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Malaysia Travel Guide

Little Known Secrets of the Beads of Borneo

From the Zulu warriors in South Africa, to the ancient Egyptians of North Africa, to the pilgrims of the Middle East or South America, beads have a presence in many cultures but the one commonality is that they have always been more than an eye-catching accessory. The story of the beads of Borneo is no exception.

For many cultures, they were a currency, or perhaps a sign of faith, a symbol of wealth or a family heirloom to be treasured for future generations. Whatever the purpose, the one consistency is that they are always a way of expression.

Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo has a unique relationship with the beads of Borneo. Although there isn’t any definitive evidence of when exactly the beads came to the region, there is evidence to suggest beads were first used in Borneo by visiting sailors for bartering. Back then, beads were made out of shells, teeth, bones and stones that were perforated and worn as ornaments.

Some Sarawak tribes believe that the longer a bead lasts, the more powerful it becomes and the bearer can draw strength from the bead. However, to do so, the bearer must have a strong soul.

Source: Sarawak Tourism Board

There are over 30 tribes in Sarawak and each tribe has its own way of adorning themselves with beads. Some of them use them as necklaces, others as beaded head caps or beaded skirts, others as bracelets or even rings. Beads would also be used as decorations during festivals or other big gatherings.

The baby carriers used by Orang Ulu women to carry their infants are adorned with beadwork and finishes made out of wild boar or leopard teeth. Apart from indicating status, the tingling of the Hawk’s bells and large beads attached to the upper rim of the carrier would soothe the toddler on long journeys through the rain forest.

Many of the antique beads of Borneo are hard to find now. There are a number of reasons for this. Historically, the beads were sometimes buried with their owners as part of their grave clothes, or as “grave gifts”, for the deceased to use in their long journey to the underworld.

As mentioned, beads were also used as currency, often traded with visiting sailors or lost in the sometimes devastating longhouse fires that could rip through 100 doors in less than an hour.

As beads were increasingly hard to come by and time became a precious commodity, modern day beads are mostly imported from Indonesia and China, according to Heidi Munan, Sarawak Museum’s curator of beads. However they are still influenced by the original beads of Borneo.

So while these new beads are still traded, they are no longer the currency of trade. And despite being mass produced, they are increasingly expensive yet have little of the character of the original beads. At the same time, the number of communities still making the beads of Borneo in the traditional manner is slowly diminishing.

Preserving the traditionality of beadmaking

However, the Lun Bawang community in Long Tuma village, Lawas, northern Sarawak continues to make ceramic beads the way they’ve always been made. Partly to generate income for the community but also because they want to keep the tradition alive and let everyone have the opportunity to wear the beads during traditional festivities.

The process begins with a group of five women wading almost nonchalantly into the crocodile infested waters of Pa’ Lawas river to find and dig up the smooth fine clay, which they call “tanah salit”.

The clay is taken to the village by hand, pounded and kneaded to the right consistency and shaped into tiny beads, roughly the size of a pea. The beads are then sun-dried, and strung up on wire loops and fired in a backyard bonfire.

Patricia Busak, daughter of Litad Muluk, who manages the ceramic beads centre, was interviewed by the Star newspaper some time ago and talked through the process, “It takes at least three pairs of hands to make just one bead: one to gather and process the river clay before shaping it into beads; another to paint the underglaze pattern; and a third to paint the glaze and arrange the beads in an electric kiln at the community-owned workshop in the village.”

She went on to say, “It’s very specialised; for instance, only three women in our group are skilled at rolling the beads. I can’t roll, but I’m good at painting the pattern.”

The Long Tuma women are the only beadmakers in Sarawak. Even though their business is thriving, the most important thing for the Lun Bawang community, is the opportunity to preserve their heritage.

“The kind of beads we have, how we string and wear them, give us our sense of identity as a Lun Bawang,” concludes Patricia in the interview.

Beads of Borneo - Painting a bead

Source: Borneo Talk, “The Glistening Beads Of Kampung Long Tuma”

Because beads have been used for so long and came from various parts of the world, the types of beads found in Sarawak vary. Here are a few examples of the types of beads you should look out for during your time in Sarawak and especially if you go to a festival.

