A trip to Padang

Goh Boon Huk & me were having the delicious giant crab from Kepulauan Mentawai (a group of island facing Sumatra Barat) in one seafood restaurant in Padang on 21.10.2006. The crab weighed slightly more than 2 kg. We were in Padang to catch AirAsia flight to Kuala Lumpur (TLCC) on the following morning. I had to travel more than 10 hours from Jambi because all flights were cancelled as the Sultan Thaha airport in Jambi was closed down due to very thick haze. Pak Goh travelled all the way from Bengkulu and his journey took more than 8 hours.

The flight from Padang to Kuala Lumpur took us just 1 hour & 10 minutes.

Boon Huk & me were in IOI’s Regent Estate, Gemencheh, Negeri Sembilan, in 1994/95. He was my Senior Assistant then. Both of us resigned for better prospect in other plantation companies in May/June 1995. He went to work in Sabah and later in Kalimantan Barat. Then he came back and rejoined IOI and was posted back in Regent Estate as Manager. I last caught up with him was during the Chinese New Year in 2005 when he was the Manager in Segamat Estate. We did not meet up again after he returned to Indonesia working in Bengkulu since May 2005.

It was a joyful evening when we met again in Padang as both of us were catching the same flight back to Malaysia during the long holidays of Lebaran (Hari Raya Puasa). We laughed and talked about the good old days in Regent Estate. We used to have the best coffee in Gemencheh town at Alek's shop after working hours and once in awhile we went for dinner in a Chinese restaurant, Tebung. The owner was Mr. "No Problem" who was a good karaoke singer. After dinner,we used to sing along just to release our stress and having so-called "lung exercise". We were happy working as a team together with the other Assistant, Micheal Tan, our Chief Clerk, Mr. Narayanan, and our field conductors. With such a close relatioship, we were seriously committed during working hours.

Always Allow Your Boss To Speak First

A junior manager, a senior manager and their boss were on their way to a meeting. On their way through a park, they came across a wonder lamp. They rubbed the lamp and a genie appeared.

The genie said, "Normally, one is granted 3 wishes but as you are three, I will allow one wish each"

So the eager senior manager shouted, “I want the 1st wish. I want to be in the Bahamas, on a fast boat and have no worries for a month." Pfufffff and he was gone.

Now the junior manager could not keep quiet and he shouted aloud, "I want to be in Florida with beautiful girls, plenty of food and cocktails for a month." Pfufffff and he was also gone.

Then it's the boss's turn, and he said calmly, "I want these two idiots back in the office after lunch"

When Pukin Estate was taken over by IOI in May 1985, I was reminded by my new boss that he was a planter meaning I could not hide any problems from him. It was usually not easy for old staff to survive in new management but thank God, I somehow managed to last for 10 long years in the company with 5 transfers until I resigned in June 1995 by accepting a better position offered to me by another plantation company.

I just want to share a few valuable incidences with Tan Sri, my XiFu, during the good old days:-

Incidence 1:

When Tan Sri came for a visit, he stopped at the 1st palm and pulled out some weeds from the trunk. As we walked along I quickly started pulling out the weeds from the next palms before he did it again. He had shown us a very good example of “Lead by example”.

Incidence 2:

Tan Sri used to ask us 3 FAQ (frequently asked questions) when he visited our estates,” Have you ever come here?” “Did you see this?” “Why no action had been taken?” After answering “Yes” to the 1st two questions, we ended up being bombarded by his 3rd question.

Incidence 3:

In the earlier days, when Tan Sri was angry at the unsatisfactory field condition, he used to challenge us, “I will come back in 3 months time.”

In one occasion, I challenged him back after my transfer to Morisem Estate, Sabah, in December 1988. He came for his 1st visit in April 1989 and was not happy with the backlog of crop in the fields and the over ripening bunches on the palms. Such problems were, unfortunately, the consequence of non-stop raining weather dragged on for months since December 1988.

Nevertheless, we were working hard to repair the main access road outside the estate leading to Jeroco Palm Oil Mill. At that time our only outlet was Kretam Palm Oil Mill but we had to send our FFB lorries across the Kinabatangan River by scow towed by a tug boat. We could manage 1 trip a day, if lucky, due to poor condition of main access road to Sandakan and the tidal problem of the river.

I said sorry to Tan Sri and admitted my mistakes for not able to clear the crop backlog and some bunches were rotting on palms. I told him that should he come again in 3 months time and find no improvement or still not satisfied with my work, then I would bag and go. Of course, I stayed back since I did not fail my work commitment.

"Thank you, XiFu. I have been using your doctrine nowadays whenever walking the fields with my General Managers, Senior Estate Managers and Estate Managers. That should be the ways plantations are best managed."