List of Malaysians of Chinese descent

This is a list of notable Malaysians of Chinese origin people, including original immigrants who obtained Malaysian citizenship and their Malaysian descendants. Entries on this list are demonstrably notable by having a linked current article or reliable sources as footnotes against the name to verify they are notable and define themselves either full or partial Chinese, whose ethnic origin lie in China.

This list also includes emigrant Malaysians of Chinese origin and could be taken as a list of famous Malaysians of Chinese origin.

Entertainment

Businesspeople

• Lim Kang Hoo – 19th richest person in Malaysia, as of 2014
• Cheong Yoke Choy – tin miner, philanthropist and benefactor of Chinese education during the British Malaya era
• Choong Chin Liang – businessman and philanthropist, "Heart Man" of Ipoh
• Chung Keng Quee – first Malaysian-Chinese capitalist; innovator in tin mining; owner of the largest mine of all in the country at that time, the Kong Loon Kongsi, in Kamunting, Perak; has business interests in Mergui, Peru, Hong Kong and China; founder of the Penang Chinese Town Hall
• Chung Thye Phin – first Malaysian-Chinese miner to introduce the latest appliances on the mines, under the supervision of a European engineer; founder of the Toh Allang Chinese Tin Company in Perak, the first Chinese limited liability company, in 1925; member of the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce
• Eu Tong Sen – founder of Eu Yan Sang
• Foo Choo Choon – Hakka tin miner, revenue farmer and businessman from Penang; in his time, was said to have been the richest Chinese person in the world
• Francis Yeoh – runs YTL Group; son of Yeoh Tiong Lay
• Lee Loy Seng – founder of Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad
• Lee Shin Cheng – Chairman/CEO of Malaysian conglomerate IOI Group; 2nd richest person in Malaysia as of 2011
• Leong Sin Nam – Malaysian businessman
• Lillian Too – feng shui master
• Lim Goh Tong – billionaire businessman who developed Genting Highlands and owns Genting Group
• Loh Boon Siew – of Boon Siew Honda
• Loke Yew – businessman and philanthropist during British Malaya
• Mark Chang Mun Kee – founder of MOL AccessPortal and JobStreet.com, current CEO of JobStreet.com
• Peter Pek – group managing director of the Malaysian operations of Mercatus+, spokesperson on branding
• Quek Leng Chan – chairman and co-founder of Hong Leong Group; 5th richest person in Malaysia as of 2011
• Robert Kuok – richest man in Malaysia and southeast Asia as of 2011
• Jeffrey Cheah – Sunway Group founder and chairman, the 19th richest person in Malaysia as of 2011
• Lim Kok Thay – current CEO of Genting Group; 13th richest person in Malaysia as of 2011
• William Cheng – Chairman of Lion Group, which also owns Parkson Group; 16th richest person in Malaysia as of 2011
• Teh Hong Piow – Chairman and founder of Public Bank; 6th richest person in Malaysia as of 2011
• Tiong Hiew King – media and timber tycoon, controls Chinese media, Ming Pao and Sin Chew Daily, managing director/CEO of Rimbunan Hijau Group; 10th richest person in Malaysia as of 2011
• Vincent Tan – businessman, owner of Berjaya Group; 9th richest person in Malaysia as of 2011
• Yeap Chor Ee – Was once the richest man within Malaysia, but the family is still considered to be one of the richest
• Yeoh Tiong Lay – founder of YTL Group; 7th richest person in Malaysia as of 2011
• Zang Toi – 5th Avenue New York fashion designer
• Chan Tien Ghee – current chairman of Cardiff City Football Club, England

Medicine, science and technology

• Wu Lien-teh (伍连德) (1879–1960) – renowned plague fighter and pioneer in the modernization of China's public health system; first medical student of Chinese descent to study at University of Cambridge in 1896, after winning the Queen's Scholarship held in Singapore; first Malaysian Chinese nominated to receive a Nobel Prize in Medicine, in 1935^[3]

• Gu Hongming - Penang-born scholar and famous professor in Peking University firstly established
• Lam Wei Haur - Malaysian scientist and professor in ocean engineering. He proposes of theoretical equations to predict tidal turbine wake and invents folding tidal turbine (FTT).
• Pua Khein-Seng (潘建成) – CEO of Phison Electronics Corporation, arguably one of the inventors of the USB flash drive^[4]
• Shu Jie Lam - Research Chemist at University of Melbourne

Legal

• Chan Sek Keong – Third Chief Justice of Singapore
• Chang Min Tat – former Federal Court judge
• Lim Beng Hong (B. H. Oon) (1898–1979) – pioneering female lawmaker
• Ong Hock Thye – former Chief Justice of Malaya
• Wee Chong Jin – First Chief Justice of Singapore
• Yong Pung How – Second Chief Justice of Singapore

Politicians

Sportspeople

Writers

• Gu Hongming 辜鸿铭 (1857–1928), famous Chinese scholar from Penang; in 1873 he began studying literature at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1877 with an M.A.
• Tash Aw – author of The Harmony Silk Factory, which made the Man Booker Prize 2005 longlist and won the 2005 Whitbread First Novel award
• Woon Swee Oan – author of wuxia novels
• Tan Twan Eng – Penangite author of The Gift of Rain, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize award, and The Garden of Evening Mists, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the IMPAC Literary Prize, and won the Man Asian Literary Prize and the Sir Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
• Kevin Nyiau 杨建伟, Kedah author of Hope is at the Turning Point | 希望在转角

Others

• Hussein Ye – Islamic scholar
• Ngeow Sze Chan – Chinese physician
• Wong Siew Te – zoologist and Malayan sun bear expert
• Felixia Yeap – also known as Raisyyah Rania, Malaysian model

See also

• List of Malaysians
• List of Malay people
• List of Malaysians of Indian descent

References