ABSTRACT
This chapter examines an attempt by a syndicate of Straits Chinese to monopolise a number of opium farms in other parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. It focuses on the long-term resilience of the Straits-born Chinese in Singapore and Malaya during the nineteenth century. In the initial years of Singapore’s existence, the leading Chinese figures in the colony’s economic life were the Straits Chinese. The first generation of revenue farmers in Singapore were Straits-born Chinese such as Tay Han Long, Cheang Sam Teo and Kiong Kong Tuan. The enormous ambition of their grand scheme seems to be a forerunner of some of the grandiose but fragile financial empires that have continued to characterise the Overseas Chinese economies of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. The story also demonstrates some of the strengths of the Straits Chinese network during the nineteenth century.
