Tuesday, 04th August 2009
VENUE: MAY GARDEN RESTAURANT, PENANG
TIME: FELLOWSHIP 7.30 PM, DINNER MEETING 8.00PM
CHAIRMAN : Balan Menon
MINUTES OF THE 852nd MEETING OF APEX CLUB OF PENANG
ON 15/07/09, 8PM AT MAY GARDEN RESTAURANT, PENANG
Attendance: President Andrew Ong, Lifer LimCC, Lifer Tony Ng, Victor Corbett,
Jason Ang, Balan Menon, Angie Low, Edward Mai, Mike Ong,
Jane Chan , Prospexian Danny Tan & Ryan Tang
Apologies: Anthony Jayakumar & Ai Choo. Guest: John ( Brought by Danny)
On Leave : Terrie Loo
1.0 President welcomed guest
1.1 President Balan Menon thanked Ryan Tang for attending the second time and
welcomed Mr John who was brought by Prospexian Danny.
2.0 Confirmation of minutes
2.1 The 851st Meeting Minutes was then proposed for adoption by Angie Low
& seconded by Jason Ang.
3.0 Charity Car Wash 2009
3.1 Mike Ong said the project will be done after all the installation ceremonies.
4.0 Bursary Awards for the 2 orphans in Balik Pulau
4.1 Mike Ong to help Angie Low to write to NB once the bursary forms are in order.
5.0 Apex Pg Installation Night
5.1 Organising Chairman Victor informed that all went smoothly for the night.
5.2 Treasurer Jane Chan reported that Apex Pg made a profit of RM208.00 from
the Installation Night dinner and RM91.00 from fines collections.
6.0 Nat’l Conventions & Installation Nites of other Clubs :-
6.1 Nat’l Convention of Apex M’sia – 7/8/09 to 9/8/09 at Federal Hotel, KL
Nat’l Convention of Apex S’pore – 31/7/09 to 2/8/09
Install’n Night of Kuantan Club- 25/7/09; Klang Club– 1/8/09;KL Club – 7/8/09.
Members send their apologies to Kuantan Club for not able to attend their
Club’s Installation and wished the new President & Board every success.
6.2 President Balan explained that among the itinerary for National Convention is
the Apex Global and Aspac meeting on the morning and afternoon of 7th August
2009, at the Royal Selangor Club.
6.3 Edward Mai, Terrie Loo, Victor Corbett, Jason Ang , Lifer Lim Chin Chai and
Mike Ong will attend the full package functions to be held a Federal Hotel.
6.4 Jason Ang & Mike Ong will be delegates. Victor will vie for William Das Shield.
6.5 Members agreed to take up a half page of advertisement in Nat’l Convention
souvenir booklet. President requested Jane Chan to get ready the check.
7.0 Other Directors’ Reports
7.1 Jane Chan said that while in Pg, Rex Trow paid up his per capita 2009/2010.
7.2 Balan Menon requested Apex Penang to consider supporting Apex Initiation
2009/2010 as informed by NRM Apexian Scott whereby 8 Australians to be
home hosted by Apexians in S’pore and Malaysia betw Nov 09 to Oct 2010.
7.3 Victor suggested that the next meeting on 5/8/09 be brought forward to 4/8/09 to
accommodate visit by Lifer Bruce Mackie, his son, Christopher and Apexians
Bryan & Rick Hose. Apex Pg will host a dinner for them at May Garden.
8.0 General
8.1 Fines collection was RM22/=.
Meeting adjourned at 9.40pm, proposed by Andrew Ong & seconded by Tony Ng.
Minutes Proposed by: …………………. Seconded by:……………….
Prepared by: Mike Ong
An interesting article published from Robert Kuok Hock Nien's notes on the past sixty year
(On the occasion of Kuok Group 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-5 HOCK CHIN, cousin number-12 HOCK SENG, my brother HOCK KHEE nicknamed Philip (a.k.a. cousin number 17), and myself (a.k.a. cousin number-20).
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 we
went 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 Sharif
who 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 kin dergarten and primary schoolupward 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 man kind, 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, ma kin g 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.
> An elderly
> couple, who were both widowed, had been going out with each
> other for a long time. Urged on by
> their friends, they decided it was finally time to get
> married.
>
> Before the wedding, they went out to dinner and had a long
> conversation regarding how their marriage might work.
> They discussed
> finances, living arrangements and so on.
>
> Finally, the old gentleman decided it was time to broach
> the subject of their physical relationship.
>
> 'How do you feel about
> sex?' he asked, rather
> tentatively.
>
> 'I would like it
> infrequently' she replied.
>
> The old gentleman sat quietly for a moment, adjusted his
> glasses, leaned over towards her and whispered - 'Is
> that one word or two?'
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