The Plastics and Rubber Institute Malaysia

Mr Samuel (Sam) Norman Angove (1934 - Present)

For more than 50 years, Sam Angove has been intricately involved with the rubber industry. He has devoted his entire life to the service of the industry, as a researcher, teacher and mentor. He has been an inspiration to many including some who are today holding important positions in government and industry related to rubber.

Sam was among the founding members of the Institution of Rubber Industry Malaya Section which was established in 1960. This professional organization was the precursor of PRIM. He is the initiator of the Rubber Technology Course which still going strong.

Born in Penryn, Cornwall, England, on 17 February 1934, Sam arrived in then Malaya in August 1959, two years after the country gained independence. He was 25 years old, but armed with excellent academic achievements. In 1953, Sam had won the prestigious Firestone Scholarship to study at the National College of Rubber Technology (NCRT) in London. He studied rubber technology full time by day and attended lectures on plastics technology in the evenings. In 1956, he was awarded the Associate of the National College of Rubber Technology (ANCRT), winning the first prize -- the Ronald Trist Award -- and  the Associate of the Institution of Rubber Industry (AIRI), again receiving First Prize. In the same year, Sam was awarded the Graduateship of the Plastic Industry (Grad PI) and in 1958, the Associate of the Plastics Industry (API). Sam was made a Fellow of Institution of the Rubber Industry (FIRI) in 1964 .

Although Sam had lived in Canada, Switzerland and now, Singapore, he has always kept in touch with PRIM. To this day, he dispenses liberally his counsel to the PRIM in the interest of the development of the industry.

Mr. SIN SIEW WENG (1939 – 2003)

Sin Siew Weng was born in Klian Intan, Perak in 1939. He began his career in 1957 at the East Asiatic Latex Factory in Klang, and in 1959 became a Research Assistant at the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM). In 1962 Siew Weng was one of the first batch of students of the IRI Malaysia Branch who completed their rubber technology course and he achieved the second highest marks worldwide in the exam for the Licentiateship of the Institution of the Rubber Industry, London (LIRI). He was sent by the RRIM to the National College of Rubber Technology (NCRT), London where he graduated in 1966 with the Associateships of both the NCRT (First Class) and IRI (ANCRT & AIRI). He received practical training, including working in the USA at Cooper Tire, and at the end of the year he returned to the RRIM as a Research Officer and later became the Head of the Product Development Division of the Institute.

 His wide experience included being the Technical Director of Nike (M) Sdn Bhd, Kayel Retreads Sdn Bhd, and Sin Rubtech Consultancy Sdn Bhd. He was also the Senior Vice President of STI-K Polymers Sdn Bhd.

 Siew Weng was awarded Fellowships of the PRIM (1977) and the Institutes of Materials, Manufacturing, Professional Business & Technical Management. He was President of the PRIM from 1993 to 1996.

 He made many contributions to the technologies of latex, oil extended NR, SMR, tyres, retreading, polymer bound predispersed rubber chemicals, De-Link Process and polymer mixing. He has credit for over seventy publications and three patents.  In his latter years he published articles on rubber technology entitled Musing with Sin. His legacy is enhanced Malaysian rubber technology.

Mr. MARTIN COLLIER (1927 – 1986)

Martin was born in Oxford and in 1932 he lost his father, when he was eight his mother took him and his brother to Canada for the duration of World War II. His early studies were in The Dragon School, Oxford and then in Canada including the Lower Canada College in Montreal. In 1945 he returned at the age of seventeen to enter University College Oxford to complete his studies and graduated in Chemistry in 1948. 

 He joined the Dunlop Rubber Company in Birmingham as a Latex Chemist in 1948. For a short time he started to work for Dunlop Estates in Ceylon and he was soon transferred to the Dunlop Research Centre of Dunlop Malaya Estates Limited (DMEL), located at Batang Malacca in 1953 as the Assistant Director of Research. In 1959 Martin was promoted to the Board of DMEL and became the Director of Research. In 1970 he moved to Malacca as the Research and Production Director and became the Managing Director in 1972. 

