Aw Boon Par

Who was Aw Boon Par?

Aw Boon-Par was a Burmese Chinese entrepreneur and philanthropist best known for introducing Tiger Balm.

He was the son of Hakka herbalist Aw Chu-Kin. His father left the business to Boon-Par and after Aw Chu-Kin's death in 1908, he called his elder brother Aw Boon-Haw to run his father's apothecary Eng Aun Tong together. Although Aw wished to stay in Rangoon, his brother who had settled in Singapore in 1926 convinced him to immigrate, move the family business and found the precursor of today's Haw Par Corporation. During the Japanese occupation of Singapore, Boon-Haw moved to Hong Kong to manage the business from there, while Boon-Par stayed in Singapore to run the factory. Eventually, Aw closed the factory down, returned to Rangoon, and died there.