S’pore Most Wanted Gangster, Roland Tan, Has Died After Being on the Run from S’pore for 51 Years

By
George Yang
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You probably haven’t heard of the gangster Roland Tan.

Well, I don’t blame you. For a start, when you hear the word “gangster”, you’d think of a teen with a cigarette between his lips and an Ah Lian between his arms, asking passers-by why they were staring at him politely.

But back in the past, when policemen wore shorts and the coronavirus didn’t even have spikes yet, gangs in Singapore ruled various regions. Now, there’s only one gang in Singapore and they rule all regions.

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And in the past, one of the gangs was called—wait for it—Ah Kong.

Yes, the very same nickname we give to the authorities now, though the spelling is a tad different lah. The “kong” here refers to the “kongsi” in Hokkien, which means “company”, while the “Gong” we fondly use to refer to the authorities refers to “grandfather”.

The Ah Kong gang back then wasn’t made up of teenagers smoking and drinking at void decks; instead, it was an organised crime and drugs syndicate that started in Singapore back in 1969.

Kind of.

Rise of Roland Tan

Roland Tan, 72, is one of the founders of Ah Kong. He operated in Holland but his beginning was right here in Singapore.

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Back then, in 1969 when he was 20 years old, he was in the See Tong gang and had brought about 10 of his fellow gang members to attack two members of his rival gang. He was then wanted by the police for the murder of a man, and with the help of his gang, he and some of his gang members fled to Malaysia then to Amsterdam in Holland.

The other gang members were mostly arrested and jailed.

Roland thrived in Holland

Over in Holland, Roland founded Ah Kong, and became a big-time gangster there. Ah Kong is almost like a Private Limited—it’s supposedly a well-run gang with a hierarchy, and men were paid a monthly salary, with an annual bonus and even a “profit-sharing scheme”.

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The only thing is that it’s illegal lah; they dealed with drugs and loansharking instead of, I don’t know, bubble tea?

Roland then got a Danish citizenship and married a Danish woman.

Wanted in Singapore

Of course the other Ah Gong didn’t just let Roland have his way.

They had wanted to extradite to Singapore but couldn’t do so due to the lack of evidence.

The story of Ah Kong was even adapted into a TV series starring Fann Wong back in 1996:

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Roland Tan Passed Away on 4 April 2020

Today, it’s reported almost everywhere that Roland Tan has passed away back on 4 April 2020.

The mobster had suffered a fatal heart attack during a dinner party on that day, and his funeral was held three weeks later on 24 April 2020 which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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George Yang
Email: [email protected]