Peter Tong Keng Tatt was born on December 18, 1937 to a Hokkien (Fujian) coffee-shop owner, Toong Haw, and his wife Lim Teo Choon in Segamat, Johor. He was the sixth in a family of eight children. 

A medical doctor, he was privileged to have been chosen by God as one of His vessels to spearhead the charismatic revival in Malaysia during the late 1970s and early 1980s through the founding of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship Malaysia.  

Peter’s father was killed in 1942 during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya and he lived with his eldest brother, Kay Chor, a civil engineer in the Public Works Department. Due to his brother’s transfers in the civil service, Peter attended many different schools when he was growing up. He was a good student and in 1957, he was admitted into the University of Malaya in Singapore to study medicine. 

Brought up as a Catholic, Peter became a Protestant after joining the Christian fellowship at university. He graduated in 1963 and started working as a houseman at the Singapore General Hospital where Maureen Chia Tshai Teck, his childhood girlfriend from Muar, also worked as a staff nurse. He and Maureen were married on July 3, 1963. 

In 1965, Peter was offered a job as a locum in a private clinic in Kuala Lumpur. Two years later, he bought a clinic at 69, Jalan Ampang in the heart of the city, a place that was later to become the scene of healings and miracles. But at that time, he was busy establishing his medical practice and raising a young family of a daughter and son together with Maureen.

The medical practice flourished and he opened a second clinic in Ampang new village on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur (“new villages” were established during the Malayan Emergency to relocate Chinese living in rural areas away from communist insurgents). He would see patients at his city practice during the day and attend to patients at the village clinic in the evening. Peter became a fellow of the Academy of Family Physicians Malaysia on October 19, 1997.

He and Maureen attended the Jalan Imbi Chapel in Kuala Lumpur. Peter, who had become a “Sunday Christian” after losing the zeal of his student days, did so more to please Maureen as her late father had been a pastor of the Chinese Presbyterian Church in Muar. 

In 1971, Maureen developed severe endometriosis. Five years later, her condition deteriorated with heavy bleeding despite maximal oral therapy and she was advised to undergo major surgery. In September 1976, out of desperation and on the advice of nuns from the Bukit Nanas Convent, Peter brought Maureen to seek prayer from Mary Goddard, a visitor from Canada. Goddard was a Spirit-filled Christian who taught about gifts of the Spirit. Maureen was miraculously healed; the bleeding stopped and she was able to stop all her medications. Peter was initially sceptical but when her healing was confirmed a month later by her gynaecologist who performed a laparoscopic examination, he was convinced that a miracle had indeed taken place. Both of them then started to seek the Lord. Not long after, they were baptised in the Holy Spirit and decided to attend Calvary Church, an Assemblies of God pentecostal church in the suburb of Damansara Heights.   

Peter was, once again, filled with zeal for the Lord. He wanted to share the story of Maureen’s miraculous healing with all his patients and friends and would offer his patients two choices of treatment: the first was medicine which was chargeable and the second was prayer which was free!

He fervently believed that the gifts of the Spirit were an essential part of the full gospel and started holding lunchtime meetings in the patients’ waiting room at 69, Jalan Ampang on Fridays from 1.00-2.00p.m. Soon, word got out that healings and miracles were taking place at his clinic. Peter would say after these meetings that while praying for the sick, the Lord would reveal their medical problems to him like pictures on a TV screen.

In 1978, as the number of attendees overflowed, he rented a hall at the Hwa Li Building in Jalan Ampang. Lunchtime meetings were held on Wednesdays and Fridays at the hall which was named Abundant Life Centre (ALC). Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng, Peter’s former classmate and the founder of MUI Group, became a Christian through Peter's witness and provided financial support for the ministry. As Peter became busier with evangelistic work, he took on two partners, Dr Leow Kok Ming and Dr Chiam Yoke Choo, to help run the medical practice. 

From 1979 to 1981, Peter, together with like-minded people of God such as Ang Chui Lai (a lawyer who went on to start the Full Gospel Assembly church in 1979 together with his brother-in-law, Dr Koh Eng Kiat), bank executive Michael Cheng, Dr J.S. Devaraj, director of the Department of Civil Aviation, lawyer Dr Stephen Goh, Lt Col Khong Kim Kong, Tan Sri Khoo, architect Lee Gee Koon, accountant Timothy Phua, and medical doctor Joy Seevaratnam came to be part of the “A” team. The team went on evangelistic trips throughout Peninsular Malaysia. 

Those years were like the days of the early church in the book of Acts with miracles, healings and deliverances. There were three significant miracles. The first involved a banker’s infant daughter who was admitted to a private hospital for accidental poisoning. The banker was Peter’s patient and Peter rushed to the hospital to pray for the child when he heard that her condition was grave. The consultant paediatrician had told the parents that there was no hope of saving the baby. As the baby lay dying, Peter laid hands on her and prayed for the Lord to save her. He said that he immediately felt his hand being lifted up by a force from the baby’s body; in that instant, the baby was healed! This miracle was witnessed by the child’s mother, and the family turned to Christ. 

