Chapter 18 My Businesses

Planters do not maketh a good businessman,sensitivities and instinct bore no truths,so I learned the hard way.It took a great failure to bring me back to my senses.Yes,I had a huge failure in fact it was really expensive lesson which ultimately destroyed me.That failure made me a bankrupt.The plunging into business in fact brought me down upon my knees.With that I had practically to crawl all my way back to Paradise the hard way.

I was devastated but I did not grieved very long over it or cried over split milk.Well,for one I had a family to fend for,at least that motivated me to survive on or gathered all my strength to fight back for survivor.

It all began in the my tenth year of service with the same old plantation company.I was doing fine in that plantation but the payment were not attractive compared with counterparts with the planting circle.Sad to admit I was really lowly paid.Sometimes,being contended in the job was important,but as time drifted by and with the children growing older,money became  matter of concerned.

I had every intention of moving on but with my extremely bad track record,applications to many plantation companies ended in utter failures.The odds were piled against me.Many of my applications ended up without even a single reply,maybe as trash.So in order to improve my position I was forced to indulge in business.

Business ? Well,I was never a businessman never good  at it but nevertheless I dived head on onto it without the experience nor sufficient capital to rely on.It proved to be a fatal move.I guess I was too straight forward to be a businessman.Yes,I learned the hard way to know that only crooks can be a good one.You need not agree with me.

Once indulged in it I never knew what hit me I was faced with heavy losses which I never anticipated.On paper everything seem so nice and profitable as well as lucrative but never so.Friends whom you thought you could had relied on betrayed you Soon you realized whom your enemies really were.One thing I truly learned was never trust absolutely anyone.

The business opportunity  came when the trench to utilize the rubber wood as timber were becoming popular.Rubber wood were in abundance and securing them were quite easy. All we had to do were to secure contract for felling of old rubber stand.For as long as you can offer better service and terms  for clearing ,burning and planting,the contract were well in hand. 

Sawing rubber timber were quite new and appeared extremely profitable.Well,at least on paper it was.But involved in it we were faced with numerous unthinkable problems.Problems which beyond our wildest imaginations.

Securing the required quantity of rubber wood were quite easy and the problems only began when we started our operations .We had insufficient capital initially so we invited a few shareholders to join us . Sort of sleeping partners.That was easily sorted out.

With the small capital we invested in three mini band-saws which could to move about from area to areas.When everything seem to run  smoothly we were confronted by the forestry people who rushed  in out of no where to chain-locked all our band saws.With that all our operation were forced to cease .

Before that happened we had actually tried to apply for a licence for our operations.We were misdirected to run  all over the state in fact the country,trying to locate whoever were responsible,from DFO to S FO,running - from departments to departments with no definite results.I mean no one seem to know what to advice us.For another all those Authorities do not know whether rubber wood could be considered as timber.That a cruel joke to us all.

When we questioned those who locked our saws,they replied weakly and negatively.It seemed all they knew was we required a licence to operate those mini-saws.There were no definations ,all they understood were saws whatever they be mini or otherwise.As far as we were told mini-saws were never listed as machinery to be licenced.Our saws had all the safety features before operation required.

The whole thing in sawn rubber wood was so new that was why all were caught in a lurched. and all  were ignorant with no one interested in committing themselves.Seeing no one claiming responsibility over it we cut those chains and moved to another spot.Somehow they caught us again and locked those once again Surprisingly we were never prosecuted in any court.All these "ding dong "battle went on for sometime with us moving around.

Somehow we were never issued any summons nor were we charged in court, so just carried on like fighting a "gorilla warfare" with them.All these cost us a lot of funds. So whatever profits we had were plowed back into the running about operations.There were other unnecessary expenses while on the move because it also involved many uncalled for pay off to those concerned when we  were left untouched at times.

Our problem did not stop short at that The freshly sawn timber had to be properly treated with insecticides,fungicides  and whitening agent.It surely ere difficult processes whereby the timber had to be immersed wholly in the mixture of insecticides,fungicides and whitening agent.One wrong move would render the timber useless being prone to boring insects attack.Not only that those timber ought to be air dried thereafter.

The timber would then be graded with cracks if any removed.Those with black pigments were similarly cut off.With that stringent grading much of the timber would have been rejected.All these reduced our profits.All  moldy materials were also excluded.

Further the graded timber had to be bind up into piles to ease handling.Thereafter delivered to furniture factory .There were not many of them around those days.The most notable one around was the factory for United Furniture based in Temerloh,Pahang.

Alas our problems did not end there,in fact they bugged us further on.The quality control in that factory were more stringent and their grading were not on the spot.Unpleasantly it took them quite a while maybe weeks  before the process our timber.That surely were not good for our air dried timber.

