Sungei Merah : Tiong Kung Kiu

Part of my memories of Sg. Merah involved around a special coffee shop next to the Sg. Merah bridge.

My father had a very soft spot for his uncle, Tiong Kung Kiu because when we first moved to Sibu, from Pulau Kerto, my father would drive us to Sg. Merah, in his little jeep (Landrover, short based) to see him in his coffee shop, the first one, on the left, after the Sg. Merah Bridge . That was how we described the address of his coffee shop. We never did find out the number of his shop lot.

Tiong Kung Kiu came from the same stock as my grandfather, thus they were considered first cousins. Their names appear in the Tiong genealogy compiled by my great grandfather.

When the Foochows led by Wong Nai Siong arrived in Sibu, he was just born in Wun Chieh in 1901. Our ancestral village is high in the mountains, near King Sha, the 14th District of Minqing. In 1913, when he was 12, his parents brought him to Sibu. It must have been quite difficult because it was the First World War. But they managed to arrive safely and settled down in Sg. Merah. There were a lot of his close Tiong relatives in Sg. Merah, Sg. Bidut and Ensurai by then.

He started off as a coffee shop assistant. Sg. Merah by then was a small bazaar.

For family gatherings in the 1950's and 60's he would always be included to be the MC, or even chief speaker. He would address the family and give a short speech. He was a good speaker ,very articulate and knowledgeable. Many other people also invite him to be a negotiator or 

peace maker as he had a great sense of justice.

The wooden shophouses on the left of Sg. Merah road to the old Airport

Over the years he made money from his coffee cum grocery shop. Slowly he was far sighted enough to buy land around Sg. Merah.

I remember his son, Uncle Leh King telling us how the father and son tapped rubber (at first for others and later they bought the rubber garden) and saved enough to buy land when some folks wanted to move elsewhere or even go back to China. Land was valued at 50 dollars an acre!! With some cash in hand from their business, they bought more and more land.

They also started to plant more rubber trees and in the 1950's they made quite a bundle when the price of rubber went up.

Grand Uncle would always go to the old airport to welcome my aunts and uncles when they arrived to visit the family and several family photos at the airport show his presence. And in the evening, he would be part of the dinner party. 

My grandfather loved to have his company. My grandfather was a quiet man and not outspoken like Grand Uncle. Perhaps we secretly believe, that Grand Uncle often spoke the words that Grandfather would have loved to say out loud.

In the late 1950's and early 1960's, when my father drove us to see the old Sibu Airport, if he had the time. He would always drop by the coffee shop to say hello to his uncle and pick up some choice gossips. In those days  people did not read newspapers, or listen to the radio. It was the pre-television days. So the coffee shop was a good place to pick up news of relatives.

In fact, many people continued to row their boats from Sg. Bidut to Sg. Merah, which would take as long as half an hour or more. We also heard from our aunts that even during the Japanese Occupation, Grand Uncle would row his boat to Hua Hong Ice and Rice Mill, to have his rice milled. Uncle Leh King had told us too about his visit to Hua Hong, sometimes just to see my Great Grandfather and my grandfather. Sg. Bidut relatives also rowed their own boats to Hua Hong to see my Great Grandfather who by that time was the oldest and highest in rank in the Tiong family Hierarchy.

I have a deep impression of him when my father went to pick him up once in his coffee shop once for some official business and my siblings were in the jeep. All of us did not have our lunch yet. He did not say much but he quickly went to the back of the shop, put on his Ern Moh ku (western) trousers and wore his belt. He changed his white Pagoda singlet to a nice white shirt.

He normally wore a white collarless singlet and a pair of Chinese pants.

He smiled and asked my father, "Do I look good enough?"

Uncle and nephew laughed. I thought that was very humourous and down to earth. My father was his mirror and critic.

He took some bread from the shop and gave the goodies to us. He must have understood we were hungry because of the time.

He was also one man who had to wear thick glasses to see. In spite of his poor eyesight, he was a good man with great insight. My father and indeed my grandfather often sought out his advice.

My grandfather and many others called him affectionately "Kiu Dieh" Little Brother Kiu. Perhaps it was because he was placed at the bottom of the Tiong hierarchy by age. And also he was fairly small sized. We called him Kiu Dieh Chiik Gung. The name just got stuck over the decades.