Tan Cheng Lock pushed to protect women’s rights, says granddaughter

Tan Cheng Lock, one of Malaysia's founding fathers and a respected politician, was also a tireless advocate for women's rights, according to his granddaughter Tan Siok Choo. Siok Choo revealed that her grandfather pushed for the enactment of the pre-independence Civil Marriage Act 1940 to protect widows' rights to their husbands' estates.

This Act mandated civil marriages to be registered and monogamous, a move aimed at securing the legal ownership of wives' inheritance in cases where marriages lacked proper documentation. Siok Choo explained that many Chinese customary marriages lacked written regulations, often leading to disputes over inheritance.

The Six Widows' Case of 1908 is a poignant example of the inequity faced by women in pre-Independence Malaysia. Six women, claiming to be the widows of a deceased man, sought shares of his estate, but without official proof of marriage, their claims were dismissed. Siok Choo noted that her grandfather felt this was profoundly unjust to women and tirelessly championed the Civil Marriage Act.

To underscore his commitment to this cause, he remarried his own grandmother under the Civil Marriage Act, demonstrating his personal belief in the law's importance.

Beyond advocating for marriage laws, Tan Cheng Lock vehemently opposed the "mui tsai" system, a Chinese practice where young girls from impoverished families were essentially sold or "fostered" to wealthy households. These young girls often faced exploitation and had little legal protection. Siok Choo recounted how her grandfather lobbied for the Mui Tsai Ordinance 1932, which provided some legal safeguards for these girls, citing Hong Kong's successful enactment as inspiration.

In a personal anecdote, Siok Choo shared how her grandfather rewrote his will to ensure equal inheritance for his two aunts, Alice and Agnes Tan, following a distressing encounter with the daughter of a friend who had been reduced to prostitution due to her father's unfair will. This incident deeply affected Cheng Lock, leading him to amend his own will to provide equal shares to his aunts, despite the fact that his own marriage and potential future children were recent events.

Siok Choo emphasized that her grandfather's actions were driven by a deep sense of fairness and a commitment to women's rights, even in the face of personal and social pressures.