On 6th April 1904, the Commercial Bureau (hereafter “the Chamber”) sent a letter to the British Government, asked to be exempted from the regulation of the Societies Enactment 1900.

The colonial authority approved the application on 12th April 1904.

A compilation of council meeting minutes from 1915 to 1922, chronicling significant of the Chamber in the early years in details, is well kept and intact.

During the Japanese occupation, Chinese merchants were forced to donate a large sum of money to the Japanese military. “Malayan Overseas Chinese General Association” was formed to facilitate the operation. This is a complete compilation of meeting minutes which chronicles what happened in the year of Shōwa 17 (1942).