Tan Seng Poh  

From Johor Bahru Directory

Tan Seng Poh (d. 1879) was the man who played the most significant role in the Kongkek, a cartel that controlled the pepper and gambier trade in Johor and Singapore, the effects of which reaching out to Riau in Indonesia and other parts of Malaya.^[1] Tan was subsequently appointed a Municipal Commissioner and a Justice of Peace.

2.   The son of Tan Ah Hun, the Kapitan China of Perak, Tan Seng Poh arrived in Singapore around 1839 and worked in the firm of his brother-in-law, Seah Eu Chin, before eventually establishing himself as a trader and opium farmer in his own right.^[2] Tan held the Singapore Opium Farm from 1863 to 1868 and the Johor Opium and Spirit Farm from 1866 to 1870. Subsequently, from 1870 until his death in 1879, he collaborated with Cheang Hong Lim and Tan Hiok Nee to form the powerful business organization that has been called the "Great Opium Syndicate".^[1] It held the opium and spirit farms for Singapore, Johor, Melaka, and Riau, and therefore, held the monopoly over Johor's largest revenue earners. Together with their partners, including Tan Seng Poh's influential brother-in-law, Seah Eu Chin, the three men controlled the two most important levers of Johor's trade and revenue at the time, i.e. pepper and gambier production and trade through the Kongkek, and the opium and spirit farms through the Great Opium Syndicate.^[1]