This is the Khoo Kongsi. It’s a community for anyone with the surname “Khoo” or those who came from the Khoo village in China. Khoo are you? A Khoo? OK, Khoo casa is su casa.
Not too long ago, the Khoo Kongsi was the largest and most successful social network in the straits. The Khoos would live together in a compound with apartments, its own temple (above), an open air theatre (where drive-ins got their inspiration) and a building honoring their Khoo ancestors. If the British occupation did not get children off to school, a regular Khoo had no good reason to leave his Kongsi. It was his home, office and theme park. Not too different from the religious sect compounds of today. Khoo men back then also had many wives.
Not many Kongsies are as rich, elaborate and dedicated to one community as the Khoo Kongsi in Penang. There were many small clans of the same surname or originating from the same province in China. Usually, you’ll find clans going into ‘joint ventures’ with other clans.
The Kongsies were very important in the old days. Without a community to find other people with the same interest and background, a young migrant from China would find it hard to survive. The island’s economy was controlled by Kongsies (imagine the Gotti family). The bigger the family, the bigger the bulk discounts and thus higher margins from sale of surplus goods.
Seduced by the successes of the Khoos, other startups began to spring from joint-ventures among smaller clans. However, JVs rarely succeed due to their inability to agree on who’s name should come first on the ginormous plaque out front. The handful that have survived like the Kongsi below owe their success to a strict policy of marrying only members of their Kongsi so the business will ultimately stay in the family. It was very difficult at first since everyone on the island wanted to marry a Khoo.
A 5-family start-up from the Cheah, Si, Hock, Haw and Kong families.
Today, the Kongsi system is all but abandoned but thankfully the clues to their way of life are not. The evidence of their once great presence in Penang is now recognized by UNESCO as a heritage site.
Kongsi (Chinese: 公司; pinyin: gōngsī) or “clan halls”, are benevolent organizations of popular origin found among overseas Chinese communities for individuals with the same surname. This type of social practice arose, it is held, several centuries ago in China. The Chinese word Kongsi is used in modern Chinese to mean a commercial “company”.
