(On the occasion of Kuok Group’s 60th Anniversary 10 April 2009)
(1) My brothers and I owe our upbringing completely to Mother.
She was steeped in Ru-Jiao – the teachings of Confucius, Mencius,
Laozi and other Chinese sages. Ru-Jiao teaches the correct behaviour
for a human being on his life on earth. Mother gently, and sometimes
strongly, drummed into the minds of her three boys the values of
honesty, of never cheating, lying, stealing or envying other people
their material wealth or physical attributes..
(2) Father died on 25 December 1948 night without leaving a
will. Following the Japanese surrender, he had re-registered the firm
as a sole proprietorship. We went to court to get an appointment as
managers, permitting us to continue to manage Tong Seng & Co. The
judge said that, as there were two widows, the firm and the estate
should be wound up.
(3) We decide to establish Kuok Brothers Limited. In
mid-January 1949, five of us met at a small roundtable in our home in
Johore Bahru. Present were my MOTHER, cousin number five HOCK CHIN,
cousin number twelve HOCK SENG, my brother HOCK KHEE nicknamed Philip
(a.k.a. cousin number seventeen), and myself (a.k.a. cousin number
twenty). We sat down and Mother said, “Nien, would you like to start?”
I said, “Fine, yes I will start.” To cut the long story short, we got
started, and commenced business from a little shop house in Johore
Bharu on 1 April 1949.
(4) As a young man, I thought there was no substitute for hard
work and thinking up good, honest business plans and, without respite,
pushing them along. There will always be business on earth. Be humble;
be straight; don’t be crooked; don’t take advantage of people. To be a
successful businessman, I think you really need to brush all your
senses every morning, just as you brush your teeth. I coined the
phrase “honing your senses” in business: your vision, hearing, sense
of smell, touch and taste.
All these senses come in very useful.
(5) Mother was the captain of our ship. She saw and sensed
everything, but being a wise person she didn’t interfere. Yet she was
the background influence, the glue that bound the Group together. She
taught my cousins and my brothers and me never to be greedy, and that
in making money one could practise high morality. She stressed that
whenever the firm does
well it should make donations to the charities operating in our
societies. She always kept us focused on the big picture in business.
For example: avoid businesses that bring harm, destruction or grief to
people. This includes trades like gambling, drugs, arms sales,
loan-sharking and prostitution.
(6) We started as little fish swimming in a bathtub. From there
wewent to a lake and now we are in the open seas. Today our businesses
cover many industries and our operations are worldwide but this would
not have been possible without the vision of the founding members, the
dedicated contributions and loyalty of our colleagues and employees,
and very importantly the strong moral principles espoused by my
mother.
(7) When I hire staff I look for honest, hardworking,
intelligent people. When I look candidates in the eye, they must
appear very honest to me. I do not look for MBAs or exceptional
students. You may hire a brilliant man, summa cum laude, first-class
honours, but if his mind is not a fair one or if he has a warped
attitude in life, does brilliance really matter?
(8) Among the first employees were Lau Teo Chin (Ee Wor), Kwok
Chin Luang (Ee Luang), Othman Samad (Kadir) and an Indian accountant
called Joachim who was a devout Roman Catholic and who travelled in
every day from Singapore where he lived.
(9) I would like on this special occasion to pay tribute to
them and in particular to those who were with us in the early days;
many of whom are no longer here. I have already mentioned Lau Teo Chin
(Ee Wor) and Kwok Chin Luang (Ee Luang) and Othman Samad (Kadir),
there are others like Lean Chye Huat, who is not here today due to
failing eyesight, and Yusuf Sharifwho passed away in his home country
India about one and a half years ago and the late Lee Siew Wah, and
others who all gave solid and unstinting support and devotion to the
Company. It saddens me that in those early difficult years these
pioneers did not enjoy significant and substantial rewards but such is
the order of things and a most unfortunate aspect of capitalism.
However through our Group and employee Foundations, today we are able
to help their descendants whenever there is a need to..
(10) I have learnt that the success of a company must depend on
the unity of all its employees. We are all in the same boat rowing
against the current and tide and every able person must pull the oars
to move the boat forward. Also, we must relentlessly endeavour to
maintain and practise the values of integrity and honesty, and eschew
and reject greed and arrogance.
(11) A few words of caution to all businessmen and women. I
recall the Chinese saying: shibai nai chenggong zhi mu (failure is the
mother of success). But in the last thirty years of my business life,
I have come to the conclusion that the reverse phrase is even truer of
today’s world: chenggong nai shibai zhi mu. Success often breeds
failure, because it makes you arrogant, complacent and, therefore,
lower your guard.
(12) The way forward for this world is through capitalism. Even
China has come to realise it. But it’s equally true that capitalism,
if allowed to snowball along unchecked, can in many ways become
destructive. Capitalism needs to be inspected under a magnifying glass
once a day, a super-magnifying glass once a week, and put through the
cleaning machine once a month.
In capitalism, man needs elements of ambition and greed to
drive him. But where does ambition end and greed take over? That’s why
I say that capitalism, if left to its own devices, will snowball
along, roll down the hill and cause a lot of damage. So a sound
capitalist system requires very strongly led, enlightened, wise
governments. That means politician-statesme n willing to sacrifice
their lives for the sake of their people. I don’t mean politicians who
are there for fame, glory and to line their pockets.
(13) To my mind the two great challenges facing China are the
restoration of education in morals and the establishment of a rule of
law. You must begin from the root up, imbuing and infusing moral
lessons and morality into youth, both at home and from kindergarten
and primary school upward through university. Every Chinese needs to
accept the principle of rule of law; then you have to train upright
judges and lawyers to uphold the legal system.
(14) Wealth should be used for two main purposes. One: for the
generation of greater wealth; in other words, you continue to invest,
creating prosperity and jobs in the country. Two: part of your wealth
should be applied to the betterment of mankind, either by acts of pure
philanthropy or by investment in research and development along the
frontiers of science, space, health care and so forth.
Tan Sri Robert Kuok Hock Nien (born 6 October 1923, in Johor Bahru,
Johor), is an influential Malaysian Chinese businessman. According to
Forbes his net worth is estimated to be around $10 billion on May
2008, making him the richest person in Southeast Asia. He is media shy
and discreet; most of his businesses are privately held by him or his
family. Apart from a multitude of enterprises in Malaysia, his
companies have investments in many countries throughout Asia. His
business interests range from sugarcane plantations (Perlis
Plantations Bhd), sugar refinery, flour milling, animal feed, oil and
mining to finance, hotels, properties, trading and freight and
publishing.
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