Chin Phui Kong
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Datuk Chin Phui Kong (26 December 1923–20 January 2024) was a
Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
n world-renowned
ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...
, retired civil servant, author and
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
secret agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ''e ...
and veteran.


Taxa named in his honor

*'' Betta chini'', *''
Osteochilus chini ''Osteochilus chini'' is a species of cyprinid fish in the Labeoninae endemic to Sabah. ''Osteochilus chini,'' which means bony lip, feed on algae and are common in slow water habitats. Etymology Named in honor of Datuk (honorific title) Chin P ...
'' and *'' Neogastromyzon chini'' are among the
freshwater fish Freshwater fish are fish species that spend some or all of their lives in bodies of fresh water such as rivers, lakes, ponds and inland wetlands, where the salinity is less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine habitats in many wa ...
named after him.


Early life

Chin was born in
Sandakan Sandakan () formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of the sta ...
,
British North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, (present-day Sabah). The territory of North Borneo was originally establish ...
(now known as Sabah; part of Malaysia), in 1923. He attended Chung Hwa primary school in Sandakan before being sent by his family to
Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...
, China, for secondary school in 1941. He was stranded in China for a few years after World War II breaks out.


World War II


Commando training

The British approached Chin and other Malayan and
Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...
an students who were stranded in China in 1944 because of their trilingual ability; Malay, English, and
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
(including their native vernacular dialects, for his case,
Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...
dialect since he was of that subgroup). They were recruited to a joint Sino-British
task force A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology. Many ...
, and Chin willingly enlisted because he had no other choice at the time. Unaware of the nature of the task force to which he was assigned, the students were dispatched to India or Ceylon (now known as
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
) to receive
commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...
training from the
British military The British Armed Forces are the unified military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping e ...
. Chin was trained as a commando at the Eastern Warfare School in
Poona Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
, India, before being sent to Ceylon for jungle training. Chin was then commissioned as a Second lieutenant in the
British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...
and assigned to
Force 136 Force 136 was a far eastern branch of the British World War II intelligence organisation, the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Originally set up in 1941 as the India Mission with the cover name of GSI(k), it absorbed what was left of SOE's O ...
's Dragon Six unit before receiving parachute and demolition training in India.


Malaya

Chin was assigned to a group of five Force 136 agents in June 1945, including two other Borneoans, Ho Su Shen (father of Datuk Ho Jia Lit,
Liberal Democratic Party Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...
deputy secretary-general) and Liang Shi Ming. Their mission was to parachute into
Perak Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...
to assist and train
Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army The Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) was a communist guerrilla army that resisted the Japanese occupation of Malaya from 1941 to 1945 in World War II. Composed mainly of ethnic Chinese guerrilla fighters, the MPAJA was the largest ...
(MPAJA) guerillas, as well as to prepare Malaya for British forces to arrive. On 12 June 1945, he and four other agents boarded a bomber plane from
Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
for 12 hours before jumping into
Bidor Bidor (Jawi: بيدور) is a town and mukim in Batang Padang District, southern Perak, Malaysia. Geography Bidor is located 59 km southeast from state capital Ipoh and 116 km northwest of Kuala Lumpur. It is south of Tapah, north o ...
, Perak. Chin recalled seeing a smoke signal before jumping out of the plane in an audio interview with the
National Archives of Singapore The National Archives of Singapore (NAS) ( Malay: ''Arkib Negara Singapura'', Mandarin: 新加坡国家档案馆, Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் தேசிய காப்பகம்) is the national archives of Singapore. It was for ...
in 2005. The team then walked for two hours before arriving at the MPAJA camp.
Chin Peng Chin Peng (21 October 1924 – 16 September 2013), born Ong Boon Hua, was a British Malaya, Malayan Communism, communist politician, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, and revolutionary, who was the leader and commander of the Malayan Commun ...
was the commander of the camp where Chin arrived. Chin was tasked with interacting with
Orang Asli The Orang Asli are a Homogeneity and heterogeneity, heterogeneous Indigenous peoples, indigenous population forming a national minority in Malaysia. They are the oldest inhabitants of Peninsular Malaysia. As of 2017, the Orang Asli accounted f ...
from the Sakai tribe in addition to training MPAJA guerillas. He spent three months in the jungle before the Japanese surrendered on 2 September 1945. He took part in the
Ipoh Ipoh (, ) is the capital city of the Malaysian States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Perak. Located on the Kinta River, it is nearly north of Kuala Lumpur and southeast of George Town, Penang, George Town in neighbouring Penang ...
victory parade before reporting to Force 136 in
Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...
for his next mission. Force 136 was disbanded in 1946, and Chin was honourably
discharged Discharge may refer to: * The act of firing a gun * Termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from service Flow * Discharge (hydrology), the a ...
from military service with the rank of
First lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...
at the same time.