Martin retired from Dunlop in 1983. Thereafter he worked as the Assistant Managing Director of Ansell Rubber, Melbourne, Australia until his untimely death in a motoring accident there in 1986.

His numerous awards include Colwyn Medal (Plastics and Rubber Institute, UK); AMN from the Yang Dipertuan Agong, and PJK from the Yang Dipertuan Besar, Negeri Sembilan.

 His contributions to the rubber industry are in the fields of natural rubber latex production and preservation, and the development and commercialization of Donlocrumb (Technically Specified Rubber). 

 He was the founding President of the Institution of the Rubber Industry (Malaysia) which is now the Plastics & Rubber Institute of Malaysia a post he held for 8 years.  

TAN SRI Dr. BALACHANDRA CHAKKINGAL (BC) SEKHAR (1929 – 2006)

BC was brought up on the rubber estate in Sungei Buloh which became the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia‘s Experimental Station. He has aptly been named “Mister Natural Rubber”, which is his indelible mark for his contributions to the industry.

 He made many important scientific and technological contributions to the industry. The first one which received attention was the Constant Viscosity (CV) Rubber. Simultaneously BC worked and developed the process for Technically Specified Rubber which led to Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR). This was a major improvement and SMR has now replaced the rubbers graded visually such as Smoked Sheets and Crepes and Technically Classified Rubbers such as the red, blue and yellow circle grades. The technology has been adopted by most Natural Rubber producing countries. In all BC is accredited with 150 scientific papers and some 20 patents.

 BC’s career started as a Research Officer and he rose to the  position of Head of the Chemical Division, and then to Director of the RRIM in 1969. He topped his career in Malaysia when he became the Controller of the Malaysian Rubber Research and Development Board and subsequently he was appointed to the position of the Secretary General of the International Rubber Study Group. 

 His numerous awards include the Ramon Magsaysay Award (Philippines); Colwyn Medal (Institution of the Rubber Industry, UK); Gold Medal of the Institut Kimia Malaysia; Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Singapore; Honorary Doctor of Science from the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang; Tan Sri from the Yang Dipertuan Agong and Honorary Life Vice President of the PRIM.

TAN SRI Dr. LEE BOON CHIM (1926 – 1998)

Boon Chim was born and went to school in Singapore. He went to Cheklang University to read history but his studies were interrupted by the Civil War.

 After serving an apprenticeship as clerk, in 1948 he was appointed Manager of Lee Rubber Co Ltd in Kuala Lumpur and he became the Managing Director of Lee Rubber (Selangor) Sdn Bhd in 1962.  Amongst his other posts were the President of the Federation of Rubber Trade Associations and Board Member of the Malaysian Rubber Exchange & Licensing Board.

Boon Chim’s involvement in the industry spans trading, research and development, marketing and becoming a leader. In 1965 he became the pioneer in the commercial production of Technically Specified Natural Rubber (TSR) and his efforts culminated in the first production of TSR now Standard Malaysia Rubber (SMR). 

 His numerous awards include Johan Setia Mahkota (JSM) and Tan Sri from the Yang Dipertuan Agong; Honorary Doctorate in Law from the University of Malaya (1971) and Gold Medal from the Malaysian Institute of Chemistry (IKM). He was also appointed a Senator in the Malaysian Government.

 He was a founder member of the Institution of the Rubber Industry (Malaysia), now the Plastics & Rubber Institute, and an Honorary Life Vice President.  The PRIM is indebted to Boon Chin as through him the Lee Rubber Foundation was and still is its major benefactor. His wish was to be remembered for his love of rubber as a “Rubber Worker”, and for his contributions to SMR. In his later years he enjoyed walking in Kew Garden, London to see the rubber trees from which the Malaysian Natural Rubber Industry developed.