Menglembu Chinese community shock to find Jalan Lee Loy Seng renamed

Oriental Daily, Feb 4, 2016

Ipoh, Feb 3 – The name of the road in front of SJKC Wan Hwa (1) had changed to Jalan Lee Loy Seng from Jalan Balai Raya in the 90s in commemoration of the late philanthropist Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng, however, it had been changed back to Jalan Balai Raya five days ago causing uproar among the local Chinese community and MCA.

Lee Loy Seng was the famous rubber and oil palm tycoon in the country; he used to be the Senator, Ipoh City Mayor and Perak MCA treasurer, contributed much to the society. Upon the demise of Lee Loy Seng in 1993, the then MCA Batu Gajah division chief Datuk Chen Jin had managed to get the local authority to renamed the road after Lee who was born in Menglembu.

However, a few days ago the local Chinese community and MCA leaders were shocked to find that Jalan Lee Loy Seng had changed back to Jalan Balai Raya and demanded the explanation from Ipoh City Council.

Representing history and contribution

At a press conference held Wednesday at Jalan Balai Raya together with the local Chinese community leaders, MCA Batu Gajah chairman Wong Kooi Fong said the city council had changed the road name without consulting any person; this was a denial to Lee Loy Seng’s contribution to the society.

He said the road name could not be changed willfully, let alone the road was named after Lee Loy Seng to commemorate the contribution of a great man.

He said he was so surprised about the incident when informed of the renamed of the road by city councilor Datuk Phoon Yoon Choy; he had demanded the explanation from city council and had arranged for a meeting with the mayor.

He stressed that there was nothing to do with racial or religious sensitivity in upholding the Jalan Lee Loy Seng but to commemorate Lee.

Meanwhile, Perak MCA Economic Bureau chief Thong Fah Chong said the existence of Lee Loy Seng also representing the history of Ipoh and it should not be changed willfully, the Lee family had contributed a lot to the Chinese community and Chinese education, all these were recorded in the history, in which another road in Ipoh Jalan Lee Meng Hin was named after Lee Loy Seng’s father Kapitan Lahat Lee Meng Hin.

SJKC Wan Hwa (1) board of directors chairman Zhang Yang Fu said five days ago he noticed that the road signs of Jalan Lee Loy Seng had been changed to Jalan Balai Raya.

Mayor says he is not aware

He said however, one road sign near the Hup Soon pork store remain unchanged probably due to the negligence of the workers.

He said before Jalan Lee Loy Seng the road was named Jalan Balai Raya, it was renamed Jalan Lee Loy Seng upon the demise of Lee Loy Seng in 1993.

Meanwhile, Ipoh Mayor Datuk Zamri refused to comment saying that he was not aware of the issue.

He pointed out that the city council street name committee recently had only received the naming of roads in residential areas from the developers; there was no proposal to rename Jalan Lee Loy Seng, he was also curious to know who had changed the road name.

Backgrounder: Southeast Asia “Rubber Tycoon”

Lee Loy Seng whose ancestral home could be traced back to Meixian District, Meizhou City, Guangdong was born in Perak in 1921. He was in control of four plantation groups of companies including Batu Kawan and KL Kepong which owned large tracts of rubber, oil palm and cocoa plantations and was therefore known as “Rubber Tycoon”.

During his lifetime, Lee Loy Seng was very concern about education. He passed away on November 22, 1993 at the age of 72. His wife Puan Sri Liong Wan Ching was also well respected by the Chinese community, she had passed away last year.