LISTEN & UNDERSTAND

Organized
Crime
Group
Group 8
 ORGANIZED CRIME
GROUP

SINGAPORE
CONTENTS
HEAVEN AND EARTH
SOCIETY
Organized
GHEE HIN KONGSI Crime
Group in
AH KONG/ SEE TONG GANG Singapore
HEAVEN AND
EARTH / TIANDIHUI
SECRET SOCIETY

TIANDIHUI
The Tiandihui, the Heaven and Earth Society also
called Hongmen/Hui (The Vast Family) is a Chinese
Fraternal Organization and historically a secretive
folk religious sect the vein of the Ming Loyalist,
White Lotus Sect the Tiandihui's ancestral
organization, Tiandihui spread in different
countries and province, it branched off into many
groups and became known by many names
including Sanhehui. The Hongmen grouping is HONGMAN SEAL
today more or less synonymous with the whole
Tiandihui concept, although the title "Hongmen" is
also claimed by some criminal groups.
HEAVEN AND
EARTH / TIANDIHUI
SECRET SOCIETY

TIANDIHUI
The Founder of the Tiandihui is TiXi, Li Amin, Zhu
Dingyuan, and Tao Yuan that were all from
Zhangzhou,Fujian. The Hongmen today is consist of
about 300,000 members worlwide. Chinese population
came with cost as secret societies were formed.
Immigrants formed their own “community” based on the
notion of brotherhood generally known as Hui, which
loosely translates into a vast family or company. When
joining Hui, one had to cut their fingers with a knife, and
the blood that dripped down would be added into rice
wine, then it would be drunk as a sign of brotherhood.
 GHEE HIN
KONGSI
A secret society in Singapore and Malaya, formed in 1820. Ghee
Hin literally means "the rise of righteousness" in Chinese. The
Ghee Hin often fought against the Hakka-dominated Hai San
secret society. Ghee Hin Kongsi carrying out their activities in the
19th century. These organized groups hold great relevance to
Singaporean modern history. Ghee Hin was initially dominated
by Cantonese people, although Hokkien people formed the
majority by 1860. Teochew, Hainanese, and Hakka people
formed smaller minorities. One of the major leaders of Ghee Hin
was Chin Ah Yam, a Hakka peasant from rural Dabu County,
Guangdong. Their main lodge was located in Lavender Street,
and contained the ancestral tablets of important ex-members,
before being donated to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital when it was
torn down in 1892, following the "Suppression of Secret Societies
Ordinance".
GHEE HIN KONGSI
The Ghee Hin were notorious for
committing mass killings of such targets as
the Catholic Hakka ethnic group in 1850
(with approximately 500 casualties), and post
office workers in 1876, due to their
opposition to a new, more expensive
monopoly on postage and remittances. The
colonial government began to move towards
surveillance, control, and finally suppression
of Ghee Hin from the 1890s onwards. The
Teochew people who belonged to the Ghee
Hin secret society were massacred by the
hundreds, if not thousands. Since 1890,
organized groups began fading from
Singapore, decline in street organized crime
in the past years due to legislation has been
put place to ensure authorities suppress the
activities of criminal gangs.
 AH KONG
Ah kong was an organised crime and drugs syndicate and
used to control the European heroin trade in the 1970s to
1990s. It was one of the world's largest drug syndicates
with its origin from Singapore but was based in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Bangkok, Thailand
where they received their drug supplies. The production
of heroin was at an area known as the Golden Triangle
formed by Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. Ah Kong was
not a triad but a fearsome organized crime gang that was
renowned all over Asia and Europe. Although Ah Kong
was based in Amsterdam and Bangkok, it had operations
in other major European cities and the Asia-Pacific. Ah
Kong, which means 'The Company' or short for kongsi in
Hokkien had never been based in Singapore.
AH KONG
Most of the members of Ah Kong were Singaporean Chinese
and spoke Hokkien. Secret societies and gangs were part and
parcel of everyday life which the local populace in Singapore
had to live with. The gangs' activities, which included
extortions, illegal gambling, prostitution, drug dealing,
loansharking (illegal moneylending), armed robberies and
kidnapping, were a major menace in Singapore, especially in
the 1950s to the 1970s. Gang wars that resulted in deaths and
serious injuries, even to common bystanders, were a common
sight in those days. Founder of Ah Kong is Roland Tan
sometimes known by the nickname Hylam kiam (Mr. Big), was
a Singaporean-born Denmark-based gangster and
businessman.