SHL Bhd's Yap Teoing Choon is a good example of how Malaysian Chinese see themselves
Former Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, in response to a comment from former Malaysian PM Mahathir about Malaysian Chinese and wealth, said:
Malaysia is not colour-coded......skin colour does not guarantee that you are rich or poor. This is wrong. The Chinese community is upset at this simplistic labelling as being rich when there are many Chinese who are not. There are also many non-Chinese who are rich. The colour of your skin is not the final determinant of your wealth.”
Lim is clearly wrong on the first point for Malaysia is colour-coded,it says so on every Malaysian citizens birth certificate and national identity card.
On the second point, Lim has been been careful to not say what many Malaysian Chinese believe; that the returns from capital are a virtual birthright.
This attitude is best explained by SHL Consolidated Bhd's Yap Teoing Choon,who once told The Star, en-route SHL's IPO in 1995 that land and money will find its owner. These words were then and remain provocative in a country where an affirmative action policy in favour of the majority Malays has been enforced since the race riots of May 13 1969, caused in part by Chinese control of the economy.
In that interview Yap went on to explain that in his experience (which by then was not inconsiderable) there are many in life who regardless of their effort, never find wealth .while others seem to find it without too much trouble.
SHL (which stands for Sin Heap Lee) is a property developer and there is no doubt that the company has strong and proud Chinese roots.
It is doubtful that Yap meant his words to exclude his fellow Chinese.
TO BE READ WITH
Why has Sin Heap Lee expedited the ‘death’ of Malayan Thung Pau, which will make its last appearance tomorrow instead of on next Monday on August 8?
By Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-general and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, 2nd August 1994:
Why has Sin Heap Lee expedited the ‘death’ of Malayan Thung Pau, which will make its last appearance tomorrow instead of on next Monday on August 8?
Malayan Thung Pau will make its last appearance tomorrow.
Sin Heap Lee, the Thung Pau proprietor, should explain why it has expedited the ‘death’ of Malayan Thung Pau, as it had announced that Malayn Thung Pau would be published until next Monday on August 8?
Sin Heap Lee also owes the Chinese Community a responsibility to explain why it is closing down Malayan Thung Pau, as when it bought over Thung pau from MCA, it had assumed a trust to the Chinese community to make a success of the Chinese newspaper.
Did Sin Heap Lee decide right from the beginning to operate Malayan Thung Pau for only two years and then to close it down, and if so, was the MCA aware of this when it sold Malayan Thung Pau to Sin Heap Lee?
What were the full terms and conditions of the sale of Malayan Thung Pau by MCA, through MCA Investment Company, Huaren Holding, to Sin Heap Lee that make it impossible for the new proprietor to make a success of Malayan Thung Pau?
MCA leaders have claimed that MCA lost RM30 million in the 11 years from 1981 to 1992 when it bought over and operated Malayan Thung Pau. I understand that Sin Heap Lee had told Malayan Thung Pau staff that it had lost RM20 million in the two years since it bought over Malayan Thung Pau from MCA.
Can Sin Heap Lee publicly confirm its claim that it had lost RM20 million in two years when the MCA only lost RM30 million in 11 years?
Does this figure of RM20 million include the price paid by Sin Heap Lee to MCA for the purchase of Malayan Thung Pau, and if so, what was the amount that Sin Heap Lee paid to MCA for taking over Malayan Thung Pau.
Questions were raised when Sin Heap Lee bought over Malayan Thung Pau from MCA in 1992 as it had no Chinese newspaper background or record. Did Sin Heap Lee buy over Malayan Thung Pau with a mission to make a contribution to Chinese Culture in Malaysia by promoting Chinese journalism? Was it prepared to bear financial losses in the first few years of its ownership to make Malayan Thung Pau a viable, dynamic and successful Chinese daily in the country?
Or were there other reasons, conditions or incentives that led Sin Heap Lee to buy over Malayan Thung Pau from MCA in 1992?
And is Sin Heap Lee’s decision to close down Malayan Thung Pau because these reasons, conditions or incentives that led it to buy the newspaper have not been fulfilled?
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