Yap Ah Loy or Yap Tet Loy was born in the Kwangtung Province of China is 1837. He was the son of a poor peasant family and never went to school. At the age of 18, he came to Malaya to work in a tin mine at Durian Tunggal, Melaka. He married Kok Kang Keown, a local of Malacca. When the tin mine closed down, his uncle wanted to send him back to China. However, he lost all his money for his passage back to China through gambling and was not able to go back to China. He then went to Lukut to work as a kitchen helper in a tin mine. At the age of 22, he was made assistant head-fighter when fighting broke between local Malay chiefs and Chinese tin miners. He nearly lost his life but was saved by a family of charcoal burners.
	Two years later, he was made Kapitan China of Sungei Ujong. The then Kapitan of Kuala Lumpur, Liu Ngim Kong invited Yah Ah Loy to Kuala Lumpur to help him manage his business interests. Yap Ah Loy became a prominent citizen and built the Sze Si Yeah Temple. His courage and leadership ability contributed to his appointment as the Kapitan China of Kuala Lumpur in 1868 at the age of 31. He then set about maintaining peace and developing Kuala Lumpur. The tin boom in 1879 bought many miners to Kuala Lumpur. Yap Ah Loy maintained his influence and his reputation for enterprise. He kept peace among 10,000 Chinese in town with the aid of only 6 policemen. In 1881, he introduced the first steam pump into Malaya. He developed much of the land of Kuala Lumpur and owned over a quarter of all the buildings in town. In 1884, he founded the first Chinese school in Kuala Lumpur. Yap Ah Loy died in 1885 at a young age of 48.

Audio   Audio 1

Video   video 1

Image   Image 1     Image 2     Image 3     Image 4     Image 5