Exclusive | Chinese – the most amazing economic ants on earth: the Robert Kuok memoirs
In the fourth extract of Robert Kuok’s memoir, he considers Chinese immigrants. Not only are these unsung heroes hungry, eager and willing to ‘eat bitterness’ – they have cultural strength in the marrow of their bones
UNSUNG HEROES
The overseas Chinese made enormous contributions to Southeast Asia. They are the unsung heroes of the region: the poor men and women who migrated and blazed trails into the jungle, accessing the timber wealth; Chinese workers who planted and tapped rubber, who opened up the tin mines, who ran the small retail shops. It was the Chinese immigrants who tackled these Herculean tasks, and created a new economy around them. The British were good administrators. Many of them in private enterprise were absentee landlords, sitting in boardrooms or plush offices in London, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. It was the Chinese who helped build up Southeast Asia. The Indians also played a big role, but the Chinese were the dominant force in helping to build the economy.
The transplanted Chinese were born entrepreneurs. The bulk of the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia have their roots in the coastal towns and villages of Fujian and Guangdong provinces – and these have been blessed with some of the best entrepreneurial genes in the world. They came very hungry and eager as immigrants, often barefooted and wearing only singlets and trousers. They would do any work available, as an honest income meant they could have food and shelter. Chinese entrepreneurs are efficient and cost-conscious. When they search for foreign hardware and expertise, they know how to drive hard bargains. They work harder than anyone else and are willing to “eat bitterness”, as the Chinese say. The Chinese are simply the most amazing economic ants on earth.
The Chinese are simply the most amazing economic ants on earth
In the Ming dynasty, the Chinese traded and explored around the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. But, until the middle or latter part of the nineteenth century, the movement of people was only a trickle. Colonisation opened up Southeast Asia. The Europeans brought a semblance of law and order to the region and opened up rubber, mining and trading operations. Millions of Chinese, a tsunami of human migration, went south in search of better opportunities. The majority of overseas Chinese are moral and ethical people who practice fair play and possess a sense of proportion. I will concede that if they are totally penniless, they will do almost anything to get their first seed capital. But once they have some capital, they try very hard to rise above their past and advance their reputations as totally moral, ethical businessmen.
I have not come across any people as loyal as the Chinese. The Japanese have a kind of loyalty, but it’s an uncritical, bushido type of loyalty: they are loyal even if the boss is a skunk. Unlike the Japanese, every Chinese is highly judgmental, from the most educated to the uneducated. In every Chinese village and community, moral values are drilled into each child during his or her family upbringing. They are a very clueful people. They may have lived in a village or small town in China and come to Southeast Asia totally ignorant of the world, but they picked up ideas and strategies very quickly.
They [the Chinese] don’t need expensive equipment or the trappings of office. They just deliver
If there is any business to be done on earth, you can be sure that the Chinese will be there. They will know whom to see, what to order, how best to save, how to make money. They don’t need expensive equipment or the trappings of office; they just deliver.
