Remains of Raffles' 'mistress' enshrined

THEY looked like any family carrying out the usual ceremonial rites to enshrine a dead relative's remains. 

But the remains John Tan and his family brought to the Cheng Hong Siang Tng Temple on Thursday morning belonged to Tan Chwee Neo, the woman they are convinced was Sir Stamford Raffles' mistress. 

The 49-year-old Tan, a seventh generation descendant of Chwee Neo, said: “I was following my mother's instructions that if Chwee Neo's remains were to be exhumed, to have them placed in an urn and kept in this temple, so we could continue paying our respects.” 

The Taoist ceremony, which lasted 30 minutes, was a simple affair, attended by Tan, his three younger brothers, elder sister and his son Camillus. 

Chwee Neo's remains were exhumed on Wednesday in a six-hour ceremony, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, or Duan Wu Jie, a date the Chinese believe is auspicious. 

There has been much controversy over whether she was truly Raffles' mistress. 

Prof Ernest Chew of the National University of Singapore's History Department dismissed the notion last year.  

 

According to Chwee Neo's ancestral tablet at the temple, she was born in 1818 and would have been five years old during Raffles' final visit to Singapore in 1823. But Tan claims the records of her birth date were inaccurate.  

 

The original ancestral tablet, he said, states she was the wife of Governor Pak Manam. 

Pak Manam, he explained, was a term of respect the Javanese used to address Raffles, who was the Lieutenant-Governor of Java. 

Now that his ancestor's remains have been transferred to the temple, he said he felt “very relieved.” – The Straits Times/Asia News Network 

Another perspective from The Straits Times, a partner of Asia News Network.