Lukut Sekala

The Lukut Sekala beads are worn almost exclusively by members of the Kayan tribe. These beads serve as a symbol of longevity to the community. This is because the beads last for so long that they have become heirlooms, passed down through multiple generations.

Source: @taytayxanadu on Carousell

There are also the Lukut Bela Laba, which are considered male or female depending on whether the shape of the bead was long or flat. The beads are considered extremely valuable. These beads are often of great value to the Kayan.

According to legend, a trader who wanted to travel by river to the interior of Sarawak bought a second-hand outboard engine with just one Lukut Sekala bead.

Beads of Borneo - bead designs

Source: Rustic Borneo Travel, “Borneo Beads – Beautiful Status Symbols”

Ba’o Rawir

The Ba’o Rawir, or the drinking straw beads are created by Kelabit ladies. The Kelabit tribe originates from the Bario Highlands located in the northernmost part of Sarawak. The Kelabit people have a close association with the Lun Bawang tribe as they are geographically close to one another.

The Ba’o Rawir beads are used to create intricate designs on the Peta, a hat worn by Kelabit ladies. It is a status symbol which had the equivalent value of one buffalo in the old days when owning a buffalo was considered a sign of wealth. Today, an antique Peta hat made out of Ba’o Rawir can fetch up to RM 30,000 (US$ 7,150).

Beads of Borneo - Kelabit woman head gear

Source: Kelabit Wiki, “Peta”

Experience bead making yourself

Located in the north of Sarawak, the Long Tuma village is close to the Brunei border. The Ceramic Bead Centre holds workshops where you can learn how to make the beads and create your own piece. The Beads centre is currently managed by Litad Muluk and her daughter Patricia who is quoted above.

These women work the fields during the day and use the bead centre as an extra income stream while keeping the tradition alive. You can even see how this group of dedicated women put together beautiful pieces of jewellery.

And if you like what you see, you can support their efforts by purchasing beads from the souvenir shop.

Here is where it’s located:
Pusat Kraftangan Manik Seramik
Kampung Long Tuma, 98850 Lawas, Sarawak
Tel: +6013 565 6951

If you’re interested to learn more about the beading culture of Borneo, Heidi Munan’s book on Bornean beads is a highly recommended read. In it, she explains the historic significance of beads and how they transcend its mere aesthetic appeal.

You can also order beads online and support the Lawas bead community at the same time. These 3 online stores offer authentic products sourced from Sarawak:

  1. Gerai OA
  2. Gaya Borneo
  3. Bonita and the Beads
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Categories
Tourism Malaysia

THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT PEKAN RABU

One of the most popular attractions in Alor Setar, the capital of Kedah, is its Pekan Rabu, which literally means Wednesday Market, a business complex selling every traditional stuff that Kedah is famous for. What makes Pekan Rabu more special to the Kedahans is because Malaysia’s fourth and currently seventh Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, born in Alor Setar, was once a trader there.

Yes, you heard it right! During the Japanese Occupation, Tun Dr. Mahathir’s studies were interrupted so he decided to return to his birthplace and become a trader at the old Pekan Rabu, selling fruits, banana fritters, coffee and handicrafts until the World War II ended.

When Tun Dr. Mahathir became a politician, he made it his personal mission to turn the traditional market into a commercial one. He made sure that the weekly market operating from an attap shack, became a multi-storey arcade selling a wide range of stuff from traditional delicacies like “dodol durian” to mengkuang mats and apparel.

The brick-and-mortar shopping complex was built on Jalan Tunku Ibrahim in 1975 and was officially opened in 1978 by Tun Dr. Mahathir himself, the then-Deputy Prime Minister. It had 347 stalls with a variety of businesses and became one of the important landmarks of Alor Setar. The Phase 2 of the shopping complex was built in 1990 and later, in 1995, the original building was renovated.

Pekan Rabu has always been a compulsory stop in Tun Dr. Mahathir’s annual Ramadan pilgrimage to Alor Setar. On his recent visit to Pekan Rabu after he became the Prime Minister for the second time, Tun Dr. Mahathir visited the stall selling the ‘Songkok Style Tun’ which has become his favourite and one he frequents regularly.

