Childhood memories

In 1905 my grandfather, Chin Yu, left Kwangtung province in South China because he wanted to make his fortunes in South East Asia. He heard from his Hakka friends in British North Borneo (now Sabah) that all the new immigrants from China, on arrival in Kudat, were given 25 acres of free land by the colonial government.



This land was already planted with rubber or coconut trees. If the tenant could sustain continuous production from his plot for 10 years, the East India Company promised to buy, at market value, all the rubber and cobra that the new immigrant could produce from his plot of land. After that, the land will be registered in his name under freehold title for 999 years.

first photo

Grand father therefore worked diligently to make his piece of land productive as he intended to make his home in this new land, British North Borneo and to raise a family. When he had worked the land for 10 years successfully he was indeed registered as the lawful owner. He went back to China, got married and brought his wife (Wong Siew Yin) with him to help him work the land. She bore him two sons: Voo Sang and Yet Onn (James) my father.

After finishing primary six, my father left Kudat and went to continue his secondary education at St Thomas’ School in Kuching. He passed his Junior Cambridge exams (form 3) and joined SOL*, Sarawak Oilfields Limited in Lutong as an accounts clerk. After working a few years, he had saved enough money. He returned to Jesselton, British North Borneo to find himself a Chinese Hakka wife. He brought my mother back from a small town called Kinarut**, on the narrow gauge railway line to Tenom. It was probably through a match maker that the marriage was arranged. My father originally lived in Kudat, a town situated further north at Marudu Bay which had no direct road link with Jesselton (now, Kota Kinabalu.)


After the liberation of Borneo by Allied forces at the end of World War 2, my father did not rejoin Shell. He found work with a trading company, The Borneo Company as a shipping clerk. His colleagues were Yong Jin Fook, Francis Loke, Wee Kit Chiang and Anthony Sia (hai kao yew). He worked there until 1954 when he died of cancer. I was 10 years old.



*SOL was later changed to SSOL, Sarawak Shell Oilfields Limited and again to SSB, Sarawak Shell Berhad.
**Kinarut is a small village with padi fields everywhere. Buah Munu is a mango type of local fruit.
***Shrimps for making belacan or shrimp paste, used for flavouring vegetables.