Thanks, Wikipedia.
The famous Chinese song Rose, Rose, I Love You recorded in 1940 by Chinese singer Yao Lee, and translated into an English hit by songwriter Vaughan Thomas and singer Frankie Laine brings to mind Rose Chan (1925-1987), Malaysia’s Queen Of The Cabaret.
Chan, also nicknamed the Flower Of Malaya, is an all-time icon in Malaysian popular culture.
A cabaret dancer who also did striptease, she was a woman ahead of her time, and a feminist icon of sorts, who insisted that she had total control over her body, and not men.
Born Chan Wai Chang in Suzhou (Soochow), China, to acrobat parents, she arrived in Kuala Lumpur via Singapore in 1931, with her foster mother.
As a result of abject poverty, Chan spent only eight months in primary school.
Legend has it that she took photographs of classmates to pay her fees, and ended up being expelled.
At 12, she worked in a button shop and also did mosquito protection nets.
At 16, Chan was married to a Singaporean contractor, on her foster mother’s wishes, to improve their economic condition.
However, this marriage ended within a few months as the man became fed up with Chan’s foster mother’s demands for S$1,000 to S$2,000 a month.
Chan later took a train to Singapore and became a cabaret dancer at the Happy World night club, her ex-husband’s favourite haunt.
She discovered an in-born talent as a dancer and won two national championships.
She also became Miss Singapore 1950, after which she became immensely popular and danced in as many as five cabarets at a time.
In 1951, Chan opened her own show and toured the whole of Peninsular Malaysia. The following year, she transformed herself from a hotshot cabaret dancer into Malaysia’s Striptease Queen.
Legend has it that she became a striptease star by accident.
Performing at the Majestic Cinema in Kuala Lumpur, her brassiere snapped and this caused the audience to applaud her.
Doing striptease earned Chan stardom, and notoriety. Many a Malaysian (including Singaporeans) slammed her as a “corrupter of morals”.
However, Chan lived by strict principles and refused to have sex with anyone, unless she walked down the aisle.
While she made a living out of “indecency”, Chan was a devout Buddhist who cared for the needy. All of her shows saw proceeds donated to worthy causes, especially education and homes for the handicapped and orphans.
In 1954, Chan boosted her popularity by performing circus acts such as wrestling pythons, bending iron rods on her neck, carrying men on her shoulders and having motorcyclists drive on planks across her body.
She also performed in Germany, France, Britain, Indonesia and Australia.
In 1957, Chan married an indigenous Singaporean Muslim, Nazier Kahar, but the marriage only lasted three years. She subsequently married Chong Yew Meng and had a son.
Sadly, the third marriage also ended in divorce.
While her husbands came and went, one man remained a constant influence in Chan’s life - Lee Kai Hong, a Chinese language journalist-cum-property developer.
She confided her problems in him, and he understood her well. He later became her manager.
It was with Lee that Chan hatched up one of the most ingenious ideas to circumvent the colonial British decency laws.
In those days, there was a law that allowed for models to pose nude for artists, so long as they kept absolutely still.
As revolving stages were not invented yet, Chan and Lee improvised a little table on coasters, with ropes attached to each corner.
The moment she was completely naked, Chan would jump on the table, and four guys would pull each rope, spinning her around so that everyone had a good view.
The British authorities took it in good spirit, and actually said to her, "Lady, we take our hats off to you!"
One of Chan’s favourite performance venues was the Bukit Bintang Amusement Park in Bukit Bintang Road, Kuala Lumpur (today Sungei Wang Plaza and Bukit Bintang Plaza).
By the 1970s, Malaysian society became less accepting of Chan as many Muslim Malaysians were gradually embracing WahhabiSaudi fascist distortions of Islamic faith.
She performed her last act in 1976, when the government revoked her licence under pressure from supporters and members of the ruling UMNO party’s youth movement.
After her retirement, Chan managed a music band, opened a restaurant and became a masseuse.
An American publishing firm offered her RM3 million for her autobiography but the deal fell through when she insisted on receiving US$3 million for it.
In 1980, Chan was diagnosed with breast cancer and chose to spend her final years in George Town, Penang.
She and Lee opened Galant, a one-stop entertainment shop in Transfer Road.
In 1987, the Golden Maid Lounge in Burma Road, George Town, held a fund-raising charity show for Chan to receive medical treatment in a private hospital but she died on May 26, 1987 at her home in Butterworth.
Chan was survived by her husband Low Kim Seng, and two children.
She was interred at the Beow Hong Lim Columbarium in Air Itam, George Town.
In 2007, director and television host Low Ngai Yuen presented a theatrical tribute to Chan, titled Rose, Rose I Love You. It was staged at Genting Highlands in Bentong, Pahang. Popular actress Tin Tan played Chan.
