Goh Eng Wah (1923 – 5 September 2015) was a film distributor, and one of the pioneers in Singapore's cinema industry. He founded Eng Wah Global Pte Ltd, a cinema operator specialising in Chinese movies imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Early life

Goh was born in 1923 in Muar, in

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...

, Malaya the eldest son in his family . He graduated from secondary school in Malaya but was unable to continue his education because of the Japanese Occupation. He then moved to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

to escape the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

, but lived under

Japanese occupation of Singapore , officially , was the name for Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II. Japanese military forces occupied it after ...

from 1942 to 1945.

Eng Wah Global Pte Ltd

His career started in 1945, when he together with a friend opened a cinema at Victory Theatre in Gay World Amusement Park at

Geylang Geylang is a planning area and township located on the eastern fringe of the Central Region of Singapore, bordering Hougang and Toa Payoh in the north, Marine Parade in the south, Bedok in the east, and Kallang in the west. Geylang is perha ...

. The cinema became popular locally, even though its program consisted only of Japanese propaganda films. Subsequently, Goh and his friend brought it to neighbouring theatre called the Happy Theatre. Two years later, Goh became sole owner, and began acquiring other theatres. In 1968, Eng Wah Theatres Organization Pte Ltd was established. He also financed several movies. He acquired Jubilee Theater (now part of the

Raffles Hotel Raffles Hotel is a British colonial-style luxury hotel in Singapore. It was established by Armenian hoteliers, the Sarkies Brothers, in 1887. The hotel was named after British statesman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern S ...

) and King's Theatre at Tiong Bahru in 1966. In the 1970s, he opened several cinemas in new HDB towns and the first cinema opened was at Toa Payoh and consequently opened others in Clementi, Ang Mo Kio and Kallang Bahru. Under his leadership, the firm became the leading film distributor in 1980s and became the first cinema operator to be listed on 4 July 1994 in the SGX. He was also engaged in other entertainment enterprises, opening a branch of the Crazy Horse Paris Cabaret in December 2005 His organization eventually owned 26 theatres halls,; he subsequently bought them back personally together with his daughter, Goh Min Yen, ''Business Times'' - 27 Aug 2008
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Properties

Goh have also owned several properties. * Hotel Fort Canning *The Legend Fort Canning *The Legends Golf & Resort Sdn Bhd * 321 Clementi * Jubilee Square

WE Cinemas Location

*321 Clementi

References

{{Authority control 1923 births 2015 deaths People from Muar People from Johor Malaysian emigrants to Singapore Singaporean film producers