So before long it again turned moldy and before we knew it the whole delivery were rendered as inferior.The claimed were re-directed back to us and we had to send teams of workers to re-treat them..That of course burden us and ate away our profits.With that our pay cheques were butchered further,leaving us with very little on the plate.You think our were over then?

 But sad to admit."No - no way". We have to chase after them,making several attempts before we really secured them safely in our hands.All those trips to the factory cost us money,too.It was never cheap traveling to Temerloh for them.At the end of the day our profits went to nothing and we were drained down to heavy losses.The seemingly profitable business venture were loaded with heavy debts.

Our shares holders started to cause troubles and after a series of quarrels we decided to close shop with heavy losses.Another thing I learned from this business venture was never involved others who had no ideas about the industry . Another thing for sure was that what ever business you do you must be the sole controller of it otherwise just forget it.

Beside that rubber wood business I was also involved in estates supplies business.I had great fate in many plantation  friends ,but how wrong I was.Their supports I foreseen never materialized,all backfired and I was again devastated here.

Armed with that believe that many so called friends would support me I opened up businesses for estate supplies.This proved to me that I should not had placed my confidence in them to support me.Friends  were friends,but never rely on them,it is best to rely on our self.When they in need you can help them but do not depend on their aids in time of need,never.

Another thing business  was extremely competitive without the slightest doubt and  the undercutting of prices of commodities were unbelievable,actually beyond my wildest dreams.These people having been  long in the market could supply  goods with prices far beyond my reach.How dreadful but true.Now how can these be true.

Again  I was caught in a lurch because these suppliers could obtained their goods at much lower pricing than myself.Then there was also another criteria of lower pricing because of quantity purchased.These big timers could purchased in large quantum at much cheaper price..I being a small timer therefore were no match.

There were the questions of stolen goods being sold through them .Apparently they also had their hands on most stolen goods at a much reduced price.So where was I among them,a just nobody.

True I could be a winner should  all  my so call friends  come to my aid in time of need.But alas money talked.No money no friends so I learned again the hard way.Those big timers could over do what I can do.No need to talk so much about them.Yes I  lost again badly.

Of course there were some good ones who helped me.In many cases I was indebted to  them.The few could hardly tie me over but at least I know who my real friends are.God bless them.

Chapter 17 My Friends In Batang Berjuntai

the problems never existed and the felling and clearing should be It is a small world.Well I made quite a number of friends in Batang Berjuntai.Friends can come by easily but good friend were few.Few that I could think of.Here I write about some of them.You be be my judge whether they were really my so call good friends.

Being the so called Manager of St.Andrew Estate,surely a lot of people wanted to be my friends for their own gains or otherwise.The local businessmen who wanted some of my business definitely became friendly with me.In a Chinese  Company I had to be extra careful with all of them,as many of them could also be the friends of the Bosses,too.

One wrong word or step could land me in deep trouble with the Bosses.This I learned long ago.I always made it a point to first know who you are dealing with.Well talking to them then referring back to the Bosses went a long long way.From there you know them better and deal with them as per requirement.

Most important whoever they be,I kept abreast with them or at arm's length away.Because many a times we could be dependent on them for some services.Being friendly should come in handy.S o they could be useful.In this case you offended neither he nor the Bosses.However, I was always careful with their  coffee or dinner  treat which mostly I refused to accept.

And should I accept I made sure the dinner would be affordable myself.Because should I be not pleased with the meeting I can just simply tell the other party concern to fly kite and flatly refused their offer.In any case I did not entertain the fact  he giving a treat without any strings attached.Yeah under no obligations nor favours.In such cases they cannot accused me of any wrong doing which they can relate back to the Bosses.

Contractors coming in for jobs go all out to gain favors to win a contract. Do not entertain them much and often refer them back to the Bosses to make the final decisions.In such cases the Bosses often referred  back to us for the ultimate choice of contractors.However,do not be carried away by such small scheme of the Bosses.

Adhere to them always for the decisions.That would be the safest choice,should anything go wrong the bosses cannot blamed them on you.Because they would equally be guilty as you in that bad decisions.By such you have all the friends by your side.Nor the contractor concerned dared to side lined you.

Contractors,however never be considered as friends.So I always kept a safe arm's  length from them.Their selection be left  to the Bosses ,by so doing we can easily tell them off should their performances be bad. We would not be under undue obligations to be rectify them .Or penalized without being bias or with favors.Of course you could then be unpopular with them but who cares.

In my case we had initially a felling contractor who came in a calling by doing the first contractor with us for free with him taking away all the rubber wood.He was supplying firewood to all the brick kilns around Kuala Lumpur areas.That was the only demand then.

Following when the demand for rubber wood timber became significant he supplied rubber logs to all the existing millers.He got the contract for felling because he was doing felling,clearing and burning for us free of charged at a stipulated time frame.In return he be allowed to remove all the existing rubber timber.

