Koh Lay Huan

Koh Lay Huan was a wealthy and educated man who had rebelled against the Manchu Qing Dynasty and fled to Siam and the Malay States, to eventually settle in Penang as its first Kapitan China. He was a merchant, planter, tax farmer, Chinese secret society headman, and one of a handful of pioneering leaders of Penang.

Koh Lay Huan was from T'ung-an county, Zhang Zhou Prefecture in the Fujian Province, on the southeast coast of China. At the time, Fujian was at the focus of the activities of Tiandihui (Heaven and Earth Society), a secret society aiming at the overthrow of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Having become involved in rebellious activity, Koh Lay Huan was forced to flee to the south part of Siam, where he settled successfully.

He became a close ally of the headman of Nakhon Srithammarat (who would, around 1821, marry one of Koh's daughters in Penang). Later, encouraged by commercial prospects, he moved to Kedah where he again settled successfully, kept a second family, and became Kapitan Cina of Kedah at Kuala Muda.

In 1786 Francis Light started to develop Penang, at that time settled with only about a hundred Malay fishermen, but the population would grow fast - to 5,000 in 1789 and 10,000 ten years later. Koh Lay Huan had a share in that success. Already a short time after Light arrived, Koh Lay Huan came to visit him and brought with him, from Kuala Muda, Kedah, several boatloads of Chinese and Malays to clear the land, inhabit, trade and generally develop the island. At their inaugural meeting, Koh presented Light with a present of some fishing nets. In May 1787 Light appointed Koh as the first Kapitan Cina of Penang. Also, Francis Light and Koh Lay Huan together started the cultivation of pepper in Penang.