Majoor, Tan was also the ex officio Chairman of the Chinese Council of Batavia (Dutch: Chinese Raad; Malay: Kong Koan), the highest Chinese governmental body in the colony. The Majoor's family owned the particuliere landen or private domains of Kramat, Kapoek, Tandjoeng Boeroeng and Rawa Kidang in Tangerang. From 1848 until 1862, Majoor Tan Eng Goan also held a series of pachts or revenue farms over such diverse things as arak, rum, tobacco and wayang. Despite his landed wealth and revenue farms, Tan's income fell short of the exalted style of living expected of a Chinese officer. Tenure as Majoor and Kapitein In the late 1820s, Kapitein Tan Eng Goan initiated an annual pasar malam, or night market, held in Batavia three days prior to Lunar New Year. This was among the earliest and biggest of Batavia's organized night markets, and served as a prototype for similar and later markets elsewhere. Tan's tenure as a Chinese officer was affected by his declining family finances, which forced him to patronise Batavia's foremost tobacco magnate, Oey Thai Lo. In return for Oey's financial support, Tan recommended the nouveau riche Oey for an elevation to the purely honorary rank of Luitenant-titulair der Chinezen, which gave the tobacco tycoon the respectability he craved. Tan's debt and financial reliance on Oey, however, prevented him from acting with authority when restraining the wayward and disrespectful behaviour of the latter' son, the notorious playboy Oey Tamba Sia (1827-1856). Oey Tamba Sia eventually developed an intense rivalry with the Majoor's son-in-law, Lim Soe Keng Sia, with eventually murderous consequences. The younger Oey masterminded a series of murders, and unsuccessfully attempted to implicate Lim in these crimes. Although Lim was acquitted, his rival Oey - a wealthy member of the city's Chinese establishment - was found guilty and executed by public hanging in 1856. The scandal severely damaged the standing and authority of the Majoor in the eyes of the Chinese community. Even Tan's immediate subordinates in the Chinese Council, notably Kapitein Tan Tjoen Tiat and Luitenant The Kim Houw, were disappointed in the Majoor's meek handling of the case of Oey Tamba Sia. The Majoor's financial situation further deteriorated after the Oey case, which led him to sell the estates of Kramat and Kapoek in the 1860s to his eventual successor, Kapitein Tan Tjoen Tiat. Resignation and death Majoor Tan Eng Goan served in office until 1865, when,