In this project, I am asked to research on a renown person, Tan Tock Seng. Surely you have heard of “Tan Tock Seng Hospital” ,well I will be elaborating on the founder of this hospital and his other contributions.
Tan Tock Seng was born in 1798 , Malacca, Malaysia.He was a Hokkien merchant , landowner, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He moved to Singapore at the age of 21 in 1819, and started selling fruits , vegetables , chickens and worked very hard.Being a hardworking and thrifty man, he saved up enough money to open a shop in 1827.He became wealthy through a joint business with J.H Whitehead of Shaw and was one of the richest merchants in Singapore.
In the middle of 18th century, the life for the Asians were miserable Many of them were poor and suffered from diseases such as malaria ,cholera small pox and tuberculosis. The living conditions where the Asians were living was poor. They lived in overcrowded shophouses with poor sanitation, attracting pests that carries diseases especially in Chinatown ,one of the most crowded area in Singapore. Those who were too sick to work, were forced to beg in the streets. Over time, the streets were too, dirty, with piles of rubbish on the roadside ,with pests like flies and mosquitoes. The sick who were forced to beg on the streets, and die due to malnutrition and diseases with no one to take care of them.This is where Tan Tock Seng comes to the rescue.He decided to build a hospital for the poor, and donated a large sum of money , with the help of his friends supporting him, he managed to construct this hospital. I would classify this contribution as a social impact. It help to improve the health of the poor , but it has a negative effect too. The hospital was usually overcrowded, and this caused a average of tow deaths in that hospital as diseases were spread among the patients , and had poor drainage system .Another contribution of Tan Tock Seng was to provide money for proper burials of the bodies of the baggers on the streets , he took it upon himself to do this job . This is another example of a social impact.
I feel that a monument that could represent him, is a piano. You see, music makes us happy and relax, like Tan Tock Seng, who brings hope to the poor and joy. Building this hospital, helps the poor from painful and lethal diseases and illness. Songs and music produced by the piano are a combination of the different keys and rhythms, just like when you tell people of his contributions, it made me happy, knowing that there are such noble people actually loving and sacrificing so much for others .For me, it is music to my ears
From this project, I realized that there are many people out there who actually care for others. From news,i always thought that the world was cruel and selfish , causing wars, riots ,poverty and other environmental issues like global dimming and warming.In my research, I came a cross many noble people like Tan Tock Seng, this made me realized that I was wrong,there are still people who still care.From this, surprisingly, I began to develop a slight interest in History , my working attitude towards history has changed.Thank you Ms Yeo and Mrs Tan, for making this possible.
DONE BY:MATTHEW QUEK(15)1O3
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