THE EXPERIENCE OF SELECTED MALAYSIAN BUSINESSMEN

Ms. Nur Suriya Mohd Nor
THE INTEGRATION OF SPIRITUALITY WITH BUSINESS: THE
EXPERIENCE OF SELECTED MALAYSIAN BUSINESSMEN
INTRODUCTION
Secularism can be defines as the separation of a government, institution, or organization from
religion or religious beliefs. It may assert the right to be free from religious rules and teaching,
and the right to freedom from governmental imposition of religion upon the people within a state
that is neutral on matters of belief. In other words, it refers to the view that human activities and
decisions, especially political ones, should not be influenced by religious values, laws, or ethics.
Secularists promote the separation of religious matters including spirituality from all human
activities including business, politics, and society. However, there are scholars such as Fairholms
(1996), Novak (1996), Cavanagh (1999), Moxley (2000) who subscribe to the view that
spirituality should be influenced the human activities where spirituality bring great impact on
those activities. Buchhloz (2006) defines spirituality as referring to “our inner consciousness, the
source of inspiration, creativity, and wisdom. It comes from within and goes beyond our
programmed beliefs and values.” In other words, a spiritual person holds a set of moral beliefs
that inform their sense of right and wrong in the workplace. Studies have revealed that
spirituality is essential to health, trust, creativity, commitment, ethical behavior, and
productivity. It tends to ground us in a greater good beyond the self, helps us value other people,
and creates in us more depth and sensitivity. By living these values, we gain the moral authority
to bring people, even divisive factions, together to heal conflict and enrich community. We find
the spiritual common ground amidst the diversity. Studies have shown that any company which
successfully integrates performance and responsibility will thrive. When leadership is definitely
grounded in spiritual principles, business skills are applied with excellence, and people strive to
apply high values to its products, its communications, and internal management practices, then
the brands of that company take on an allure to anyone interested in high integrity. That
reputation will return multiple dividends in terms of greater investment, greater growth, and
greater talent. Thus, this study interested to study the integration of spirituality with business
from the experience of selected successful Malaysian businessmen.
THE SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMEN IN MALAYSIA
This study chose three successful businessmen in Malaysia from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.
They are from different races, religions, as well as run different types of business. They are Ir.
Suhaimi bin Deraman, a Malay Muslim who is the Director of an engineering consultant
company which deals with a multi-disciplines engineering works; Dato’ Pardip Kumar Kukreja,
an Indian Hindu, who is the Executive Chairman of diverse types of business related to tourism
including travel agency and airlines representative; and Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew, a Chinese
Buddhist who is the Deputy Chairman of a company which involve in property development.
Figure 1: Ir. Suhaimi bin Deraman1
Ir. Suhaimi bin Deraman is the Director of RNZ Integrated Sdn. Bhd. and is one of the
shareholders of the RNZ and its subsidiaries and associated companies (RNZ Group). He
finished his primary school at Sekolah Kebangsaan Gong Balai, Merchang, Terengganu. He
obtained his secondary school from Sekolah Menengah Sains Dungun, Terengganu and later
continued his study at the Northern Consortium United Kingdom (NCUK) at Institute
Technology Mara. Afterward, in 1991 he further obtained his Bachelor of Engineering in
Chemical Process and Fuel Plant Technology from University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. He
started his career as Trainee Engineer at Perwaja Steel in Kemaman, Terengganu. After having
spent a year, he worked as a Process Engineer until 1996 in MMC Oil & Gas Sdn. Bhd., a local
oil and gas consultant company based in Kuala Lumpur. Afterward, he moved on to Kvaerner
Petrominco Sdn. Bhd., a Norwegian oil and gas consultant based in Kuala Lumpur. In 1999, with
the international experience that he gained from Kvaerner, he joined RNZ Integrated Sdn. Bhd.
As one of the share holder and began his successful venture into the Malaysian oil and gas
service industry. He acquired the skills and knowledge of the oil and gas industry through hands
on experience as well as keeping abreast with the latest developments within the industry by
maintaining a close rapport with the local and international players as well as sound knowledge
of the rules and regulations set by the authorities.
In the late 2011, together with his partners, under their stewardship, the RNZ Integrated
secured a multi-disciplines engineering works in Malaysia. In mid 2004, he was instrumental in
assisting the RNZ in procuring an Umbrella Contract from Petronas which is exclusive bidder for
a range of engineering services and thereafter secured larger contacts from the oil and gas
operators. Since then, the RNZ has grown from a small company into more than 500 personals
which it involved in an integrated engineering service provider within the oil and gas industry,
focusing in the provision of conceptual, FEED, and details engineering services in the major oil
and gas operators in Malaysia and international areas. Through his active and prudent leadership,
the RNZ has won numerous awards and accreditations from various oil and gas operators as well
as maintaining a close rapport with the various oil and gas operators, suppliers, and manufactures
from Malaysia as well as overseas to further enhance the profile of the RNZ. Among the awards
that RNZ has won are;
SME 100th AWARD, 2009 - RNZ has been recognized as one of the fast moving company and
was awarded in SME 100th Award 2009 for it'
s achievement.