The second miracle happened to a teenager who had been hit by a lorry. After a month in hospital, he was sent home in a vegetative state, his body twisted and broken. The parents were not Christians but they asked Peter to go to their home to pray for their son. He made a full recovery within a month, and the whole family also turned to Christ.

The third miracle happened on a mission trip to the interior of Sabah. A woman with a goitre on her neck asked for prayer and it instantly disappeared! There was much rejoicing, and many of the villagers turned to Christ.

In 1979, Khoo Oon Theam, the Asian director of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship (FGBMF), invited Peter, Ang Chui Lai, Dr Joy Seevaratnam, Tan Sri Khoo, Lee Gee Koon, Michael Cheng and Timothy Phua to a banquet meeting in Singapore to meet Demos Shakarian, the American founder of FGBMF. Peter was given the honour of launching the FGBMFI in Malaysia and Abundant Life Centre became the first local chapter. The board of directors comprised Peter as president, Dr Devaraj as secretary, Timothy Phua as treasurer, and Ang as advisor. The four would meet up weekly for prayer.

It was not long before other chapters were formed in Penang, Malacca, Ipoh and Seremban. Many anointed men of God from around the world were invited to speak at the meetings, including Bishop Chiu Ban It, Canon James Wong and Benny Ho, all from Singapore; Dr Cho Yonggi (South Korea); Dr Don Treadway (US); Roy Durman (Canada); and Ken Newton, Reverend Colin Hurt and Selwyn Hughes, all from the UK. FGBMF was able to attract those in the marketplace who were reluctant to attend church. Weekly lunchtime meetings and outreach dinner banquets were the main activities of the chapters. Lunchtime meetings might have as few as three people but the banquets had up to hundreds attending.

In 1985, a national body was formed to coordinate and develop the activities of the chapters throughout Malaysia, and Peter was able to incorporate FGBMF Malaysia.

In 1987, Peter went to Sabah and Sarawak to share the FGBMF vision with friends there, and Ong Hock Siew and Dr Chew Weng Chee in Kota Kinabalu started a chapter. This chapter is now led by Dr David Fung, who is married to Peter’s daughter, Melinda. It wasn’t long before chapters were started in Miri and Kuching. Peter travelled extensively throughout Peninsular Malaysia as well as Sabah and Sarawak, at his own expense, to speak at banquets and rallies. He was often invited to churches of various denominations to preach, using the gifts of tongues, wisdom, knowledge, discernment and healing to the glory of God.

In September 1995, he was diagnosed with a rare lung tumour. Following successful surgery to remove a third of his right lung, he was soon back to preaching and praying for the sick. With this new lease on life from the Lord, he changed his name to Abraham Peter Tong, and Maureen’s name to Sarah.  

As the number of chapters grew rapidly, it became clear that the FGBMF would need a new governing structure. FGBMF Malaysia was divided into regions, and committed leaders were appointed to serve and oversee each region, reporting back to the board. At the 21st anniversary celebration in 2001, Peter was the only member of the original board of directors left, with the passing of Dr Devaraj and the resignation of Timothy Phua to run the Word Centre church.  

By this time, there were 84 chapters, including Chinese-speaking ones. Peter was affectionately known as “Papa Tong”. He who had lost his own father at a tender age had become a father to many in the faith. He continued his work with zeal despite a recurrence of his lung cancer in 2003. He was put on oral chemotherapy and, despite failing health, insisted on attending the FGBMF Asian Convention in Singapore in August 2004. He passed away just months later on December 10, 2004.

FGBMF Malaysia had grown to 80 chapters (58 English-speaking, 16 Chinese-speaking, three Malay-speaking and three Tamil-speaking) by the end of 2020. Peter had mentored leaders who were now ably guiding the various ministries of the FGBMF which seeks to reach not just people in the marketplace but also indigenous secondary school students in Sabah and Sarawak with the gospel. FGBMF collaborates with local churches and Christian organisations to fulfil the Great Commission by providing a platform for Christians of different denominations to work together to advance the kingdom of God. The ministry’s two publications — the “Flame”, a newsletter for members, and the “Voice” which contains testimonies of those who have been blessed by the Lord — have touched many readers. 

In addition, the FGBMF has provided a training ground for many Christian leaders. The late Ang Chui Lai of Full Gospel Assembly, Dr Chew Weng Chee of Sidang Injil Borneo in Kuala Lumpur, Dr Philip Lyn of Skyline Church in Kota Kinabalu, Lee Chee Loi of Malaysian Care, Moses Soo of Gospel to the Poor, Tan Tek Seng of Family First, and Thomas Samuel of Jesus Calls Ministry are former FGBMF leaders or associates. 

With a heart on fire for God and his community, Peter served the purposes of God in his generation. He showed how Christian businessmen and professionals can powerfully spread the gospel with compassion in the marketplace, and laid footprints for future generations to follow.