Born in 1934 in the Kuala Lumpur mansion that later became the old Istana Negara, Chan Chin Cheung was the son of Chan Wing, a penniless migrant who struck one of the richest tin lodes in the world. A Touch of Class is his candid memoir of a life that ran alongside the making of modern Malaysia.

As a boy, he escaped Singapore on a Free French ship just days before it fell in 1942 and spent the war years in India. He went on to study medicine at Cambridge and Guy's Hospital in London, and came home as a doctor — before circumstances he never planned led him into the boardroom.

In 1972, he became the youngest director ever appointed to the board of Bank Negara Malaysia. There, he proposed one of the landmark deals of the New Economic Policy: bringing Sime Darby, then a British-controlled conglomerate under investigation for mismanagement, into Malaysian hands. He went on to sit on its board for 18 years. Soon after, the central bank governor asked him to revive Folex Industries, the largest bankrupt company on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange at the time, launching his long career as a rescuer of troubled listed companies.

Witty, frank and full of first-hand encounters with the people who shaped Malaysia and Singapore, this is an insider's view of business, power and integrity, and of the lessons a lifetime in the corridors of power can teach.

For readers of Malaysian history, business memoirs and the stories behind the nation's biggest corporate deals.

Dr Mubarak Chan Chin Cheung, M.A., MB.BChir. (Cantab), JMN was born on 12 November 1934 in Kuala Lumpur, on the same day as the founder of the Republic of China, Dr Sun Yat-sen. He received his early education at the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Mussoorie, India, followed by the Methodist Boys’ School in Kuala Lumpur. He later attended Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, and Guy’s Hospital, London.

Dr Chan completed his housemanship at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital and subsequently trained as an epidemiologist with the United States Army Medical Research Unit, Walter Reed Hospital, Washington D.C., at the Institute of Medical Research, Kuala Lumpur.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, he transitioned into entrepreneurship and eventually discovered his true calling in corporate restructuring. He became a specialist in rescuing and reviving troubled corporations listed on the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore Stock Exchange. Notably, he played a pivotal role in facilitating the transfer of control of Sime Darby PLC to Malay interests within the framework of the New Economic Policy, with the support of Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak and YBM Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Dr Chan was the youngest director appointed to Bank Negara Malaysia in 1972 and the sole promoter of Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) in 1975. He was also the oldest Fellow in Asia of the Royal Philatelic Society London. In 1997, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. appointed him as its first adviser from Asia.

A published author, Dr Chan has written Paper Currencies of the Straits Settlements, Malaya, Sarawak, British North Borneo and Brunei (1993) and The Creation of Money without Money (2009). His paper The Epidemiology of the Covid-19 Virus was accepted by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2021.

In 1993, he sponsored the exhibition Gilding the Phoenix at the National Museum of Singapore, which sparked a renaissance in the appreciation of Straits Chinese heritage, customs, and culture. Earlier, in 1966, he helped elevate shooting events in Malaysia to Olympic standards with the support of Tun Abdul Razak, then President of the Olympic Council of Malaysia.

Dr Chan takes pride in having achieved his successes legally and from humble beginnings. In 2009, he embraced Islam, describing it as “Strong, Clean, Compassionate.”