Distinguished guests included Tan Chin Tuan Centennial Professors.
Mr Chew Kwee San (third from left) and Mr Tan Chin Tiong (right) signed the Handover Agreements.
Selected documents illustrating Tan Sri’s acts of philanthropy were displayed.
Ms Chew Gek Hiang received a set of the collection from Prof Wang Gung Wu.
Over 31,000 documents are stored in 83 boxes in the ISEAS library.
Handover Ceremony of the Private Papers of Tan Sri
9 Mar 2016
The private papers of the late Tan Sri (Dr) Tan Chin Tuan were handed over to ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute on 8 March 2016. Present to grace the occasion were TCTF Council members Ms Chew Gek Hiang and Mr Chew Kwee San, Mr Tan Chin Tiong, Director of ISEAS, Professor Wang Gungwu, Chairman of the ISEAS Board of Trustees and distinguished guests.
Guests viewed a video presentation on the archival process of preserving and digitizing the papers as well as gained insight on key aspects of the collection. This was followed by a guided tour of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak library where Tan Sri’s private collection would be stored. Tan Sri played key roles in the fields of business, politics and philanthropy in Singapore’s history. His papers have been entrusted to the institution to contribute towards documenting the development of Singapore’s socio-economic landscape in the 1950s to 1990s.
Ms Chew shared how her grandfather, Tan Sri, had impressed upon her the importance of not just giving money, but the giving of oneself. “He was a person who upheld his beliefs and convictions. If anyone is influenced upon reading his private papers, I think that would be one of his best contributions.”
Media coverage: The Straits Times, LianHe ZaoBao and Berita Harian.