[1][2][3][4] He was the founding president of Chung Hwa Hui (CHH), a Chinese-Indonesian political party, and sat as its leading parliamentary representative in the Volksraad.

[2][6][4] Kan was born Han Khing Tjiang Sia in Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies, into the heart of the 'Cabang Atas' or the Chinese gentry of Java.

[5][3][6][4] Together with the likes of his distant cousin, Han Tiauw Tjong, and Loa Sek Hie, who were both on the Executive Committee of CHH, Kan pleaded for legal equality of the Chinese with Europeans under Indies law.

[5][4] Nonetheless, CHH was dubbed the 'Packard club' by the colonial press for the expensive cars used by the party's leadership, and was criticised as too elitist and removed from the day-to-day concerns of other Chinese-Indonesians.

[2][5] Following an open conflict over Kan's apparent dominance of CHH, Phoa resigned from the party and sat as an independent in the Volksraad when eventually appointed to it in 1939.

[2][5] Notwithstanding supposed pro-Dutch sympathies, Kan supported the ill-fated Soetardjo Petition in 1936, which requested Indonesian Independence within ten years as part of a Dutch commonwealth.

[11] This drew the ire of the then Governor-General due to the federated group's perceived closeness to the Republic of China, a foreign power, leading to Kan's resignation of his presidency of the chamber.