The history of Pekan Rabu actually goes as far back as World War I. A prince from the royal household of Kedah, the late Tunku Yaacob Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid, wanted to encourage more Malays to take an active role in commercial activities. So, in the early 1920s, he initiated a weekly market, open only on Wednesdays, along Sungai Kedah near Tanjung Chali. It became a training ground for the Malays to do business and it later evolved into a daily market when the business became prosperous. In 1932, Pekan Rabu was shifted to its present location in Jalan Tunku Ibrahim.

In 2014, Pekan Rabu was given a total makeover in an effort to make it more attractive to tourists. Even though the upgrading of the complex involved building a four-storey complex with a modern architecture, the original concept of Pekan Rabu, which made it unique, was maintained, including its traditional Islamic architecture.
The former Pekan Rabu used to have two separate buildings but the new building has everything under one roof to make shopping more comfortable for its visitors. It currently has 355 business lots, as well as 48 kiosks and 24 food stalls. There is also an exhibition area on the ground floor. It is open daily from 9 am to 9 pm.

Pekan Rabu offers a wide range of goods and services, including crockery, jewellery, textiles, traditional medicines, wedding and bridal items, local delicacies and handicrafts. For the locals, it is a complete shopping mall that fulfils all needs, while for tourists, it is glimpse into the daily lives of both traders and the local customers.

Let us throw a challenge to the would-be visitor to Pekan Rabu. Whenever you have an opportunity to visit the place, take the time to trace our Prime Minister’s favourite haunts or shops at Pekan Rabu. If you are lucky, the original traders there might share a story or two about the world’s oldest country leader, our Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir. Good luck!

Getting There

By Car or Taxi
From the North-South Expressway (PLUS), take either the Alor Setar Selatan or Alor Setar Utara exit and follow the signboard heading to Alor Setar City Centre. From there you can see the signboard showing how to get to ‘Pekan Rabu’.

By Train (ETS)
From Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station to Alor Setar, Kedah will take approximately 5 1/2hours journey by KTM ETS

Who To Contact
Koperasi Pekan Rabu Alor Setar Berhad
Tel: +604-733 5929

Categories
Tourism Malaysia

PEKAN RABU

One of the most popular attractions in Alor Setar, the capital of Kedah, is its Pekan Rabu, which literally means Wednesday Market, a business complex selling every traditional stuff that Kedah is famous for. What makes Pekan Rabu more special to the Kedahans is because Malaysia’s fourth and currently seventh Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, born in Alor Setar, was once a trader there.

Yes, you heard it right! During the Japanese Occupation, Tun Dr. Mahathir’s studies were interrupted so he decided to return to his birthplace and become a trader at the old Pekan Rabu, selling fruits, banana fritters, coffee and handicrafts until the World War II ended.

When Tun Dr. Mahathir became a politician, he made it his personal mission to turn the traditional market into a commercial one. He made sure that the weekly market operating from an attap shack, became a multi-storey arcade selling a wide range of stuff from traditional delicacies like “dodol durian” to mengkuang mats and apparel.

The brick-and-mortar shopping complex was built on Jalan Tunku Ibrahim in 1975 and was officially opened in 1978 by Tun Dr. Mahathir himself, the then-Deputy Prime Minister. It had 347 stalls with a variety of businesses and became one of the important landmarks of Alor Setar. The Phase 2 of the shopping complex was built in 1990 and later, in 1995, the original building was renovated.

Pekan Rabu has always been a compulsory stop in Tun Dr. Mahathir’s annual Ramadan pilgrimage to Alor Setar. On his recent visit to Pekan Rabu after he became the Prime Minister for the second time, Tun Dr. Mahathir visited the stall selling the ‘Songkok Style Tun’ which has become his favourite and one he frequents regularly.

The history of Pekan Rabu actually goes as far back as World War I. A prince from the royal household of Kedah, the late Tunku Yaacob Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid, wanted to encourage more Malays to take an active role in commercial activities. So, in the early 1920s, he initiated a weekly market, open only on Wednesdays, along Sungai Kedah near Tanjung Chali. It became a training ground for the Malays to do business and it later evolved into a daily market when the business became prosperous. In 1932, Pekan Rabu was shifted to its present location in Jalan Tunku Ibrahim.

