He was the fifth president of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a component party of Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition; from November 1985 to September 1986.
He also worked as a laboratory technician with LLN, then moved on to be an investigator of Inland Revenue Board and a tax consultant with Esso.
In 1982 general election, he cinched a landslide victory for the parliamentary seat in the opposition stronghold of Damansara, Selangor.
Pan-Electric entering receivership forced the closure of the Singapore and Kuala Lumpur stock exchanges between 2 and 4 December 1985, to try to contain the fallout on leveraged stockbroking firms.
[13] On 12 December 1985, Tan signed an agreement that gave the troubled company S$ 20 million of funds through an interest-free loan and allowed it to resume trading.
He was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment by Singapore High Court Justice Lai Kew Chai.
[16] After his sentencing, Tan in 1987 relinquished his position as MCA President[6] and MP for Gopeng, Perak that he just won in 1986 general election earlier.