IT TOOK Tan Lark Sye more than six years and two official proposals before the powers that be allowed him to set up Nanyang University, fondly known as Nantah, in Singapore. When it officially opened in 1956, it became the first university outside of China that took in high school graduates from the Chinese stream.

This was a big step considering that, before Nantah, graduates from Chinese high schools in Malaya who wanted to pursue a tertiary education had to go to China, but tight immigration control in the early 1950s made it exceedingly difficult. That, combined with a rising number of Chinese high school graduates, made Chinese community leaders quite concerned.

When his first proposal was rejected in 1950, Mr Tan, the former chairman of Hokkien Huay Kuan redoubled his efforts by pledging a personal gift of about S$5million dollars for the project when he proposed it again in 1953. His clan also donated 500 acres of land in Jurong, and when the plan was put forward, it found unanimous support from representatives of 215 Chinese associations. Despite the resignation of its first chancellor, Nanyang University offered its first classes in March of 1956 after a flag-raising ceremony officiated by Mr Tan.