In 2014, Pekan Rabu was given a total makeover in an effort to make it more attractive to tourists. Even though the upgrading of the complex involved building a four-storey complex with a modern architecture, the original concept of Pekan Rabu, which made it unique, was maintained, including its traditional Islamic architecture.
The former Pekan Rabu used to have two separate buildings but the new building has everything under one roof to make shopping more comfortable for its visitors. It currently has 355 business lots, as well as 48 kiosks and 24 food stalls. There is also an exhibition area on the ground floor. It is open daily from 9 am to 9 pm.

Pekan Rabu offers a wide range of goods and services, including crockery, jewellery, textiles, traditional medicines, wedding and bridal items, local delicacies and handicrafts. For the locals, it is a complete shopping mall that fulfils all needs, while for tourists, it is glimpse into the daily lives of both traders and the local customers.

Let us throw a challenge to the would-be visitor to Pekan Rabu. Whenever you have an opportunity to visit the place, take the time to trace our Prime Minister’s favourite haunts or shops at Pekan Rabu. If you are lucky, the original traders there might share a story or two about the world’s oldest country leader, our Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir. Good luck!

Getting There

By Car or Taxi
From the North-South Expressway (PLUS), take either the Alor Setar Selatan or Alor Setar Utara exit and follow the signboard heading to Alor Setar City Centre. From there you can see the signboard showing how to get to ‘Pekan Rabu’.

By Train (ETS)
From Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station to Alor Setar, Kedah will take approximately 5 1/2hours journey by KTM ETS

Who To Contact
Koperasi Pekan Rabu Alor Setar Berhad
Tel: +604-733 5929

Categories
Tourism Malaysia

The Sky Bar of Trader Hotel at Puteri Harbour

The Sky Bar (N1.41768 E103.65640) is located at the Rooftop pool deck of Trader Hotel at Puteri Harbour, Nusajaya – Johor. We were invited to the Sky Bar for their opening private party on Saturday evening 12th Oct 2013. Sky Bar is the trademark of Trader Hotel, have you been to the Sky Bar at Trader Hotel Kuala Lumpur?



The Sky Bar is totally different from day time and night time…it’s a beautiful infinity swimming pool overlooking the Puteri Harbour and Danga river during the day time, when the nights fall…the pool area is light up with the beautiful lighting and company by the Sky Bar beside…

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It was about 7pm, the invited guests were walking into the Sky Bar area one-by-one…foods and drinks were prepared much earlier to serve all the guests…

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The small table in the pool was the fresh seafood like oysters and others…this was a special arrangement, Nice!

About 120 guests from members of Singapore Sport Car Club, Exotic Car Club, Super Bikers from Johor Bahru and corporate guests attended the opening party.

The guests queue up for foods very soon just after 7pm, guess everyone can’t wait to taste the delicious cuisine prepared by the Executive Chef – Alan Wong and Food and Beverage Manager – Avraam Koutsides, Trader Hotel.

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Every guest was queuing up for their favorite food which located at border of the Sky Bar. There were plenty of varieties on that evening with the wide food range from local to international, from raw to cooked…

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There was a long queue for the above foods…especially the ‘beef’! Yummy!

The seafood counter was specially presented in the children pool…yes, you heard me right! It was inside the pool.

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The dessert and finger food corner was located just next to the children pool. I can’t stop myself to took a small cube of dark chocolate, and it was Nice!

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The dining area was assigned in every corner, filled up the Sky Bar…

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I like this special sunken corner (below) very much! It’s located next to the infinity pool, surrounded with tempered glass and the Blue lighted relax chair! Overlooking the Puteri Harbour and Danga river…Awesome!

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Once everyone filled up their stomach, the party began! The beer was serve without interval pause from Carlsberg’s 4 pretty promoters. Followed by the music played by the DJ Herbs and Deeraj.

