Goh Eng Wah facts for kids

Goh Eng Wah (born 1923, died 2015) was a very important person in Singapore's movie industry. He helped start many cinemas and brought exciting films to people. He also founded a company called Eng Wah Global Pte Ltd, which showed many popular Chinese movies from places like Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Early Life and Challenges

Goh Eng Wah was born in 1923 in Muar, a town in Johor, which was then part of British Malaya. He was the oldest child in his family. After finishing secondary school, he could not continue his studies. This was because of the Japanese Occupation during World War II.

To escape the Imperial Japanese Army, he moved to Singapore. However, Singapore was also under Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945. Life was very tough during these years.

Starting a Movie Business

After the war ended in 1945, Goh Eng Wah began his career. He teamed up with a friend to open a cinema. This cinema was located at the Victory Theatre in Gay World Amusement Park in Geylang. Even though it only showed Japanese propaganda films, it became very popular with local people.

Later, Goh and his friend moved their cinema to a nearby place called the Happy Theatre. Just two years later, Goh became the only owner of the business. He then started buying other movie theatres.

Growing Eng Wah Global

In 1968, Goh officially created Eng Wah Theatres Organization Pte Ltd. He even helped pay for some movies to be made! He bought famous places like Jubilee Theatre (which is now part of the Raffles Hotel) and King's Theatre in Tiong Bahru in 1966.

In the 1970s, he opened new cinemas in areas where many people lived, called HDB towns. The first one was in Toa Payoh. After that, he opened more cinemas in Clementi, Ang Mo Kio, and Kallang Bahru.

Under Goh's leadership, his company became a top film distributor in the 1980s. This meant they were very good at getting movies from filmmakers to cinemas. On July 4, 1994, Eng Wah Global became the first cinema company to be listed on the SGX. This means its shares could be bought and sold on Singapore's stock exchange.

Goh also got involved in other fun businesses. For example, he opened a branch of the famous Crazy Horse Paris Cabaret in December 2005. Eventually, his organization owned 26 movie halls. Later, he and his daughter, Goh Min Yen, bought these cinemas back personally.

Properties Owned

Goh Eng Wah also owned several important properties. These included:

• Hotel Fort Canning
• The Legend Fort Canning
• The Legends Golf & Resort Sdn Bhd
• 321 Clementi
• Jubilee Square

WE Cinemas Locations

Today, you can find WE Cinemas at:

• 321 Clementi