History
Tun Dato Sir Tan Cheng Lock was born in April 1883 at Heeren Street (Malay: Jalan Heeren), Melaka, the third son of a family of seven brothers and sisters. He was the fifth generation of Chinese Malaysian, his great great grandfather migrated to Malacca from China 1771.
He had five children. His son Tan Siew Sin was a Finance Minister in Malaysia. Madam Agnes Tan (his last surviving child), who made the gift for National University of Singapore (NUS) to honour her father's name. Tan Cheng Lock was a successful businessman in the Malayan rubber, tapioca and gambier industries. He died in 16 December 1960 at the age of 77.
Early life
Born on April 5, 1883 in Malacca, Tan Cheng Lock attended Malacca High School and won the Tan Teck Guan scholarship, which was awarded to top performers in the school. He later continued his education at Raffles Institution in Singapore. After graduation, he taught at the Raffles Institution from 1902 to 1908.
After he left the institution, he moved back to Malaya and joined the rubber industry as assistant manager of the Bukit Kajang Rubber Estates Ltd., which owned by his cousin. Picking up the skills of the trade quickly, he was appointed visiting agent to Nyalas Rubber Estates, Malacca in 1909.
In 1909, Tan started three companies on his own, which were Melaka Pindah Rubber Estates Ltd., United Malacca Rubber Estates and Ayer Molek Estates Ltd.
In 1912, he was nominated as Melaka Council Commissioner by the British government. He was also appointed a Justice of the Peace for Malacca. Months later, he was also nominated as the Commissioner of the Town Council for the towns and Melaka Port as well.
Two years later, in 1914, he resuscitated the Malacca Chinese Volunteer and was an ordinary member until 1919. The following year in 1915, the Strait Chinese British Association (SCBA) was revived by him, then later he was elected as the President of SCBA.
Patriotism
Like many Straits-born Chinese of his time, Tan was partial towards Britain but was deeply influenced by ideas of independence which were sweeping across many British colonies. He advocated the concept of a “united self-governing British Malaya”.
Because of their wealth, Tan and his son Siew Sin hid in India during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. During their time there, they witnessed the struggles of Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for independence, which inspired them to take up similar activities in Malaya.
Political career
In 1923, at the age of 40, he was appointed as an nominated member of the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements. Three years later and long before others did, Tun Tan spoke of a territorially unified and politically united Malaya in a speech to the council.
From 1933 to 1935, he was an unofficial member of the Straits Settlements Executive Council. He championed social causes like opium smoking, Chinese vernacular education and immigration issues.
MCA
On the 27 February 1949, Tun Tan founded the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) alongside with Tun Leong Yew Koh and Colonel H. S. Lee. Although he was 66 when elected to the position, Tun Tan was regarded as the only man able to bring the Malayan Chinese together in perhaps their most trying time.
The post-war years and the Emergency was a difficult and dangerous juncture for the community. The Chinese were deeply divided and their loyalty was under scrutiny. Among the Chinese, only Tun Tan had the stature to engage with senior Malays such as Datuk Onn Jaafar and Tunku Abdul Rahman at a time of imminent constitutional changes in the country. Strongly anti-communist, he was also trusted by the British colonial officials.
He joined the Malay leaders – first through the All Malaya Council of Joint Action, which he chaired, and then the Communities Liaison Committee headed by Dato' Sir E. E. C. Thuraisingham – to fight for constitutional change and work towards inter-ethnic cooperation.
The goal for the foundation of the Malayan Chinese Association was to unite the Chinese population in Malaya, including the protection of the rights and interests of the Chinese, also to work with the colonial government to stop the spread of communism and to work with other races to achieve the independence of Malaya. The MCA branches had been set up after their campaigns had attracted more than 200,000 members.
Soon later, in 26 September 1951, he had supported the idea of Dato' Onn to form the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP) in Kuala Lumpur with co-operation of various races as her theme of struggle. However, the formation was choppy, which due to the fact that Dato' Onn Jaafar was not co-operative on the issue of citizenship.
In the end, Tun Tan decided that only a Chinese party could safeguard the interests of his community and that multi-ethnic cooperation was more likely to be achieved through partnership with UMNO. With that, the MCA joined with UMNO to form the Alliance, the precursor to the Barisan Nasional. However some people do not agree that he acted in best interest of Malaysian Chinese as some felt that the marginalisation of Malaysian Chinese would not be so severe had the British rule until now citing Hong Kong as an example.
In 1952, Tan Cheng Lock and the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) under Tunku Rahman’s leadership contested the election as partners. He was best remembered for his contributions in the business and political arenas and his work for integrating between the Chinese and the Indian communities to the nascent Malayan society.
Today, Tun Tan is acknowledged as a founding father of independent Malaya, along with Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak and Tun V.T. Sambanthan.
(Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Cheng_Lock)