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We had a glass of the ice cold beer beside the pool and started our photo shooting session…
During the music played, there was a troupe of synchronized swimmers performing in the pool followed by 4 pretty colourful mermaids! That was a Surprised! Everyone was busy triggering their shutter of the cameras crazily! Haha! It was a very nice scene with the mermaids swim across and the underwater lighting…

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The 2 colourful lions were performing their dance in the bar and presented the oranges to the Executive Chef – Mr Alan Wong and F B Manager – Mr Avraam Koustsides.

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And the photo session continued…



You can have a excellent view of Puteri Harbour and catch the spectacular sunset (if the weather is good) from the Sky Bar of Trader Hotel.

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This is also a nice place for night photography lover, you can enjoy the delightful dinner company with nice wine or cocktail while taking the shots of the beautiful surrounding night view…

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Categories
All Malaysia Info

Rare insight into Syed Mokhtar

Listed as the seventh richest Malaysian with a net worth of US$3.3 billion, not much is known from the media-shy Syed Mokhtar.

Syed Mokhtar Albukhary

Syed Mokhtar Albukhary : A Biography

Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, A Biography
Author: Premilla Mohanlall
Publisher: PVM Communications

MY first meeting with tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary went off in a rather unusual way. The year was 2004 and he had wanted to meet someone from The Star to make known his views over his fight with another tycoon, the late Tan Sri Nasimuddin SM Amin, over DRB-Hicom.

Syed Mokhtar felt the media favoured the Naza Group boss over him and he wanted to give his side of the story.

Both were battling over a strategic 15.8% block of shares in DRB-Hicom held by three parties, including the estate of the late Tan Sri Yahaya Ahmad, and the rivalry was billed as the “Fight of The Big Boys.”

The series of newspaper headlines had forced the reclusive Syed Mokhtar to come out and talk to this writer to put the record straight.

Our meeting at the business centre of a five-star hotel at Jalan Sultan Ismail was fixed at 9pm but he only turned up near midnight. Although he was dressed in a white long-sleeved shirt, I noticed that he only wore sandals. He was over two hours late.

His aides had warned me that he would probably be “waylaid” on the way there by businessmen and politicians, most of whom would ask for business deals or favours.

To avoid such disruptions, he shuttles between his house at affluent Bukit Tunku – which he bought since he became a millionaire bachelor – and the hotel to meet his associates and contacts. The other meeting point is the Islamic Arts Museum near the National Mosque.

The other rather unusual meeting spot is an Indian restaurant at Jalan Pahang. To this day, he carries with him a tumbler of tea, made by a particular waiter, from the eatery.

“If (the late Tan Sri) Loh Boon Siew can meet his friends at a coffeeshop every morning, I see no reason why I cannot enjoy my teh tarik at the shop, saya pun tong san mali, like him,” he told me, referring to Boon Siew’s ancestral roots from China. Syed Mokktar’s ancestral roots, on the other hand, can be traced to Central Asia.

By the time we finished our conversations, it was close to 2am. As I put down my pen and was about to close my note book, he suddenly told me that our discussions were entirely off the record and he was not to be quoted.

The publicity-shy businessman has never been at ease with journalists but I wasn’t going to allow Syed Mokhtar to have his way. I told him, in no uncertain terms, that if that were so, I would have wasted my entire evening with him, and whether he liked it or not, I was going to put him on record.

I must have made an impression on him because as we got to know each other better, he was prepared to share his private thoughts with me regularly – but still never on record.

But the media is still biting on Syed Mokhtar and, in some ways, he is to be blamed as he has never made himself available to journalists, preferring to let his aides do the talking. In fact, bankers also complain that he never meets them!

Interestingly enough, a whole chapter is devoted to his dealings with the media in his biography that has just hit the bookstores written by Premilla Mohanlall, a writer and a public relations practitioner.

“I wonder why I get bad press when others who have abused the system for personal gains have not been subjected to such media scrutiny. Perhaps it is time to come out and defend myself,” he said in the book.

The 180-page book is very readable, starting with his childhood days in a village attap house with no piped water and electricity, where the toilet was a pit latrine. It traces Syed Mokhtar’s first experience of doing business under his cattle trader father in Alor Star. His father migrated to Kedah from the Afghan region of Central Asia via India and Thailand.

The book gives a rare peek into his family life and how the family’s financial constraints forced Syed Mokhtar to stop schooling after Form Five, while his siblings were able to continue. There was also his early growing-up years with a soldier uncle in Johor Baru.

