Song Ong Siang

Who is Song Ong Siang?

Sir Ong-Siang Song K.B.E., V.D., M.A., LL.M., was a lawyer and active citizen of the British Colony of Singapore. He was a third-generation Straits Chinese or Peranakan Baba, and the first ever Asian in Singapore to be knighted. Sir Ong-Siang was noted for his worthy contributions to the development of the Singapore civil society, and was held in the highest esteem throughout the Colony.

He was born on June 14, 1871 in Singapore to Song Hoot Kiam, the founder of the Straits Chinese Church and Ms Phan Fung Lean, a wife from Elder Song's second marriage. He was the eldest son from Song Hoot Kiam's second marriage – the youngest of the three sons of borne from Elder Song's two marriages.

As a youth, Sir Ong-Siang studied at The Raffles Institution and briefly at Christian Brothers' School.

He was a brilliant student, and won the Guthrie Scholarship at the age of 12 – a record he had continued to hold for five consecutive years. The young Song was disqualified from the honor of being the first Queen's Scholar - the honor went to Dr Lim Boon Keng - as he was under-aged at the time of the award.

He was eventually awarded the Scholarship in 1888, becoming the only Chinese Queen's Scholar to read law in England. He was an outstanding scholar at the Middle Temple and Downing College in Cambridge. In 1893 Sir Ong-Siang was called to the Bar, entering legal practice upon returning to Singapore. In that same year he set up the legal firm, Aitken and Ong Siang at the age of 22. Song was also a shareholder and trustee of the Anglo - Chinese Boarding School in 1904. In 1907 he married Helen Yeo in a military wedding – the first of its kind for a Chinese in Singapore.