Tan Sri Dato' Low Meng Tak (1922 – February 27, 2013) was a Chinese Malaysian businessman and philanthropist. He is the grandfather of international fugitive

Low Taek Jho Low Taek Jho (born 4 November 1981) is a Malaysian businessman and fugitive who is wanted by Interpol since 2016 for his key role in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal. Jho is alleged to have stolen over US$4.5 billion from the state ...

who allegedly stole more than $4.5 billion USD from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund

1MDB 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB; ) is an insolvent Malaysian strategic development company, wholly owned by the Minister of Finance (Incorporated). In 2015, the company became the subject of a major international corruption scandal, wi ...

Early life

Low was born in

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in 1922. Low immigrated to

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 ...

and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

in the 1940s, and despite being poor and uneducated started a business.

Career

Low was an entrepreneur and a businessman, interested mainly in iron-ore mining, liquor distilleries, and wine making between 1960 and 1970 in China and Thailand. He also invested in real estate across Asia, of which a portion has been sold over the years. Over the years, Low Meng Tak diversified the family’s business into agriculture and aquaculture, plantations, commodities trading and equity investment, among others. The family fortune was consolidated in 2008 into a global family trust for estate planning purposes. The family's fortune was based also on the sale and development of the remaining land bank over the years. His son, Tan Sri Larry Low Hock Peng, was the founder and an executive for an investment holding company called MWE Holdings Bhd. Larry was involved in a diversified range of businesses such as textiles, electronics, property, industrial, leisure, plantations and corporate services. Through this, he greatly grew employment opportunities and the economic standing of many in the community. He continued boosting opportunities for those around him in his next project, when he co-founded the Frencken Group Ltd in 1995. He has been the non-executive non-independent chairman of the group since its inception and was appointed as the group’s director in July 2000. Larry’s involvement in these various well-established projects greatly increased the Low family’s wealth. His grandson

Jho Low Low Taek Jho (born 4 November 1981) is a Malaysian businessman and fugitive who is wanted by Interpol since 2016 for his key role in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal. Jho is alleged to have stolen over US$4.5 billion from the stat ...

is a global investor and philanthropist accused of being involved in the

1MDB scandal The 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, often referred to as the 1MDB scandal or just 1MDB, is an ongoing corruption, bribery and money laundering conspiracy in which the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) w ...

, which involved Malaysia's then-Prime Minister

Najib Razak Mohammad Najib bin Abdul Razak (, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. In 2020, he was convicted of corruption in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, on ...

and the channeling of funds from

to Najib’s personal bank accounts. As a businessman, Jho Low invested in numerous companies and investment projects of various sizes and complexity, including in media and entertainment, consumer and retail, real estate, and infrastructure. Low Meng Tak died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

in February 2013.

Philanthropy

Low Meng Tak donated money to fund building of schools in

Puning Puning ( zh, c=, p=Pǔníng, s=普宁, t=普寧; Teochew: Pou2 leng5), officially Puning City, is a county-level city located in Eastern Guangdong, China, under the administration of the city, Jieyang. Nevertheless, its administrative power in ec ...

China, as well as scholarships for primary schools and medical centres in

Guangdong, China ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. His grandchildren

and Szen Low incorporated the Low Meng Tak foundation (Jynwel Foundation) on his behalf, and donated to various organizations.

Honours

* : **

Commander of the

Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia The Most Esteemed Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia () is a Malaysian federal award presented for meritorious service to the country and awarded by the sovereign. The order was instituted on 15 April 1966 and gazetted on 30 June 1966 ...

(PSM) – Tan Sri (2013)

References

{{Reflist 1922 births 2013 deaths Malaysian businesspeople Malaysian philanthropists Chinese emigrants to Malaysia 20th-century philanthropists Chinese expatriates in Thailand