He takes pride calling himself a businessman with no diplomas, and his ability to speak the layman’s language is obvious in the book. Much space is dedicated to his early days as a travelling salesman, when he had to sleep in the lorries and on bug-infested beds in cheap hotels.

The point that Syed Mokhtar seems to want to tell his readers is that he did not get his wealth on a silver platter. While the affirmative action of the New Economic Policy had helped him, he worked hard and fought hard. He was not the type who cashed out after getting the pink forms.

In short, he went through the good and bad times, like many well-tested businessmen. The 1997 financial crisis saw his assets shrank from RM3bil to RM600mil.

“Eighty per cent of my market capitalisation was wiped out. There was a lot of pain and hardship. Many people thought I would pack up and leave. I am a fighter, with a strong will to survive.

“I lost countless nights of sleep, I lost hair, but I did not lose sight of one thing: my responsibility to safeguard strategic bumiputra assets and to protect the interests of my staff.”

Today, he has 110,000 staff under his payroll and indirectly about 250,000 other Malaysians, particularly vendors, since he acquired Proton this year.

Syed Mokhtar’s close ties with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is well documented but in this book, Syed Mokhtar spoke vividly, if not humorously, of their first encounter.

It was Thursday, Jan 16, 1997 and the time was 2.30pm – Syed Mokhtar entered the office of the former Prime Minister.

“I greeted him with a salam and he stood before me, with his hands folded across the chest. He did not wave for me to take a seat when he sat down. I was sweating, and decided to sit down to present the documents I had prepared to explain all my businesses in Kedah, Kuala Lumpur and Johor.

“It included building plans for a new project in Alor Star, a sprawling development with a mosque and a health and welfare facilities for the poor as well as an international university for disadvantaged communities around the world.

“The Prime Minister listened carefully, without saying a word. By the time I was done, it was an hour and ten minutes. Still, not a word. I left the documents on his desk and took leave.”

Not long later, Syed Mokthar, who was still asleep, received a call from Dr Mahathir himself with a simple message: “Your matter in Kedah is settled.” That is of course vintage Dr Mahathir, the man who has no time for small talk and offered few words.

Apart from his numerous business ventures, Syed Mokhtar also writes in detail of his numerous charitable works.

Almost every year, his Albukhary Foundation hosts two iftar or fast-breaking dinners for over 3,000 needy people. The foundation currently has a few flagship projects, including the Islamic Arts Museum built in 1998.

In 2001, the foundation launched the Albukhry Tuition Programme to help the underachieving rural school children pass their final high school examination. At the end of the programme, nine years later, about 80,000 students from 500 schools had benefited from these remedial classes.

His foundation has also extended help to survivors of earthquakes in China, Pakistan and Iran, and the tsunami in Indonesia. It has also built an AIDS hospital in Uganda and a girls’ school in Nepal as well as helped support the Sarajevo Science and Technology centre.

An interesting chapter is on his role as a family man. Syed Mokhtar has never touched on his private life in any interview, which has been rare, in any case.

The father of seven children, between the ages of two and 18, revealed how his typical meetings start at 10pm and finish at 3am “and is held seven days a week and has been a routine for more than 20 years.”

“Fortunately, my wife comes from a business family and understands this. Initially, I had to explain the arrangement to her, and she accepted it. Except for family holidays, in our 20 years of marriage, I don’t think I have spent many evenings at home after 10pm,” he wrote.

Syed Mokhtar married in 1992 at the age of 41 to then 24-year-old Sharifah Zarah. There are also rare pictures of his family in the book.

Although the book is, no doubt, a public relations exercise, the right questions have been posed by the writer, including the public’s perception of his many acquisitions and the common criticism that he has more than he can chew.

He also answered the issue of the shareholding structure of his companies that could not be traced to him, acknowledging “it is an old habit that has to change.”

Syed Mokhtar hasn’t changed much. He is rarely seen in public functions. He is still more at ease in short-sleeved shirts and sandals. The billionaire now travels on a private jet but in town, he still drives around in his old Proton Perdana. By WONG CHUN WAI

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