Seumas Tan Nyap Tek*,Advocate & Solicitor
My father teaches me that if you want to help someone, make sure you help the person “effectively”. What did he mean by “effectively”? “Effectively” here means assisting the person when you know the person really needs all the help he/she can get at that point of time. It is of very little use if you help the person later (though you may still be helpful). My father being a very successful businessman shared with me his story.
Story: Tun Sardon’s election
My father was a close friend of Tun Sardon Haji Jubir who later on became the Malaysian Minister of Health, Minister of Works and Communications and subsequently, the Governor of the State of Penang. When Tun Sardon first stood for election as a Member of Parliament, he needed all the help he could get especially land transportation (ie: cars) to ferry the voters to the polling centres. In those days, cars were not many so to get a pool of cars was an enormous task. At that time, my father had a small car which he relied on in his line of work. Though he needed the car for his work, he knew that his close friend was in need of help and my father felt it was his duty to assist him wherever and whenever he could. One has to remember at that time, Tun Sardon, was an unknown figure so he could use any help he could get.
My father who was an employee at that time took unpaid leave from his work as he had to help his friend during the election including carrying chairs, tables and of course, ferrying the voters to the polling centres. Even though, he was not affiliated to any political party, he went out of his way to help Tun Sardon. His action demonstrated the true spirit of friendship between two people. My father did not expect anything in return for his help. Imagine how this would play, if we have the same scenario in today’s world! Tun Sardon did win the election and my father returned to his work. Tun Sardon did ask my father that if he could help him in anyway, to let him know. My father thanked him and said that he had everything he needed in life and went on his way.
Many years down the road, Tun Sardon became a Cabinet Minister and was based in Kuala Lumpur. One day, my father was visiting Kuala Lumpur and decided to pay a visit to his old friend at the Ministry. In those days, the security in the Ministry was not very tight, so he went straight to the Minister’s office. In the Minister’s office there were two other gentlemen who were waiting to visit the Minister. One was a State Executive Councillor and the other was a Director General of an important Government Department. The Minister’s secretary asked my father to take a seat in the waiting room together with the other two distinguished gentlemen and proceeded to buzz the Minister using the intercom. In the waiting room, the three gentlemen could hear the secretary asking the Minister that he had three guests waiting to see him and who would he want to see first. Everyone in the waiting room knew that whoever the Minister saw first must be someone special to the Minister. After the secretary gave the names of the three guests, the Minister instructed her to send in my father and instructed the secretary to inform the other two guests that the meeting may take a bit longer. The other two distinguished gentlemen stared at my father in disbelief and amazement. Here they were sitting in the room fully dressed with suits and yet the Minister was going to see someone ordinary who was in smart yet casual clothing. Until today, my father could not forget this story and said he felt so proud when he heard the secretary said, “The Minister would like to see you first”. Apparently, Tun Sardon could still remember the help that my father gave him when he was a “nobody”. Of course, when he became a popular figure, there was no lack of help from people and there were just too many cars to choose from!
My father told me that an important lesson to learn here is that when a person really needs your help, you should go all out to help him and the person will surely appreciate that help. An analogy I would give here would be if you give a nice Management Diary to a CEO of a company, the most the person will say to you is a “thank you” and place the management diary together with the rest of the other diaries received by him/her on the table. However, if you give the management diary to someone who really needs it and didn’t have one, the person will truly appreciate it and will remember your kind gesture for a great many years to come. A small gesture goes a long way.
*Seumas Tan practices in the area of Employment Law covering issues dealing with human resource matters. He practices under the name and style of Messrs S. Tan & Co. and may be contacted at Seumas@STanLawyers.com.my.
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