Dato' Sri The Malay language has a complex system of styles, titles and honorifics which are used extensively in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the southern Philippines. Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and several provinces in Indonesia regul ...

Burhan Uray (13 November 1931 – 2 October 2018), also known as Huang Shuang'an () in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...

and Bong Swan An or Bong Sun On in

Eastern Min Eastern Min or Min Dong (, Foochow Romanized: Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄), is a branch of the Min group of Sinitic languages of China. The prestige form and most-cited representative form is the Fuzhou dialect, the speech of the capital of Fujian. ...

, was a Chinese-Indonesian entrepreneur and philanthropist, known as the "Timber King" of Indonesia. Born into a poor family in

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

, China, he moved to

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

in childhood and then to Indonesia, where he founded the Djanjanti Group and turned it into the second largest timber company in the country. He later diversified into other businesses including fishery.

Biography

Uray was born Huang Shuang'an on 13 November 1931, into a poor family in Minqing County,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. He moved to Sibu,

(now in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

) with his parents at the age of six. Having received little education, he worked as a logger in his youth. Uray moved to Indonesia in 1956, where he worked as a

rubber tapper Rubber tapping is the process by which latex is collected from a rubber tree. The latex is harvested by slicing a groove into the bark of the tree at a depth of with a hooked knife and peeling back the bark. Trees must be approximately six years ...

before starting his own timber company. He established good relations with the government and acquired logging concessions and greatly expanded his business in the 1960s.

Prajogo Pangestu Prajogo Pangestu (), born Phang Djun Phen in 1944, is an Indonesian business magnate, investor, and philanthropist of Hakka Chinese descent. He owns and founded Barito Pacific Group which engages in forestry, petrochemicals, property, plantation, ...

, who later became another timber tycoon, had his start in the business as an employee of Uray. In 1976, Djanjanti opened PT Nusantara, a woodworking business near

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...

, and Indonesian President

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...

personally officiated the opening. Djanjanti acquired concessions in Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, and Irian Jaya, totalling . The group manufactures timber products which are exported to many Asian countries as well as to other continents. Uray became known as "the timber king" of Indonesia. As of 2012, the Djanjanti Group is Indonesia's second largest timber company. Uray later diversified into other businesses. In 1994, Uray sold 31.5% of Djanjanti to Malaysia's Karamat Tin Dredging Company, in exchange of a 25% share of Karamat. In 1994, Djanjanti started a fishery megaproject worth 1.5 trillion rupiah. Uray made many charitable contributions. He set up a fund in 1982 to help students in Sibu, and donated 1.5 million ringgit in 1992 to construct the Sarawak Liing Hung Wong Clan Association building. He also made donations to his hometown Minqing to help its development.

Personal life

Burhan Uray married twice. He had four sons with his first wife, and all were educated abroad and worked in his businesses. In September 1977, he married Betty Pai (), a Taiwanese television presenter. In 2013, Pai published Uray's biography in Chinese, which was published in English in 2016 under the title ''Love in the Forest with Burhan Uray''.

Illnesses and death

According to the biography written by his wife, Uray was diagnosed with

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel mo ...

in 1992 and had two operations in Singapore. In 2003, he received an operation in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

for

liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...

. In 2007, he had a stroke while travelling in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Uray died on 2 October 2018 in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, aged 86. He was buried at Nirvana Memorial Park in Sibu, Malaysia on 7 October.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uray, Burhan 1931 births 2018 deaths Chinese company founders Indonesian company founders Indonesian people of Chinese descent Businesspeople from Fuzhou Chinese philanthropists Indonesian philanthropists Chinese emigrants to Malaysia Chinese emigrants to Indonesia People from Minqing County Businesspeople in timber 20th-century philanthropists