• Source: Hong Kok Tin

Hong Kok Tin (Chinese: 方國珍; pinyin: Fāng Guózhēn; 1910 – 29 June 1989) was a nobleman, businessperson and politician of Chinese descent that previously was among the appointed members of the Legislative Council of Brunei. He was the company director of Seng Hup Hin & Co. in Kuala Belait.




Early life and career


Hong's early life was covered by his activities in Sarawak, starting when he was just thirteen years old and working as an apprentice in a relative's bicycle business in Sibu. Years later, he visited Kuching, Miri, and Labuan in search of new employment and career prospects. Finally, in 1931, he focused his attention on Kuala Belait, which at the time was a fishing village that was quickly developing into an oil town to accommodate the need for oil field employees hired by the then-Malayan Petroleum Company after it discovered oil in the Belait District in 1929. He made the decision to relocate to Kuala Belait, where he opened his first store selling bicycles and other imported items under the name "Chop Seng Hup Hin." For almost three years, business was robust and looking up before it was unexpectedly stopped by Japanese occupation.
Following Brunei's liberation by the Australian Army in 1945, Hong Kok Tin, like all other store owners, discovered that their establishments had been entirely destroyed by the indiscriminate bombing conducted by the aircraft of the Allied Forces. As a result, he resumed his previous career of selling bicycles and household goods while also taking a chance on the transportation industry by purchasing a fleet of lorries and hiring about twenty people. Chop Seng Hup Hin was a well-known company by 1960, selling a variety of Philips products to consumers with growing spending power as a result of cash from oil production.




Political career


In 1955, Marsal Maun called for Hong to be appointed as the Registrar of Chinese Marriages for Belait District. Following Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III's address to the Legislative Council on 16 January 1962, Hong Kok Tin was appointed to a committee tasked with gathering public opinion on Brunei's potential merger with the proposed Federation of Malaysia. Representing the Chinese community, he served alongside members such as A. M. Azahari, Gimang Anak Perait for the Iban community, Lukan Uking for the Dusun community, and Hashim Tahir as secretary. The committee, chaired by Menteri Besar Marsal, reflected Brunei's multi-ethnic composition and diversity of perspectives.
Following the disbandment of the Emergency Executive Council in July 1963, the Legislative and Executive Councils were reinstated, and Lukan served as an unofficial member of the Executive Council representing Tutong, as well as a Legislative Council member during this transitional phase from July to December 1963. On 14 June 1965, Hong was appointed as one of four junior ministers under Brunei's government ministerial system. As assistant head of medical and health services, he worked alongside Pengiran Damit Sunggoh, Pengiran Yusof Limbang, and Lukan, who were also assigned various responsibilities.
Hong participated in Brunei's transitional governance after the Emergency Executive Council was dissolved in July 1963 by joining the Legislative and Executive Councils that had been restored. After the 1959 Constitution was ratified, he was a member of the Executive Council, which took the role of the Legislative Council. Along with Pengiran Damit Sunggoh, Pengiran Yusof Limbang, and Lukan, who had a variety of different duties, he was named assistant head of medical and health services on 14 June 1965, one of four junior ministers appointed under Brunei's ministerial system. He was given an official house in the capital the year he was appointed, and he remained in this role until 1970.
However, his detractors said that he failed to support those so-called "stateless" Chinese who have been in Brunei since the time of the British Resident, whether in the Executive Council or in the Legislative Council, in their quest for citizenship. In 1967, he stated that the construction projects of modern hospitals in Brunei Town, Kuala Belait and Tutong had begun and called for the salary increase of medical and health workers.




Other works


Hong Kok Tin was chosen to the Chung Hwa Middle School, Bandar Seri Begawan's (CHMS, BSB) management committee in August 1945 together with other well-known residents of the area. He was chosen as the Chairman of the School Management Committee in 1955 and the following year. He was re-elected as the school's chairman in 1959. Five years after being named Pehin, in 1965, he was once more chosen to lead the School's Management Committee. The Management Committee unanimously decided to make Pehin Hong the school's permanent honorary chairman in May 1971 in honor of his enormous contributions to the institution.
In the middle of the 1950s, he was chosen by the British Resident to serve in the Belait District Chinese Affairs Advisory Committee, which was established by him to organize the community's active elements to help him handle Chinese affairs and to make any necessary representations or advice to him.
In 1969, Hong gifted the Brunei Museum a suit of samurai armour for educational display.




Honours



Pehin Hong was bestowed the Manteri title of Yang Dimuliakan Pehin Bendahari China Kornia Diraja on 24 May 1960. Pehin Lim Cheng Choo asserts that the Brunei Royalty has a custom of appointing three Chinese officials, citing Hong Kok Tin, who plays Pehin Bendahara, and Lim Teck Hoo, who plays Kapitan Cina, as the other two. Additionally, he has earned the following honours:

Order of Setia Negara Brunei Third Class (SNB; 1970); Fourth Class (PSB)
Order of Paduka Seri Laila Jasa Third Class (SLJ)
Omar Ali Saifuddin Medal (POAS)




References



Haji, Ahmad Zaini Haji (2003). Brunei Merdeka: Sejarah dan Budaya Politik (in Malay). De'Imas Printing & Trading. ISBN 978-99917-34-01-9.
Abdullah, Muhammad Hadi (June 2002). Brunei's Political Development And The Formation Of Malaysia: 1961-1967 (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Hull. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
Yusop, Mohamad (1998). "The Malaysia Plan and the First Brunei Elections, 1962". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 71 (1 (274)): 55–73. ISSN 0126-7353.
Hussainmiya, B. A. (1995). Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III and Britain "The Making of Brunei Darussalam". Oxford University Press. ISBN 967-65-3106-5.

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