Monday, August 27, 2007

Low Ti Kok



LOW TI KOK (1877 -1942)

Low Ti Kok was born in a village called Kuimei, Anxi District of Fujian Province, China. It was then under the government of Manchu Dynasty, i.e. Guangxu 3rd Year according to the Chinese calendar. He arrive in Klang at his youthful age of 20 and later moved inland to Serendah, Selangor where he helped his uncle in his business. Three years later he moved to Kuala Lumpur to seek better opportunities. He managed to make his living and with some savings, he went back to his homeland and married a village lady of surname Lee.

Low Ti Kok arrived in Kajang at the age of 28 and started his venture into alcohol and sundries business. Later, he found tin mining and rubber planting a good business which proof him successful and made him a rich man in town. Mr. Low was a philanthropist and had been very generous in contributing to Anti-Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s. He was elected as Chairman of the Hulu Langat District Nanyang Homeland Aid Committee ( Nanyang Huaqiao Chouzhenhui). Besides his commitment in providing aid to war victims in his homeland, he was the main contributor to the reconstruction of Yu Hua School which was completed in 1918. Today, Yu Hua School Hall is named in his honor. He was also perceived as aides to the British colonialist government in settling dispute within local community and assisted the authority in local development. He was honored Justice of Peace by the Queen besides naming the road in front of Yu Hua School as Low Ti Kok Road or Jalan Low Ti Kok.

Mr. Low passed away in 1942 at his house in Hong Bee Estate in Sungai Jelok. A Grand Funeral procession was carried out after the Japanese surrendered in 1945. His body was buried in the Hokkien Cemetery just behind Kajang High School. Today, the Hulu Langat Hokkien Association building standing along Jalan Timur was formerly the mansion of the late Low Ti Kok, JP.



This article was contributed by
Mr. Lee Kim Sin
email : leekimsin@myjaring.net

5 comments:

Min Chan said...

Low, is Low Ti Kok related to you? I was wondering why you put up an article on him too.

Anonymous said...

I know his grand nephew, studying in KHS now. lol.

Kc and Yk said...

Yes min we are related

Kc and Yk said...

Actually his great great grand nephew sounds more correct

Philip Tan said...

Dato Low Chee Choon, grand nephew of Low Ti Kok, was a classmate of mine in Kajang High School in the class of 1962. We just had a get together on Saturday 29 July 2017 hosted by another classmate Lee Guan Seng. Among the teachers present were Dato V.L. Kandan, Mr. and Mrs. Teh Sham Fook. Mrs Teh Sham Fook was the Arts teacher who we knew as Miss Chia.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/photos.geni.com/p13/50/00/b5/63/53444844cfd83741/29_july_2017_lunch_hosted_by_lee_guan_seng_edited_original.jpg

Low Ti Kok was a good friend of my grandfather Tan Pow. I understand they were founding members of Selangor Hockien Association.

As a keen Chinese genealogist, I am trying to locate the ancestry records, zupu (族譜) of Low Ti Kok for Chee Choon. I understand Low Ti Kok is the eldest of three sons while Chee Choon’s grandfather is the second.
My ancestral place in China is Hushan (姑山), Yongchun County (永春县), Fujian Province (福建省). Yongchun County is just next to Anxi County (安溪县) and Nan’an County (南安县).

The chart below that I had drawn up shows how various current clan members from Malaysia, Singpapore, China, Hongkong, Taiwan and are related to one another.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/photos.geni.com/p13/46/74/5c/9f/534448425bf45973/scroll_4_for_xiao_wei-reduced_size_3__original.jpg