For 11 year, the relatives of Mr. Boey Kai Hong (a well known Cantonese merchant and son of pawnshop millionaire in Singapore, Mr. Boey Pak Fook) disappeared during the Japanese occupation in March 1942, have been wondering what happened to him. Boey Kai Hong, who was 42 years was taken away by the Japanese from his office at Kwong Wai Siew Hospital on 6 March 1942 when the Japanese military police arrived at 4:30 pm with the intention of taking him for his role of leading the anti-Japanese resistance and supporting the China Relief Fund. He never returned.
Dream Clue
It was reported in the same article dated 22 December 1953, that a relative had been dreaming for days that he saw Mr. Boey Kai Hong's "spirit" hovering over an embankment outside Outram Road School, Singapore. The school was believed to be a Kempeitai depot during the occupation and they believe he was killed by the Japanese there. Diggers unearthed a few bones and a piece of blood-stained canvas after Boey Poh Kin (then 30 years old and a son of the late Mr. Boey Kai Hong) applied for a permit to dig. Labourers under Health Department, dug based on the identified "dream location" and found some remains. No skull was found and the bones - a small bit of skull, 2 pieces of rib and a portion of a palm were mixed up with others (some which were identified belonging to those of a child).
It was also mentioned in the same article that 36 human skulls and countless other bones have been discovered in the same area. These have been dug out by labourers between Outram Road School and Tiong Bahru junction in the last one-and-half years when they were laying cables. They were all found in trenches and are believed to have belonged to victims of the Japanese military police who had one of their headquarters in the school. The article went to mention:
THE SKULLS AND BONES HAVE BEEN REBURIED EITHER IN BUKIT BROWN OR HOLLAND ROAD CEMETERIES and the authorities simply marked them "male" or "female",
However the dream to dig at the spot - did bring forth further remains and among it was the remains of a tennis shirt which convinced his son and his uncle, Mr. Boey Kai Leng (brother of the deceased) that they have a good chance of finding the missing skull among the 36 unearthed from the area. The tennis shirt was recognised by Mr. Boey as that of his late father - a Y.M.C.A. tennis player in his day. The bones were sent to a pathologist to see if there is a link.
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| Outram Road School next to H.M. Prison (Outram Road Prison) |
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| Outram Road School |
The story so far
I am not able to find more details about whether eventually the remains of Boey Kai Hong was ever found and there is no burial entry of unknown remains coming into Bukit Brown from 1951 to 1953. For now this story is open-ended.


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