They were a source of support for a significant portion of society, and this was possible due to their political, economic as well as social influence.
Straddling both legitimate and illegitimate businesses which involved employment of large amounts of labour as well as various clientele, and involvement with authorities who gained from the economic as well as societal influence the secret societies wielded, ensured their continued influence throughout long extended periods during the colonial period.
These would be what led to rise of the secret societies, their extended period of dominance, as well as their eventual decline (but not disappearance), in colonial Singapore.
The exponential growth in the ethnic Chinese population would be a key reason for the rise of the secret societies throughout most of the colonial period.
[4] For many Chinese secret societies and its members, they were instead marked by regional and/or dialect allegiances, such as being Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese or Hakka, and hailing from provinces of Southern China, namely Guangdong and Fujian, rather than seeing themselves as a homogeneous ethnic group.
Secret societies also provided some form of leadership and guidance given a colonial authority that was largely out of touch with the common man, in rather effective ways.
From having agents to recruiting labour from Southern China, settling the transportation means to Singapore and funnelling them to the various employers, such were some of the integrative services and solutions provided.
This does not end here, as in the control of illicit businesses, the daily lives of members in terms of the desire to smoke opium or for prostitution was also provided by the secret societies.
The secret societies were thus efficient in providing seamless services to members, and its many benefits were a draw, serving as an important push factor for membership.
Joining a secret society that spoke the same dialect as well as having members coming from a similar place in Southern China brought a sense of "home" to them.
While some of the better off ones had the financial means to make their way, be it from family back home or sponsored help, many could not afford the necessary fees needed to provide for the expenses of the journey.
In fact, the very same opium farming syndicates are also the ones that are involved with the lucrative pepper and gambier businesses, showing the extent of economic power and authority.
These activities often came together with opium consumption and had the similar consequences of causing further indebtedness, as well as in the case of prostitution saw greater health issues such as the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
[16] It thus formed a vicious cycle where the very people employed became consumers of what they helped to produce and become further indebted, supporting the businesses and activities of secret societies, and perpetuating this system of exploitation.
Such power could be wielded various ways, such as to be used in keeping order, which was something that the colonial state recognised for an extended period as a benefit of having the secret societies.
The riots were significant in two aspects: Firstly, the riots were all mainly amongst members of ethnic Chinese community, which clearly showed how as mentioned the so-called ethnic Chinese "group" was not at all homogeneous and each saw themselves as belonging to different affiliations based on factors like dialect or place of origin in China, as well as religious differences.
The Peace Preservation Act of 1867 gave authorities the power to deport Chinese immigrants convicted of crime, and thus served as a deterrence to secret societies and kept them at bay for fear of losing membership.
This ended up in an attempted assassination of Pickering in 1887, by a purported secret society member who sought to fling an axe to his head.
The end of the colonial era saw the continuation of secret societies, as well as the rise of new ones with a wide spectrum of types and means of organisation given the different societal context.
Significant Malay secret societies have also arisen, such as the OMEGA gang (acronym for Orang Melayu Enter Gangster Area), which continues to exist today.
Despite strict law enforcements in Singapore, it made it into the news after a significant lapse in time when it comes to gang fights with significant casualties on 8 November 2010, involving 6 students who suffered injuries from a slashing incident, involving youths who were linked to the "Sah Lak Kau".
[26] In fact, as recent as 3 March 2017, raids were made due to 7 men chanting the name "Sah Lak Kau" during the funeral procession of an ex-member.
However, there has been emerging scholarship on the ethnic minorities and their roles, filling up the gaps in our understanding of secret societies in colonial Singapore.
Leaving out the narrative of the other ethnicities would not give an accurate reflection of our understanding of secret societies in colonial Singapore, and hopefully more research would be carried out in these areas.
[29] Like how the Chinese secret societies were initially seen as being beneficial but later clamped down as well due to the problems they caused, the story and trend is repeated here.
The above shows that we should not look at secret societies as ethnically divided and isolated from one another, since they can intermix and collaborate with one another to fulfil their respective objectives.
While still much more research would be needed on this group, we know from records that their numbers were indeed significant and played an important role even in the major Chinese secret societies.
While secret societies today have changed in many ways, and are far less prominent as during much of the colonial period, their existence has been of a continued permanence.