with the intention to obtain adherents and reach their objective on a more auspicious date.
Before parting ways, they established five Provincial Grand Lodges, each under the watchful eye of one of the five Shaolin monks. The five branches, which are recognised today as the common ancestor of all Chinese secret societies that followed centuries later, including those in Malaya, had their own banners, signs and passwords to ease recognition among fellow members.
TAKING ROOT IN MALAYA
Chinese secret societies gradually spread their wings and made their presence felt in Malaya with the mass arrival of immigrants during the mid-19th century. With the British scarcely impinging upon Chinese life then, secret societies began taking on the role of governing the Chinese community by capitalising on their fear of the Europeans.
Despite the ability to speak fluent Mandarin and Hokkien, Pickering found it an uphill battle to gain insights into these furtive fellowships as secrecy pacts forbade members, under the pain of death, to divulge any triad information to outsiders, especially European officials.
Undaunted, Pickering persistently immersed himself into the daily lives of the immigrants. During the course of his study, Pickering was taken aback to learn that Chinese dialect translations referred to judges as "demons", police as "big dogs" and Europeans as "red-haired devils".
It became clear to him that there was a deep-rooted anti-establishment sentiment among the Chinese community for Europeans tasked with upholding the law.
Pickering was most remembered for his unusual technique employed to quell post office riots between the Hokkiens and Teochews, who fought over lucrative rights to charge immigrants fees when they sent money and letters home to their loved ones in China. The opposing sides were stunned into submission when the Scotsman walked up and down the street facing the post office, playing his bagpipes at full blast.
Pickering's key role in secret society suppression inevitably made him many powerful enemies. Their disapproval came to a head in July 1887 when a secret society member was dispatched to his office under the guise of presenting a petition. Pickering was savagely hit on the head with an axe. Although he survived the attack, Pickering never fully recovered and was forced to retire the following year.
THE POWER OF LIFE AND DEATH
The stunning revelations at the gallery quickly call to mind a book on Malayan Chinese secret societies written by Leonard Francis Comber. In his comprehensive tome, the former British military and police officer mentioned that the blatant attack on Pickering eventually led to widespread secret society suppression in 1890. The crackdown drove secret societies underground and their degenerated members into dangerous gangs of thugs.
Despite their loose approaches towards society and the authorities, triad members continued to maintain strict discipline among themselves. This regulated regime actually predated immigrant arrivals in Malaya and first took root after the secret society headquarters was established in Siam (Thailand today) during the turn of the 19th century. This strict practice continued when triad bases moved southwards to Penang, Melaka and eventually Singapore in the late 1850s as British colonies embraced prosperity.
Although complicated, these regulations contained only three major provisions — secrecy, mutual help in times of trouble and respect for each other's womenfolk. These internal laws helped prevent members from becoming police informants, gave assistance to fellow society brethren when escaping the long arm of the law and ensure allegiance only to triad rules and regulations.
These provisions also gave secret society leaders power of life and death not only over their own, but also members of the public who ran afoul of their whims and fancies.
By then, the benevolent aims of the Tiandihui had long disappeared and in their place were those who sought to oppress the very people they were supposed to protect.
Secret society influence continued to grow in tandem with booming prosperity in Malaya. Its expansion was encouraged by an ignorant and terrified population that was ever willing to pay one side or the other protection money to be saved from the extortions of their rivals.
The money collected went straight to the triad leaders, who the British discovered, to their utter shock many years later, were the very Chinese community leaders whom they had trusted, relied upon and decorated with countless prestigious awards and medals.
Apart from lining their own pockets, the leaders used the money to provide funeral feasts for fallen members as well as finance elaborate religious ceremonies, celebrations and festivals to encourage the continuation of traditions and cement their grip on the living. These measures allowed secret societies to continue their existence, while resisting steps taken by the government to snuff them out.
THE END OF CHINESE TRIADS
Just before the outbreak of the World War 1 in 1914, the Malayan government confidently claimed to have successfully decimated most of the secret societies but, a series of large-scale triad-incited unrests that flared just years later proved that the claim was baseless.
Secret societies remained intact by keeping a rather low-key existence during the Japanese Occupation. Once the World War 2 ended in August 1945, the triads capitalised on the bruised image of British invincibility and emerged as strong and dangerous as they had ever been. The difficulty to rein them was due to the fact that there were only short-term plans and no consistent policy by the government.
By 1954, there were 360 secret societies in Singapore alone, with no less than 11,000 members. In that same year, 2,281 triad members were arrested and from them six revolvers, one sawn-off rifle, 735 grenades, 26 shells and 10 detonators were recovered.
Just a year later, the Singapore authorities declared that existing powers accorded to the police were inadequate to smash the rising menace of secret society gangsters. Gang clashes, stabbings, extortions and murders had risen sharply, especially in the Chinatown area where rivals frequently battled to gain the right to control and extort protection money.
Realising that secret societies would move further underground if stronger provisions are aimed at them, the Malayan government changed its game plan and began engaging parents and social welfare workers to prevent Chinese youths from joining the triads. Interestingly, the strategy worked like a charm.
Deprived of young members, the number of triad gangs began to dwindle significantly. Losing much of their influence by the 1970s, the secret society flame was all but snuffed out and their members pushed well into the shadows. A new generation of youths emerged as law-abiding citizens who eagerly worked hard towards a brighter future for themselves and loved ones.