Tan Cheng Lock

Tun Sir Tan Cheng Lock KBE, SMN, DPMJ, JP (5 April 1883 – 13 December 1960) was a Malaysian Peranakan businessman and a key public figure who devoted his life to fighting for the rights and the social welfare of the Chinese community in Malaya. Tan was also the founder and the first president of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA), which advocated his cause for the Malayan Chinese population. Background Born on 5 April 1883, Tan was the third son of Tan Keong Ann, who had seven sons and daughters, and a fifth generation Peranakan-Hokkien Chinese Malaysian living at 111, Heeren Street in Malacca. His ancestor, Tan Hay Kwan, a junk owner and trader, had migrated to Malacca from Zhangzhou prefecture in Fujian Province, China in 1771. His grandfather, Tan Choon Bok, was very wealthy but he felt his four sons were unworthy to inherit his business empire and wealth and he locked up all his assets in a family trust which ended 84 years after he died, in 1964. By then even Tan Cheng Lock had already been dead for four years. Tan Cheng Lock's father, Tan Keong Ann, was so devastated by his 'disinheritance' that he railed at his father's portrait daily and took to drink. He did not try to earn a living to support his family and instead lived off his annual allowance of $130 (Straits dollars) from the family trust in genteel poverty. Tan Cheng Lock refused to emulate his father. The young Tan attended Malacca High School and won the Tan Teck Guan Scholarship awarded to top performers in the school. He later continued his education at Raffles Institution in Singapore. He was unable to proceed to England to study law due to his financial situation so he decided to teach instead, and taught at Raffles Institution from 1902 to 1908. He was unhappy with his lot and was too impatient to be a teacher, so his mother, Lee Seck Bin, insisted he return to Malacca to work as an assistant manager of the Bukit Kajang Rubber Estates Ltd., a company which belonged to his maternal cousin, Lee Chim Tuan. Being a rubber planter suited him and he was a quick learner. Soon he was appointed visiting agent to Nyalas Rubber Estates in Malacca in 1909. In 1910, Tan was involved in the founding of three rubber companies. He started United Malacca Rubber Estate Ltd. himself, and he obtained the assistance of other businessmen to jointly set up Malacca Pinda Rubber Estates Ltd. and Ayer Molek Rubber Company, Ltd.