With him around our replanting in all the fields were relatively low.Only the transplanting were all done by us.That too was done cheaply as those days temporary workers from the nearby kampongs were easily available.Odd jobs were scare those days for the locals.all readily available.

Even for rubber tapping or harvesting,locals were easy to come by.There were no shortages at any time People were that choosy and accept any jobs that came by.But today the trend had changed drastically.Kampongs folks shy away from most plantation jobs and Chinese women do not want to tap for rubber plantation anymore.Many things shave transpired since then.

Coming back my friends in the plantations were mostly from my neighboring estates.My immediate neighbor were from Sungei Rambai Division,a sister division of  Sungei Tinggi Estate,a property under Socfin.However their Suprintendant  were often  on transfer here and there.

So within my stay in St.Andrew I actually meet with a number of them.Say what you like my opinion of them were that these people were quite a cocky lot.Proud sort of,just because they were in Socfin.Though they were such I was friendly with all of them.Well,when they were our friends they were actually a friendly lot.

There were a handful of them.For example initially there was a Mr.Lam.I know his small family then.However later he transferred away ,to be replaced with another Mr Jimmy Ong.Young fellow who had a baby with him ,apparently left behind by his  wife after their divorced.He came in with a huge back ground.It seemed that he was the brother-in-law of Lee Leong Sik.

I all these people because we had a common boundary and shared the same problems along it such scarp rubber thefts.Many of their thieves after committing a crime there crossed over to our side.Should they be captured by us we treated them as stealing from us.

On one occasion a theft was  found dead in the dividing drain,floating along with him was a bog of  scrap rubber.Apparently he had been shot dead but both plantation refused any knowledge of it.For one I am pretty sure it could never be us as our guides do not carry any  shotguns.

There were many others whom I also know but the one I knew longest those days was one My Ranny Tan .My family and and his had been friends for quite sometime.Well we were good friends.


Then I had neighbors of small holders from the plantation which were fragmented from a large plantation.This small holders were next to the town,Batang Berjuntai.Following we had Java Selangor Estate on the other side of town.

We shared a common boundary mid way on the other side of our plantation.Their Manager was a "good" friend of mine.His plantation were fully rubber and it was only in the later stage that they begin converting to Oil palm.The Manager,Mr.Deva Dass ,well what can I say,we shared many happy moments together with our families.

Opposite of this plantation was another small Chinese Owned estate,namely Stratmore Estate.Its Manager was a long time friend of us.Our families were quite close together.He was fortunate there as a small plantation it surely had quite a lot of activities.But then his Boss was his childhood friend.

Beside them we also had many other plantation friends from surrounding plantations.Many of them come and go,that was why our relationship was only casual.In life we meet a lot of people whom we had considered as friends but in reality were they?. 

There were some we though were true friends but in they end especially when in times of need their sincerity were questionable.They turned away from your plight,some even went further to destroy you,out of all things.Well,I had encounter many such people.In any case it served no purpose in exposing them now,so let them be just like gust of wind along our way.

When in Batang Berjuntai,we made many friends with the locals.We were never like those 'white planters" who does their shopping and other things in the city,we preferred to be serviced by the locals. That was why we had many friends there.That small town provided us most of our food stuffs with its small market,groceries from their shops.Their coffee shops also served cheap and wonderful food .

While there we were at times treated by our own group hospital.Our plantation was one of biggest contributor to the running of the Hospital and we were therefore Director of the Hospital. Its President were always elected by the Board of Directors and it was here that my so called friends in the Board were never my friends.

For they banded together to out vote me,giving preference to some small contributor.Had it been others I think we would had withdrew from that group Hospital,but instead I just simply gave my blessing to those elected.In any case it was a non-paying job and it served me nothing more except plenty of extra work.

But one thing for sure,then I knew who were truly my friends.Any other in my shoes would had withdrawn from them but I put on a brave front.Maybe they thought I was incapable,that was something seemingly bias when we were the biggest contributor to the hospital.I was in no mind to quarrel with them over such matter and allowed things be.

Within me I knew I was betrayed by so called friends.THe anger imbedded within waiting  for the moment to strike back.It may take years .Revenge then certainly were sweet for back stabbing.So in future should there be requirement  where I could easily assist them I simply ignored them returning the same favor.Nothing just tit for tat.

They never treated me as friends at those critical moments where I needed their support most  they abstained away.Then, why should I be a bloody fool to call them my friends ever again or ever treat them likewise.Yes,I would not reveal what sort opinions I had formed about them.

By then they ought to know what went wrong along the way.They had no good feelings about me in the past and my returning the same opinion was definitely right.I do not betrayed my friends unless they did that to me first.Every body had excellent memories 

I am a grateful man.and am ever willing to give a helping hand to anyone who had helped me before.That went a long way even those who require my help I will go all out to assist where ever I can,even a stranger.All he had to do was just to ask.