Malaysian Heroes - Henry Lee Hau Shik For many of us, the name Henry Lee Hau Shik would be unfamiliar but I bet you know Tun H.S Lee. Colonel Tun Sir Henry Lee Hau Shik, SMN, KBE, JP; also known as H.S. Lee was born on 19 November 1900 in Hong Kong with ancestry in the village in Dalujie, Zitongfang, Zhenlong Town, Xinyi City, Guangdong Province, China. Lee was the eldest son of Lee Kwai-lim and Kam Kwok-chun. He migrated to Malaya in 1924 to take over his familys business in tin mining. Knowing that it was important for him to be known by the public, Lee kept himself active in the guilds and Chinese clan associations. He helped to form the Guangdong Association, Chinese Mining Association, and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. When Japan invaded China in 1937, Lee headed the Selangor China Relief Fund in support of China. Lee was known for his association with Chinas Kuomintang Party. In 1941, when war waged in Malaya, Lee and his family evacuated to India as the Japanese had put a price on his head. He met Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing, China. Knowing of his Cambridge background and close association with the British, Chiang appointed him a colonel and, in that capacity, Lee liaised between the British and Chinese armies along the China-Burma border. Lee was famed for playing an important role in Malaysian politics and was the founder of China Press on 1 February 1946. In 1949, together with Leong Yew Koh and Lim Chong Eu, Lee formed the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA). Lee played a key part in forging an electoral alliance with Umno in 1952 that later became the Alliance Party (now Barisan Nasional). Despite initial opposition both within Umno and MCA, Tun H.S. Lee was one of the key leaders who persuaded the two communal parties to create a coalition that has since governed the country. He is generally credited with initiating in 1952 an UMNO-MCA electoral alliance that marked the start of an enduring inter-ethnic coalition, a partnership which soon included the Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) and which led Malaya to independence He was part of the Alliance team led by Tunku Abdul Rahman that held independence talks in 1956 in London and was the only Chinese signatory to the Malayan independence agreement. He was Transport Minister from 1953 to 1956 and was appointed the first Finance Minister of an independent Federation of Malaya in 1957. Two years later, he resigned his post due to ill health. Lee founded or was actively involved in many institutions and organisations, including Bank Negara Malaysia, the Lady Templer Hospital, China Press, the Olympic Council of Malaysia, and the Malaysian Golf Association. He died in 1988 in Kuala Lumpur. Jalan Bandar – originally known as High Street – was renamed Jalan Tun H.S. Lee in his honour.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 06:22:11 +0000
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