OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

When I joined Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Bhd the Head of the Establishment Division was a Senior General Manager (SGM) by the name of Syed Zainol Khodki Shahabudin. There was two departments under his Division. One was Human Resources Department and the other being the Properties and Security Department. Tuan Syed hails from Kedah just like my wife. The late Tunku Abdul Rahman, our beloved first Prime Minister, was his uncle as Tunku's wife, the late Sharifah Rodziah Syed Alwi Barakbah was his auntie.

I do not have much exposure working with Tuan Syed (as we normally refer to him then) as I reported to and worked under Encik (now Dato) Nik Abdul Aziz Mohd Kamil who was then the Assistant General Manager(AGM) of the Human Resources Department. I was then attached to the Research and Development Unit of the Department.

Subsequently I joined the International Operations Department under the Bank's International Banking Division headed then by the Senior General Manager Dr Rais Saniman. My immediate boss was Puan Mariam Dato Eusoff. Puan Mariam's father Dato Eusoff was the famed Datuk Panglima Kinta or Lord of Kinta. There is a book on him written a few years ago by Puan Mariam's elder sister Datin Ragayah Dato Eusoff.

Recently I happened to bump into Tuan Syed in Shah Alam. He looks just as he was in the eighties. His hair hardly shows any whiteness whereas in my case there are a lot of grey hairs. He looks contented and at peace with himself. I supposed being brought up in the households of Kedah's royal families showed in one's character.

While in the Bank he used to talk about character and principles. Before joining Bank Bumi he was with the central bank Bank Negara Malaysia(BNM) serving under the late Tun Ismail Ali, the great and legendary Governor of BNM.

Coming back to my recent encounter with Tuan Syed, he pulled me aside and said "Raduan, in life there are always two choices when we make any decision. Either the decision ends up as an asset or it becomes a liability"

There are no two way about this. What we decide will either ends up as an asset bringing income to us or it it will be a liability that we have to bear and shoulder for the rest of our life. Thus we have to be careful and wise and think about the implications when we are making decisions.

Such a wise statement from a very humble but highly respected man which I would like to share with you, my readers.