Ichthyology

Several months after World War II ended, Chin returned to China to continue his study. He was working as a government official in
Fuzhou Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...
for a month before been accepted to further his study in Bachelor of Science in
Marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...
at Amoy University (now known as
Xiamen University Xiamen University (XMU; ) is a public university in Siming, Xiamen, Siming, Xiamen, Fujian, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Pro ...
). Chin returned to Malaya in 1950 and applied to work for the British colonial fisheries department, where he remained until his retirement in 1978. He was the Director of the Department of Fisheries Sabah, which is the highest position he held. He is well-known in the field of
Ichthyology Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...
, having written multiple books and co-authored several others. To recognise his contributions to the field, he was awarded a
Datuk Datuk (or its variant Dato or Datu) is a Malay language, Malay honorific title commonly used in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, as well as a traditional title by Minangkabau people in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Use of the title various between loc ...
ship, and several fish species were named after him (e.g. ''Betta chini'', ''Osteochilus chini'' and ''Neogastromyzon chini''). His book is regarded as a national treasure, and his work was included as a text book for higher education institutions in Malaysia by then-Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad (; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author and doctor who was respectively the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and from 2018 to 2020. He was the ...
. His journals have also been published by the
International Development Research Centre The International Development Research Centre (IDRC; , ''CRDI'') is a Canadian federal Crown corporation. As part of Canada's foreign affairs and development efforts, IDRC champions and funds research and innovation within and alongside developi ...
and the
Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...
.


Taxon described by him

*See :Taxa named by Chin Phui-Kong


Later work

Chin was actively involved in writing about ichthyology after retiring from the government, and he was also involved in nature and history programmes. He was also elected for three terms as president of The Sabah Society, a non-profit organisation that preserves historical records about Sabah.


Honours


Honours of Malaysia

* : ** Knight Commanders of the
Order of Kinabalu The Illustrious Order of Kinabalu (Malay: ''Darjah Yang Amat Mulia Kinabalu'') is the only order conferred by the Governor of Sabah, Malaysia. Background The Illustrious Order of Kinabalu is established by virtue of Section 3(a) of State Honou ...
(PGDK) – Datuk ** Member of the Order of Kinabalu (ADK) ** Grand Star of the Order of Kinabalu (BSK)


International honours

*
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
: ** China War Memorial Medal ** Honorable certificate * United Kingdom: ** Pacific Star


Works

Chin is the author or co-author of several
textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions, but also of learners ( ...
s and
scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication designed to further the progress of science by disseminating new research findings to the scientific community. These journals serve as a platform for researchers, schola ...
s. Among his works are:


Books

* ''New species of fresh-water catfishes from North Borneo'' (1959). Co-author with Robert F. Inger. * ''The fresh-water fishes of North Borneo'' (1962). Co-author with Robert F. Inger. * ''Prawn otter trawl fishery in Sabah, Malaysia'' (1967) * ''Some aspects of oyster culture in Sabah'' (1975) * ''Oyster culture development in Sabah'' (1977) * ''The prawn fisheries of Sabah, Malaysia'' (1978). Co-author with Arthur C. Simpson. * ''Marine food fishes and fisheries of Sabah'' (1998) * ''My field trip to Ulu Kinabatangan, North Borneo, with Robert Inger'' (2010)


Articles/Journal

* A study on the fisheries development planning systems of Malaysia * Some aspects of oyster culture in Sabah * Technical Consultation on Shrimp By-Catch Use


Notes

*


References

{{Reflist Commanders of the Order of Kinabalu People from Sandakan Special Operations Executive personnel Malaysian people of Hakka descent British Indian Army officers 1923 births 2024 deaths Malaysian men centenarians Malaysian people of Chinese descent