Chin Phui Kong

Datuk Chin Phui Kong (26 December 1923 – 20 January 2024) was a Malaysian world-renowned ichthyologist, retired civil servant, author and World War II secret agent and veteran.

Taxa named in his honor Betta chini, Osteochilus chini and Neogastromyzon chini are among the freshwater fish named after him.

Early life Chin was born in Sandakan, British North Borneo (now known as Sabah; part of Malaysia), in 1923. He attended Chung Hwa primary school in Sandakan before being sent by his family to Guangzhou, China, for secondary school in 1941. He was stranded in China for a few years after World War II breaks out.

World War II

Commando training The British approached Chin and other Malayan and Borneoan students who were stranded in China in 1944 because of their trilingual ability; Malay, English, and Mandarin (including their native vernacular dialects, for his case, Hakka dialect since he was of that subgroup). They were recruited to a joint Sino-British task force, and Chin willingly enlisted because he had no other choice at the time. Unaware of the nature of the task force to which he was assigned, the students were dispatched to India or Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka) to receive commando training from the British military. Chin was trained as a commando at the Eastern Warfare School in Poona, India, before being sent to Ceylon for jungle training. Chin was then commissioned as a Second lieutenant in the British Indian Army and assigned to Force 136's Dragon Six unit before receiving parachute and demolition training in India. He is well-known in the field of Ichthyology, having written multiple books and co-authored several others. To recognise his contributions to the field, he was awarded a Datukship, and several fish species were named after him (e.g. Betta chini, Osteochilus chini and Neogastromyzon chini).

His book is regarded as a national treasure, and his work was included as a text book for higher education institutions in Malaysia by then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. His journals have also been published by the International Development Research Centre and the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Taxon described by him See :Category:Taxa named by Chin Phui Kong

Later work Chin was actively involved in writing about ichthyology after retiring from the government, and he was also involved in nature and history programmes.

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

Books New species of fresh-water catfishes from North Borneo (1959). Co-author with Robert F. Inger. The fresh-water fishes of North Borneo (1962). Co-author with Robert F. Inger. Prawn otter trawl fishery in Sabah, Malaysia (1967) Some aspects of oyster culture in Sabah (1975) Oyster culture development in Sabah (1977) The prawn fisheries of Sabah, Malaysia (1978). Co-author with Arthur C. Simpson. Marine food fishes and fisheries of Sabah (1998) My field trip to Ulu Kinabatangan, North Borneo, with Robert Inger (2010)

Articles/Journal A study on the fisheries development planning systems of Malaysia Some aspects of oyster culture in Sabah Technical Consultation on Shrimp By-Catch Use