Meet centenarian Mr Tan Kheng Yeang, engineer, writer and philosopher.

Tan hails from Kamunting, Perak, but has lived in George Town since 1945. He is celebrating his 105th birthday in style today at the grand Peranakan Museum on China Street. His two sons, who live in Canada and Singapore, are home, and have promised him an unforgettable night.

He doesn't believe in exercise or diets. He cannot live without having curry or chillies in his meals. He hardly sees the doctor but he is still very much alive and kicking.

"I just take life as it is, no fuss. I never asked to live to this age. I don't believe in God; I think the world just came by, by chance,” said the centenarian, in a candid interview with Malaysiakini at his modest home in Jalan Free School, Penang.

“But I love to read. I read and read, even beyond midnight. I do not sleep much, and I think a lot, about everything," he said, looking smart in a well-fitting black suit and white shirt.

During the course of his life which spans two World Wars, the Malayan Emergency, and Merdeka, Tan has written 12 books on a wide range of topics, from literature to philosophy to fiction.

He immersed himself in the world of writing since 12, slowing down only at about 90, and has even invented a dictionary of his own language with a story book to boot called 'Liuf - a New Language'.

“That is because all languages were invented by barbarians, so we need to invent our own,” Tan said simply. His memory is impeccable as he recounts his life, fielding every question posed to him without needing to search his thoughts.

Bitter memories

The son of a successful Chinese merchant who studied in Hong Kong during World War II, Tan has bitter memories of the Japanese occupation but would rather not dwell on it. A glimpse of his life during those gloomy days is reflected in his book 'Dark Days'.

Despite spending time away from Malaya, Tan is very much a Malaysian.

In his younger days, he harboured thoughts of forming a multiracial political party based on democratic principles, which he believed was what Malaysia needed to become a glorious nation.

"But the plan fizzled out because times were hard and most of us had to find a living, support our families.

”I believe in equality for all. I never stopped believing Malaysia could have been so much better if we were all equal," he said wistfully.

Armed with an engineering degree, Tan left for Penang in 1945, and joined the municipal council as an engineer.

After retirement, he did not sit on his laurels but went on to set up his own engineering consultancy firm, advising private developers on how to build proper houses and roads.

"I only stopped working a few years ago. I simply love to work. There is not a day that I do not work," said Tan, who became a widower five years ago.

His eldest son, Seang Lin, remembers his dad as an “inspiring” man, who ceaselessly motivates him to achieve more, to strive better so that he could be of service to the community.

“Even when I won one of the highest awards in a British university, my dad merely said “it’s not like it’s the Nobel Peace Prize,” said the 62-year-old founding director of the McGill Reproductive Centre, part of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal.

Lessons of life

Lessons of life he learnt from his dad pushed him towards an illustrious career in the field of obstetrics and gyneacology, in Quebec.

To him, only a few people in the world ever challenged the orthodoxy of the world. Italian polymath and great artist Leonardo da Vinci and American inventor-visionary Steve Jobs were among them. His father is another.

“His interests are very wide and he is always thinking on how to do things differently. For example, he wrote traditional poetry but part of that collection was a new way of writing poetry. There’s a mixture of traditional stanzas and verses with free prose.

“In the book 'Intrinsic to the Universe', he outlined what he believes to be a new philosophy of life, a new religion, and a new way of organising the state.”said Seang Lin ( left in photo ) who is also the medical director of the Fertility Clinic and Women’s Health Centre in Montreal.

Seang Lin and his young brother took on the job of publishing their dad’s books two years ago. They are mostly sold online in North America.

"Hopefully, one day, these books and ideas would be of benefit to someone, somewhere, but unless we publish them no one would ever know.

“For example, we may dislike communism or the communist states but it was a tremendous force in the 20th century.

“It took Friedrich Engels and Lenin to put it in practice. Writer Karl Marx. sat in the British Library and wrote books, never knowing that someone would pick them up and make use of the ideas in it.

“So what my brother and I hope, someday, somewhere, someone would pick up my father's books and say, maybe this is a better way of doing things in Malaysia, and also think about who wrote it.

“It is someone who once lived in Malaysia and this is my father's contribution to Malaysia,” said Seang Lin.