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Tan Kah Kee Foundation

The Tan Kah Kee Foundation was originally known as the Tan Kah Kee scholarship. It was established by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce in 1961 in honour of Tan, Kah Kee, a prominent Chinese businessman, pioneer and a philanthropist who contributed extensively to the field of education here by setting up several educational institutions. The Tan Kah Kee scholarship was converted into the Tan Kah Kee Foundation in 1983.

History
Tan Kah Kee (a.k.a. Chen, Chia Keng) (b. 21 October 1874, Jimei, Tong'an, Quanzhou, Fujian - d. 12 August 1961, Beijing, China), arrived in Singapore in 1890 as a 17-year old seeking and made his fortune within the next 50 years. Besides building a huge business empire extending to industries such as pineapple canning, brickwork, shipping, rubber manufacturing and processing, Tan was also a philanthropist devoted to the cause of education. He helped set up many schools here, including the Tao Nan School, Ai Tong School, Nan Chiau High School, Chongfu Primary School and Kong Hwa School. In 1918, he founded the first Chinese secondary school in Singapore, the Nanyang Chinese High School at Bukit Timah Road. He also donated a large amount of money to set up the Anglo-Chinese School and Raffles College. In 1955, along with Tan, Lark Sye, he co-founded the Nanyang University, the precursor of the present day Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore.

When Tan Kah Kee passed away in August 1961, the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce held a memorial service in his honour the following month on 10 September 1961. The memorial service drew a crowd of more than 5000 representatives from over 280 associations and clans, who came to pay their respects to the great soul. With a donation of S$100,000, the Tan Kah Kee Scholarship Fund was established during this event to keep the Tan Kah Kee's spirit of education alive. The Tan Kah Kee Scholarship Fund became the Tan Kah Kee Scholarship Trust Fund in April 1968. Money generated by the fund was first used to offer scholarship to students from four institutions. The fund's small capital proved to be a limiting factor in contributing sufficiently and thus the fund was converted to a foundation in 1982 - 1983 when the government granted it a Public Character status allowing it to raise an endowment fund of S$8 million.

Description
The mission of the foundation today is to foster education, entrepreneurship and promote culture. Its level of activity today is beyond the confines of the Chinese community as it also grants scholarship to students of other races. The Tan Kah Kee Foundation began giving out the Tan Kah Kee Postgraduate Scholarship to Singapore citizens and permanent residents for full-time Masters or PhD studies in any discipline, regardless of race or religion, from 1983 onwards. In May 1986, Nobel Laureate Professor Yang, Chen Ning brought up the idea of an Young Inventors' Award to encourage young people to be inventive. The Tan Kah Kee Young Invetors' Award was thus established. In 1995, the award became a jointly organised one, along with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research which was previously known as the National Science & Technology Board.

Since 1984, the foundation has been inviting prominent scholars and professionals from various countries to hold lectures on topics related to science, education and arts for the Singapore public. Called the Tan Kah Kee Forum, the Tan Kah Kee Foundation lecture has been delivered by eminent personalities in the past, such as Nobel Laureates Yang Chen Ning in 1987 and Yuan, Tseh Lee in 1988. The Tan Kah Kee Foundation also administers a University Endowment Fund, under which it gives out the Tan Kah Kee Professorship and Tan Kah Kee Gold Medal Award. The Tan Kah Kee Professorship was launched on Tan Kah Kee's birthday on 21 October 1996 with a donation of S$1.5 million from the Tan Kah Kee Foundation and a matching grant from the government.


Author
Naidu Ratnala Thulaja



References 
Chen, J. (1994). The memoirs of Tan Kah-Kee (pp. 1-54, 289-337). Singapore: Singapore University Press.
(Call no.: RSING 338.04092 TAN)

Yong, C. F. (1987). Tan Kah-kee: The making of an overseas Chinese legend (pp. 1, 8, 11, 12, 15-123, 133-188, 189-224, 343). Singapore: Oxford University Press.
(Call no.: RSING 338.040924 YON)

Nobel Laureate to deliver Tan Kah Kee lecture. (1988, October 5). The Business Times, p. 2.

Tan Kah Kee forum to focus on information technology. (1989, November 28). The Straits Times
p. 23.

Tan Kah Kee Foundation offers postgrad scholarships. (1991, July 30). The Straits Times, p. 26.

The Tan Kah Kee Foundation. (n.d.). Background history. Retrieved February 25, 2004, from www.tkk.wspc.com.sg/tkk/foundation/found_eng.shtml


Further Readings
Gon, B. C. (1985, August 8). Towards a uniquely Singaporean culture. The Straits Times. 

The information in this article is valid as at 2004 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

Subject
Organisations>>Associations
Associations, institutions, etc.--Singapore
Scholarships--Singapore
People and communities>>Social groups and communities
Education

Librarian Recommendations
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