THE PERAK PIONEER & NATIVE STATES ADVERTISER
VOL VII TAIPING - SATURDAY DEC 14, 1901 NO. 143 PAGE 2
THE LATE CAPTAIN AH KWI
By the death of Captain Chang Keng Kwi, which occured at his residence in Penang on Thursday night, one of the most picturesque figures in the history of Malaysia has been removed.
Precise information as to the date of his arrival in Perak is difficult to obtain, but it is apparently certain that he has passed over forty-five years in the State before he retired to Penang.
His early life was full of vicissitudes and he is supposed to have made and lost two or three fortunes before laying the foundation of the collosal wealth of which he was master at the date of his decease.
His name becomes prominent in the official records for the first time in the early seventys when he was the head of one of the two great factions who were at that time waging incessant war at Kamunting, the then principal source of tin in the state.
Sir Hugh Low's efforts having proved successful and a state of peace having succeeded the former lawlessness, Captain Ah Kwi prospered, and we find his name as being appointed an unofficial member of the first State Council in 1877, a position which he had held until advancing age compelled him to relinquish the duties in favour of his son, Mr Chang Thye Phin, in 1900.
All local elecmosynary institutions always found in him a generous patron and his munificent gifts on such occassions as the two Jubilees of Her late Majesty will not soon be forgotten.
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