Loh Boon Siew
{{Short description|Malaysian businessman (1915–1995)}}
{{More footnotes|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri
| name = Loh Boon Siew
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=MYS|size=100%|PSM|DMPN|JSM|KMN}}
| native_name = {{nobold|駱文秀}}
| image =
| birth_date = 1915
| birth_place = Hui'an County, Fujian, Republic of China {{small|(now China)}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1995|02|16|1915}}
| death_place = Malaysia
}}
{{Infobox person
| module = {{Infobox Chinese|child=yes|hide=no
| t = 駱文秀
|poj=Lo̍h Bûn-siù
|tl=Lo̍h Bûn-siù
|j=Lok3 Man4 Sau3
| p = Luò Wénxiù}}
}}
Loh Boon Siew ({{zh|c=駱文秀|poj=Lo̍h Bûn-siù|j=Lok3 Man4 Sau3|p=Luò Wénxiù}}; 1915 – 1995) also known by locals as “Mr Honda”, was a Penangite tycoon and the first sole distributor of Honda motorcycles in Malaysia.{{cite news|title=The tycoon who kidnappers shun|url=https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/08/14/the-tycoon-who-kidnappers-shun|work=The Star (Malaysia)|date=14 August 2016}}
Early life
Loh Boon Siew was born in Hui'an County, Fujian, China. He spent his childhood collecting pig dung (used as fuel) to make a living. At the age of 12, he arrived in Penang from China with five friends, among them Loh Poh Heng and Loh Say Bee. He had no formal education and could only speak in his mother tongue of Hokkien. He worked as an apprentice car mechanic upon his arrival.
Business
At age 18, Boon Siew purchased 11 buses using his $2,000 in savings. He reconditioned the buses and sold them for $12,000. Next, he used the money he earned to buy another 39 buses. In 1942, during World War II, his money was confiscated by the invading Japanese army. After World War II, he started selling bicycles, tires and motorcycle accessories, and soon he expanded his business to used cars, transports and buses.
In the 1950s, Boon Siew went into property development with his friends Say Bee and Poh Heng by building residential villas in Taman Saw Kit in Penang. His work is continued by his Boon Siew Group.
Boon Siew arranged to meet with Mr. Soichiro Honda, the Honda Super Cub's creator, and quickly convinced him to set up a Honda subsidiary in Malaysia.
The first Malaysian Honda showroom was set up on Pitt Street in Penang, very near the home of Boon Siew. The Japanese Honda Motor Co Ltd soon appointed Boon Siew the sole distributor for Honda motorbikes in the country, as the first 50 units of Honda 4-stroke Cub were being imported into Malaysia.
A factory was built in Penang to assemble the Honda Cub and the Honda motorcycle assembled in Malaysia was renamed the Boon Siew Honda. The Honda Cub became the bestselling motorcycle in Malaysia and Boon Siew was recognized as the first person to bring the Honda Cub motorcycles into Southeast Asia. The popular Cantonese word Cub 仔 (transcribed as "kapchai" in informal Malay), which means "small (Honda) Cub" and is now a generic for small underbone motorcycles in Malaysia, originates from the Honda Cub.
Boon Siew also played a role in the brief merger between Kwong Wah Yit Poh and The Star (Malaysia) in 1974, and helped with the establishment of the Lam Wah Ee Hospital and the Penang Old Folks Home.
He died at the age of 79 on 16 February 1995. To memorialize his contributions to the automotive industry, a road called Jalan Loh Boon Siew was named after him in George Town, Penang.
Honours
- {{Flag|Malaysia}} :
- 50px Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (PSM) – Tan Sri (1988)
- 50px Companion of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (JSM) (1976)
- 50px Officer of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (KMN) (1967){{cite web|publisher=Prime Minister's Department (Malaysia)|url=http://www.istiadat.gov.my/index.php/component/semakanlantikanskp/|title=Semakan Penerima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan Pingat}}
- {{Flag|Penang}} :
- 50px Companion of the Order of the Defender of State (DMPN) – Dato' (1977){{cite news|url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/scjp19770716-1.2.35.5|title=梹州元首庆六十华诞 三百五十六官民 受封赐各级勳衔|trans-title=Yang-Dipertua Negeri Penang celebrate 60th birthday 356 individuals conferred over awards|work=星洲日報|date=16 July 1977|pages=6}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Refbegin}}
- {{Citation |last= Aznam |title= Dream machine from Honda |newspaper=New Straits Times |date= March 23, 2003 |first= Kamarul |url= https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-82745363.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160220194812/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-82745363.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= February 20, 2016 }}
- {{Citation |title= Boon Siew makes it into records book |newspaper=Business Times |location= Malaysia |date= August 3, 2001 |url= https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-46108770.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160220194531/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-46108770.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= February 20, 2016 }}
- {{Citation |last= Chew |title= Leaders of Singapore |first= Melanie |publisher= World Scientific |year= 2015 |isbn= 9789814719452|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=buuiCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 |pages=46– }}
- {{Citation |last= Emmanuel |title= Antiques of the 'Honda King' |newspaper=New Straits Times |date= February 25, 2000 |first= Marina |url= https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-82520640.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160220194803/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-82520640.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= February 20, 2016 }}
- {{Citation |last= Ghazali |title= The King of Bikes continues to reign |newspaper=Business Times |location= Malaysia |date= July 18, 2000 |first= Fadzil |url= https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-45883109.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160220194527/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-45883109.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= February 20, 2016 }}
- {{Citation |last=Kok |newspaper= The Star |date= 3 January 2015 |title= Oriental Holdings enters new era |first=Cecilia |url= http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2015/01/03/oriental-holdings-enters-new-era-will-the-third-generation-of-the-loh-family-inject-excitement-into/ }}
- {{Citation |title= Life after Honda |newspaper=Malaysian Business |date= September 16, 2001|url= https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-47986475.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160220194541/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-47986475.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= February 20, 2016 }}
- {{Citation |title= Motorcycle King |newspaper= Sunday Mail |date= March 27, 2005 |url= https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-10455485.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160220194925/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-10455485.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= February 20, 2016 |publisher=NSTP Research & Information Services }}
{{Refend}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia}}
Category:20th-century Malaysian businesspeople
Category:Malaysian people of Hokkien descent
Category:Malaysian people of Chinese descent
Category:Naturalised citizens of Malaysia
Category:Officers of the Order of the Defender of the Realm
Category:Companions of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia
Category:Commanders of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia