PETALING JAYA: Malaysian tycoon and philanthropist Tan Sri Sir Dr Jeffrey Cheah (pix) has been conferred Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) by His Majesty King Charles III of the UK. Cheah is founder and chairman of Malaysia’s Sunway Group. The award is in recognition of his extraordinary achievements in, and his services to higher education, health services and philanthropy.
Cheah is the second citizen of Malaysia ever to have received an honorary knighthood, and the first bestowed upon a Malaysian national by King Charles III.
Cheah is also the founder and trustee of Jeffrey Cheah Foundation, which owns and governs all entities in Sunway Education Group under a not-for-profit structure.
To-date, the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation has awarded more than RM670 million in scholarships to provide educational support to qualified students in need, and endowed a number of chairs and professorships at world-renowned universities including Cambridge and Oxford universities in the UK as well as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, to facilitate knowledge transfer and bring world-class experts to Malaysia. Cheah aims to give out several billion ringgit in scholarships in his lifetime.
Cheah has also deepened educational ties with the UK, forging successful affiliations with several other renowned institutions including Lancaster University, the Royal College of Physicians, Chevening Awards, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
In terms of healthcare, a partnership between Sunway Group and the University of Cambridge saw the Sunway Medical Centre in Sunway City Kuala Lumpur become a regional site partner of the Cambridge University Clinical Research Centre, and the recently named Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre at the Cambridge University Biomedical Campus – the largest such facility outside the US – playing a key role in UK’s Covid-19 response strategy.
This honorary knighthood marks the culmination of a successful 2023 for Cheah.
It is learnt that the British High Commissioner to Malaysia will present the honorary award to Cheah on behalf of King Charles III at a later date.
