It began as a spare parts shop...

One day in the later part of 2005, I received an e-mail from an ex-client asking if he could give my contact number to the chief of a Malaysian multinational corporation. Of course, I said 'yes' and soon after, I was in the office of Dato' Abdul Halim Harun, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of UMW Holdings Berhad. And he told me a little story.

Dato' Halim had been given a copy of the corporate history that I wrote for the Commerce Asset Group, Of People And Principles, and he wanted to commission such a book for UMW. But he had no idea how to get in touch with me. One evening, he was at a wedding reception and seated beside him was a gentleman. As they spoke and got to know one another, he found out that the gentleman was from Commerce Asset and had been involved in the book project. That was when he asked for my contact number and that was how I got to write Turning Points - The UMW Story, which was published in 2008.

A big project like this had to be top-driven. Dato' Halim championed it but, being a busy man, he placed it in the hands of Suseela Menon, UMW's Company Secretary and Executive Director of UMW Corporation Sdn Bhd. Together, they monitored the book's progress while I worked directly with Farida Mohd Salleh and Zalina Zainal Abidin of the Group's Public Affairs Division as well as Yap Teck Ming, a longtime employee who knew the organisation's history and people who had been working there from the early days. They helped me with the research and set up interviews with numerous individuals. 

The book traces the company's growth from an entrepreneurial family business to a public listed company, which then developed into one of the country's most successful conglomerates. Of course, companies don't exist in a vacuum so I set the book within the context of Malaysia's historical and economic development. The UMW story is an amazing one that began in 1917 when Chia Yee Soh, the Group's founder, set up a small automotive spare parts shop named United Motor Works. It was a dream come true for someone who had toiled away since he was 14 years old, initially as an apprentice in 1902 and then foreman, in a bicycle shop in Singapore. Thanks to his business acumen and hard work, the company spread its wings into then Malaya; while one son took charge of the Penang office, another, Eric Chia (later to be accorded the titles of Datuk and Tan Sri), went to work in Kuala Lumpur. 

The story of UMW in Malaya/Malaysia from the late 1950s to the 1980s is synonymous with the story of Eric Chia. He was a larger-than-life character who, due to his physical size and intimidating personality, struck fear as well as respect in those around him. UMW became a big player in heavy equipment as well as motor vehicles during his time and it was also on his watch that the company was listed on the stock exchange. Eric Chia was aggressive in business, which proved to be his undoing when the boom years turned to gloom in the mid-1980s. UMW was mired in debt and would have become insolvent if one of its main shareholders, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), had not come to the rescue. Of course, this meant loss of control by Chia of the Group he had built up over the decades. 

With PNB in the driving seat, UMW moved to the next stage of its development, that of a corporation that grew to become what it is today - a Malaysian multinational with interests in automative; equipment; manufacturing and engineering; and oil and gas, which are spread across more than 90 companies in 13 countries. Truly a Malaysian success story. 

Tan Sri Datuk Eric Chia passed away in 2008 and UMW's top management dedicated the book to him. I would have liked to interview him for the publication but various things stood in the way. 

In his foreword to the book, Dato' Halim declares the reason for initiating the book: "It is essential that (UMW's) history be recorded so that the thousands of people employed by the UMW Group, now and in the future, will know how UMW developed into a corporate organisation with a distinct culture..." Chairman Tan Sri Datuk Asmat Kamaludin, in his message, sees the book as adding "to the store of knowledge that currently exists on Malaysian corporations."

It was in the spirit of lifelong learning that the UMW Management Series was subsequently conceptualised; a series of books "- some illustrating 'successes', others illustrating 'misses' - with the hope that in sharing our experiences, we are helping those within our organisations as well as people beyond our boundaries to better appreciate the trials and tribulations of doing business in an ever-changing world." Those are the words of Dato' Halim in his foreword to the first book in the series, UMW-Dennis Specialist Vehicles Sdn Bhd - A Bumpy Ride, which was launched on 29 September 2010, a day before he retired from UMW.

Writing the book for UMW, as well as the one for Commerce Asset, showed me what it was like working with people who are truly professional. Not only that, in both instances, the employees tasked with the project were committed and ensured that I had whatever materials were available. Interviewees were helpful with information and forthcoming in their responses. And as the project progressed, top management often checked to see whether I got what I needed. 

On a personal level, such books are dream projects because they have allowed me to contribute to the knowledge that we have on the people and organisations that make up our Malaysian society.