Jun 16, 2010
Top cop dies
1962 shoot-out led to crippling of kidnap ring and earned police officer a medal for bravery
<!-- by line --> By K. C. Vijayan
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Retired assistant commissioner Ong Kian Tiong was cited for exceptional courage and highest qualities of leadership. -- ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN
THE cop who duelled with then-Singapore's public enemy No. 1 in a 1962 Geylang shoot-out has died, aged 89. A family spokesman said retired assistant commissioner Ong Kian Tiong died in his sleep at the family's home in Serangoon Gardens last Friday morning. Mr Ong joined the then-Straits Settlements police force in 1947 and enjoyed a career that spanned 25 years. But he is best known for that 1962 gun battle that killed gangland boss Oh Kim Kee, for which he was decorated for bravery.
In August 1962, Mr Ong, who was then with the Secret Societies Branch, led a team of officers in the 1.30am assault on a three-storey shophouse in Sims Avenue. The team came from a group of 12 officers involved in the crackdown. Their target: Kidnap king Oh Kim Kee, 30, who was wanted for two murders and four abductions and had been sought by police since January that year. As the cops broke open the entrance on the top floor, Oh blazed away with two revolvers. Mr Ong, being first in the line of fire, was hit in both arms. Officers ducked for cover and returned fire using revolvers and Stirling machine guns in the stand-off.
Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of the Straits Times.
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