Lim Nee Soon (; 12 November 1879 – 20 March 1936) was a Singaporean banker and businessman who promoted social and community matters, and was a respected

community leader Community leader is a designation, often by secondary sources (particularly in the media), for a person widely perceived to represent a community. A simple way to understand community leadership is to see it as leadership in, for and by the communit ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Lim was of

Peranakan The Peranakans () are an ethnic group defined by their genealogical descent from the first waves of South China, Southern Chinese settlers to maritime Southeast Asia, known as Nanyang (region), Nanyang (), namely the British Raj, British Colo ...

descent, with ancestry from

Chenghai District Chenghai (; postal: Tenghai; Teochew: Thěng Hài) is a district of the city of Shantou, Guangdong Province, China. Located at the Han River Delta in the southeast part of Guangdong Province, Chenghai spans from 116°41' to 116°54' E longi ...

Shantou Shantou, Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 2 ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

, China. He was a rubber magnate and was nicknamed the "pineapple king" for being the leading pineapple planter in the region. He was also a banker, contractor and general commission agent. He was the first general manager of the Bukit Sembawang Rubber Company Limited, formed in 1908. Nee Soon and Company was formed in 1911. As a Chinese Peranakan, known as "Baba" locally, he was affectionately known as Bah Soon Pah (). Bah Soon Pah Road was named after him.

Early life

Lim Nee Soon was born in Kampong Glam, Singapore. His family was from Shantou, Guangdong, China. His father died when he was eight and his maternal grandfather, a merchant, took care of him. Lim was educated in English at the

St. Joseph's Institution St. Joseph's Institution (SJI) is an independent Catholic educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1852 by the De La Salle Brothers, it is the first Catholic school and the third oldest school in the country. SJI has been offering a dual-t ...

, and then later, at the Anglo Chinese School.

Career

Lim was one of the pioneers that opened up

Sembawang Sembawang is a planning area and residential town located in the North Region of Singapore. Sembawang planning area is bordered by Simpang to the east, Mandai to the south, Yishun to the southeast, Woodlands to the west and the Straits of Joho ...

. He served on the Rural Board from 1913 to 1921 and was also appointed a Justice of Peace. In the field of education, he was one of the founders of The Chinese High School and also a member of the

Raffles College The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the ...

Committee. He was the President of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce for two periods, from 1921-1922, and 1925-1926.

Later life

Lim, along with his uncle Teo Eng Hock, were the leading members of the Teochew clan association Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan, and was a close friend of Dr Sun Yat Sen. He died on the way home from a trip to China and his embalmed body was scheduled to be brought back to Singapore. However, the Chinese government requested to give him a State burial and so he was buried in Nanjing, near the mausoleum of his close friend, Dr Sun Yat Sen.

Family

Lim married Ms. Wi Peck Hay () and had 3 sons and 6 daughters. His sons Lim Chong Kuo () and Lim Chong Pang () later also became prominent merchants and community figures. One of his daughter, Lim Chit Geck, married Oei Tjong Tiong, son of Chinese-Indonesian Businessman, Oei Tiong Ham.

Legacy

Nee Soon Road was officially named in 1950 by the Rural Board to facilitate postal services. Nee Soon also owned a large plot of land in the area and several roads in this area are named after his business concerns and family members. For example, Chong Kuo Road is named after his eldest son Lim Chong Kuo, and Chong Pang City his second son Lim Chong Pang. The residential town of

Yishun Yishun, formerly known as Nee Soon, is a residential town located in the northeastern corner of the North Region of Singapore, bordering Simpang and Sembawang to the north, Mandai to the west, the Central Water Catchment to its southwest, ...

in the northern part of Singapore, is also named after him. Although originally named Nee Soon, the name was subsequently romanized to its current appellation, to reflect the Singapore government's move to use standardised Mandarin over the unstandardised Chinese variants prominent amongst local dialect groups.

References

Secondary sources

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External links

Genealogy entry of Lim Nee Soon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Nee Soon 1879 births 1936 deaths Singaporean bankers Singaporean chief executives Peranakan people in Singapore Singaporean people of Teochew descent People of British Malaya