Yap Kwan Seng

Yap Kwan Seng was born in 1846 in the Chak Kai district of China. He moved to Malaya at the age of 18 and worked as a tin miner in Seremban. In Selangor he began his work to help pioneer the tin mining industry and thus made his fortune. He also provided to poor.

In 1870, Yap left for Selangor where he began his hard work to help pioneer the tin mining industry. He made his fortune in tin-mining. It is said he had a workforce of 7,000 and soon owned more tin mines than any of his contemporaries. As a businessman, he foresaw an increased demand for bricks in fast-growing Kuala Lumpur and established a kiln in a district which came to be called Brickfields, a name by which it is still known today.

Yap was elected the fifth Kapitan in 1890 and was also appointed a member of the State Legislative Assembly of Selangor. He ran his own small police force that helped him manage his many business interests. Yap was also the first Chinese to serve on the Kuala Lumpur Sanitary Board. During the Pahang War in 1892 and the Boer War, Yap assisted the British by providing transportation, supplies and funds. Yap also helped introduced the Chinese system of mining in West Africa when he sent thirty of his miners to assist the governor Sir William Maxwell in establishing the mining industry.

Kapitan Yap was a firm believer in education and co-founded one of the oldest schools in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia –Victoria Institution. Among his numerous achievements, perhaps one of the most significant is the founding of Pooi Shin Thong providing free medical services to the poor. The center grew and was later renamed Tung Shin Hospital, located along Jalan Pudu. The expenses were, of course, underwritten by the Kapitan himself. He also co-founded the Tai Wah Ward of the Pauper’s Hospital that became the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital as well as Chak Kai Koong Kon in Jalan Sultan. His philanthropic deeds extended beyond Malaya and it is said that a year before he died in 1901, he donated the princely sum of ten thousand dollars towards famine relief in India.

Yap died in 1902 and was remembered as a community leader who was greatly concerned with the welfare of the people and his charity initiatives. After his death in 1902, the position of Kapitan was abolished.