In 1967, Indonesian hooligans and mobsters warned Thomas Cup player Datuk Tan Yee Khan, “You menang, You Mati”. It means, “If you win, we will kill you”, he said in an exclusive interview with Newswav.com at his Pangkor Sea View resort hotel. This was the darkest day of his badminton winning streak.
Please look at the video from the 7th minute when the tension was created during the game:
Whether Tan was wielding a badminton racket or swinging a golf club in the past, he was determined and believed he had to be better than anyone else. At 83 today, Tan is alert and vividly remembers the events more than 50 years ago.
See the video of Tan speaking up on “You win, you die” and about his scenic and beachside hotel, which he manages. “Now I don’t have anything in my pocket.” Tan is also a great singer, as seen in the video. He sang songs from memory without looking at notes: Sealed with a Kiss, Love Is Like a Violin, Love You More than I Can Say and Sakura.
“I almost died playing badminton for my country. They held a knife before us, intimidating us, ‘You win, you die’ on the Jakarta badminton court. It all happened after my doubles partner Ng Boon Bee, and I won the first set, and when we almost won the second game (13-3), the crowd broke loose and ran into the court. We were leading, and they blocked us,” Tan, 83, reminisced about the scary incident. There was uproar and unrest, and the tournament had to be halted when Indonesian spectators descended to the court, causing havoc. The game had to be called off.
In addition to the death threat, Tan had many close calls to death. “I died almost six times in my life. The first was when my mother took me to China. At five years old, I was bitten by a snake and five more times when I almost died during and after badminton games,” Tan said.
You can watch the match between badminton legends Tan Yee Khan/Ng Boon Bee from Malaysia vs Muljadi vs Agus Susanto from Indonesia at the Thomas Cup 1967 when Malaysia won the Cup.
Yee Khan-Boon Bee became the world's best men's doubles pair, amassing no less than 20 international titles from 1960-1969, notably winning the All-England titles (1965-1966) and Asian Games gold (1962 and 1966) twice.
While Yee Khan transformed into a national golfer after his badminton retirement, Boon Bee was a triple international who represented Malaysia in rugby and football, too.
"We're the rare breed of athletes capable of doing well in several sports," said Yee Khan, who won the 1970 Malaysian Amateur Golf Open barely nine months after retiring from badminton.
"We trained hard because we always strived to make the country proud in the sport we played. Unfortunately, I feel we could have gotten better recognition from the government," said Yee Khan.
“I played for the country, not for money. Now, I have nothing left in my pocket because I used all my savings to educate them to be professionals.”
Tan hopes to earn money with his three other brothers by selling the Sea View resort adjacent to the beach. “I do not have any savings now. I used it all to educate my children. Life is tough after 83, and now I manage this hotel hoping to make some money, and it is not coming.”
So, he has put the hotel for sale with the other directors. Any interested party or corporation can call and speak to the management of the hotel.
Sea View Hotel is located in Pasir Bogak, Pangkor island, about 30 minutes by ferry from Lumut, Peninsular’s coastal town. The 60- hotel rooms and chalets of Sea View Hotel provide comfortable and cosy guest rooms with the best value and reasonable rates.
The room types are available in Double Room, Family Room, Family Chalet, Super Deluxe and Chalet. Tan said that Sea View Hotel’s objective is always to provide a comfortable place at a reasonable rate. “Come and visit us at Pangkor. You will have all the comfort that awaits you at Sea View Pangkor,” said Tan, who started playing badminton at 17.
Though capable of high-level singles (Tan won the "World Invitational" tourney in 1964 and ousted Erland Kops in the first round of the 1966 All England tournament). Yee Khan was primarily a doubles player who won numerous major international in partnership with Ng Boon Bee.
Powerfully built and substantially bigger than most Asian players of his day, he was reputed to be the hardest smasher in the game. There were several incidents when shuttles broke in his powerful, mighty smashes. He consecutively won the coveted All-England men's doubles with Boon Bee in 1965 and 1966.
Plagued by back problems he retired from badminton competition in 1969. He was elected to the World Badminton Hall of Fame in 1998. Tan has trained several national players, including the Sidek brothers.
From being a world champ shuttler, Tan became a hotelier and has managed the Sea View Hotel in Pangkor for over 40 years. Until a few years ago, Tan was full of zest, fishing and cooking meals for his friends and guests visiting the hotel. He demonstrated his cooking skills by cooking a variety of seafood cuisine. He is now seeking sponsors for writing his book WORLD CHAMP Tan Yee Khan SHUTTLER to HOTELIER.
“In the doubles, the older generation cannot forget the formidable pair of Datuk Tan Yee Khan and Datuk Ng Boon Bee, who also took the badminton arena by storm. These stars held court and became Malaysian heroes when the game was played in the old scoring format. The older generations who followed badminton must remember the 15-match point scoreline before it was changed to 21 points,” wrote Datuk Azman Ujang, in the Sun Daily. He was the former chairman and editor-in-chief of Bernama.
In June this year, members of the 1967 Thomas Cup badminton team were conferred the Panglima Jasa Negara (PJN) award in conjunction with the birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah. The team members who received the award were Datuk Yew Cheng Hoe, Datuk Billy Ng Seow Meng, Datuk Tan Yee Khan, Datuk Teh Kew San and Tan Aik Huang. The late Datuk Ng Boon Bee, who died in August 2022, was posthumously awarded.
Freelance Writer M. Krishnamoorthy (www.imkrishna.net) is a media coach, associate professor and undercover journalist. He has freelanced with Bernama, NST, The Star, and Malaysiakini. He also freelances as a fixer/coordinator for CNN, BBC, German and Australian Television networks and the New York Times. As an undercover journalist, he has highlighted society's concerns going undercover as a beggar, security guard, blind man, disabled salesman and Member of Parliament.
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