Tan Sri Prof. Chin Fung Kee (; 1920–1990) was a respected and outstanding Malaysian civil engineer in engineering practice, as well as engineering research and education. He is known for his excellence in geotechnical, structural and hydraulic engineering. He was a local pioneer engineer who played a key role in the development of engineering education, research and practice in the country. His knowledge and contributions benefited the engineering fraternity both nationally and internationally and his achievements were recognized worldwide.
Biography
Chin was born into a goldsmith family of Mr. Chin Siew Woon and Madam Chang Nyuk Khim in 1920 in China. His birth was registered in Macau. Like many overseas Chinese from Hoisan District of the Guangdong Province in China, the forefathers of Chin left China in the 1800s to seek their fortune in British Malaya. His forefathers came from the village of Loke Thoon in Hoisan, Guangdong District.
Chin completed his secondary education at the High School, Bukit Mertajam and was awarded a Straits Settlements Scholarship to study at Raffles College, Singapore where he obtained a First Class Diploma in Arts. He then taught in his old school until he won a Queen's Scholarship in 1949 to study Civil Engineering at the Queen's University Belfast, UK. In Belfast he won the Foundation Scholarship in Civil Engineering and the Belfast Association of Engineers Prize. In 1952, Chin graduated with First Class Honours in Engineering and proceeded to complete his master's degree at the same University while working as an assistant lecturer.
Academic career
Chin returned to Malaya in 1954 and served as an engineer with the Drainage and Irrigation Department before joining the University of Malaya in 1956 as lecturer and went on to senior lecturer and finally professor. He was acting Vice Chancellor for seven years and for a period he was simultaneously the professor and Dean of engineering, deputy and acting Vice Chancellor.
Achievement
He retired as Professor Emeritus in 1973 and joined Jurutera Konsultant (SEA) Sdn. Bhd. He was responsible for the design and construction supervision of many highways, bridges, high-rise buildings, reclamations and structures on soft ground.
Chin played a major role in the formation and development of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya. In 1957 after independence, the Government decided to set up the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. Together with other teaching staff, he volunteered to approach the then Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, to get his support to set up a Faculty of Engineering in Pantai Valley.
With the approval of the Tunku and an allocation of RM1.5 million only for the project, the team led by Chin went full swing to build the Faculty of Engineering at Pantai Valley. Within a period of only four months the engineering buildings were completed and equipment were moved from Singapore to Pantai Valley in Kuala Lumpur to enable the first session in engineering to continue in May 1958 without a break. For many nights, he had to sleep in his car to supervise the 24-hour work program.
When he was the acting Vice Chancellor, Chin was the de facto project director in the planning, design and construction of many buildings in University of Malaya, including the international award-winning Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya building.
During the early years of his tenure with the Faculty of Engineering Chin worked closely under the founding professor and Dean, C.A.M. Gray. Their great achievement, attained through the collective efforts of both staff and students, was to produce the first batch of five graduates in 1958 and to build up in a short period of a few years, a degree which achieved international recognition. A pass degree in engineering from the University of Malaya then was readily accepted by British universities for postgraduate studies which normally required a good honours degree.
After the retirement of Professor Gray, Chin took over the leadership of the Faculty. As Dean and acting Vice Chancellor he expanded and further developed the Faculty of Engineering into a reputable engineering school recognized internationally. Since the early days in the 1950s, many thousands of well educated and highly trained engineers have graduated from the University of Malaya to serve mainly in Malaysia and Singapore. Many of them have been, and some still are, holding key positions in the Government and private sectors in both countries. Many have also done well in postgraduate studies in leading universities overseas.
