Tan Siew Sin
(1916–1988), Malaysian political figure. Tan Siew Sin was born in Malacca, Malaysia, on 21 May 1916, the only son of Tan Cheng Lock, a prominent businessman and founding member of the Malaysian Chinese Association. He was educated in Malacca and also attended Raffles College in Singapore as well as Middle Temple in London. Tan was a baba, a descendent of Chinese families that had migrated to Malaya before British colonization; these families adopted the local Malay customs, cultural practices, and language.
Tan Siew Sin was a major political figure in Malaya after it gained independence from the British and after the formation of Malaysia. He was elected a member of parliament in 1955. Between 1957 and 1959 he was minister of commerce and industry and in 1959 became the first minister of finance, a position he held until 1969, when he became minister with special functions (finance). In 1970 he resumed his duties as finance minister, a position he held until his retirement in 1974.
Tan Siew Sin knew the Malays well and spoke the language fluently. However, although president of the Malaysian Chinese Association—part of the Barisan Nasional coalition, the ruling political party in Malaysia since its independence from British rule—he spoke no Chinese. He, together with Malaysia's first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, who was a close friend, oversaw the imposition of Malay as the national language and the withdrawal of government assistance for schools providing Chinese-language education. The perception among the Chinese community that he had neglected their cultural interests led to the erosion of support for the Malaysian Chinese Association during his tenure as president.
Further Reading
Morais, J. Victor. (1981) Tun Tan: Portrait of a Statesman. Singapore: Quins Private Ltd.
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