WINNER OF THE 2008 ENTERPRISE 50 AWARD PROGRAMME - In 2008, RNZ was
awarded a winner in the 2008 Enterprise 50 Award, in the category of best locally managed
company. The Enterprise 50 Award which is jointly organized by Accenture and Small and
Medium Industries Development Corp (SMIDEC) recognized the success of local enterprises
and are accepted as the benchmark of success in the industry. Many winners of these awards
have became successful companies in the region and globally.
MITI Excellence Awards – In the year 2008, RNZ has been awarded with Anugerah
Kecemerlangan Industri (Industry Excellence Award).
ISO 9001:2000 Certificate - RNZ’s Quality Management System (QMS) is certified to ISO
9001:2000 since 2004. Since then the QMS has been continuously improved in line with the
wider client base and to meet the more complex project’s expectation undertaken by RNZ. The
QMS was successfully certified to ISO 9001: 2008 in 2010 by DNV. The continuous
improvement of these procedures provides for effective control of all activities to ensure that the
work satisfies the requirements of the contract, statutory regulations, applicable codes and
standards and Clients requirement.
Appreciation Awards –
-
HSE Award - Recognition for 1.5 Million Man-Hours achievement without LT1 for
the project; Labuan Gas Terminal Upgrade and Pipeline Project from the Petronas
Carigali and Petronas Methanol Labuan.
-
HSE Day Award for the project; EPCC of Sumandak Selatan Development Project
(SUPG-B) Phase 2 from the Sime Darby Enginering and Petronas Carigali.
-
HSE Award - Recognition for 1.7 Million Man-Hours achievement without LT1 for
the project; JDA Block B 17 Development Project from the OilFab Sdn. Bhd.
As a partner of the RNZ Group, he successfully spearheaded the success of RNZ as a
Bumiputera2 Origin Company into a well-known and establish consultant for local and
international market. Among the major projects that the RNZ won are;
2
-
G-1 & GS Braced Monopod (India)
-
Bashayer 2 Marine (Sudan)
-
Sumandak Selatan Integrated (Sabah, Malaysia)
-
Abu “A” Minimal Relocatable (Terengganu, Malaysia)
-
Bunga Tulip A (Malaysia-Vietnam Border)
-
Tanjung Langsat Port Oil (Johor, Malaysia)
-
Sabah Oil & gas Terminal (Sabah, Malaysia)
-
Labuan Gas Terminal (Sabah, Malaysia)
Sons of soil are Malays and indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak.
-
Fip Phase 3, Muglad Basin (Sudan)
-
Anding Utara (Terengganu, Malaysia)
-
Dulang – B Compressed Gas (Terengganu, Malaysia)
-
Tangga Barat Cluster (Terengganu, Malaysia)
-
RBDP-B (Terengganu, Malaysia)
-
JDA Block 17 Field (Thailand)
-
Kinabalu Nag Field (Sabah, Malaysia)
-
Al-Shaheen Field (Qatar)
-
Topaz and Diamond (Vietnam)
-
JDA Block 17 Field (Thailand Malaysia Joint Development Area)
-
Tangga Barat Cluster (Terengganu, Malaysia)
-
RC3/RC1 Wellhead Platform (Vietnam)
-
Laila Gas Field (Sarawak, Malaysia)
-
LAM and Zhdanov Fields (Turkmenistan)
-
Thang Long & Dong Do (Vung Tau)
-
South Pars Gas Field Development Project (Persian Gulf)
Figure 2: Dato’ Pardip Kumar Kukreja3
Dato’ Pardip Kumar Kukreja is the Executive Chairman of the Paradise Group of Companies.
His parents came to Malaysia from Punjab in 1942, and he was born in Kuala Lumpur. His
primary business experience started with the tourism industry. The Group comprises of
independent but integrated companies each specializing in its respective businesses which are
positioned to meet differing demand of their valued customers. With Grand Paradise Holdings
Sdn. Bhd. being the controlling entity, its businesses entail not only the travel, tours, hotels,
restaurants, and property ownerships, but the company also offers management and accounting
services to all its subsidiary companies. The companies within the group are Paradise Travel &
Tours Sdn. Bhd., Carnival Travel Sdn. Bhd., Paradise Hotels, and Kohinoor Restaurant.
Dato’ Pardip established Paradise Travel & Tours Sdn. Bhd in 1987. This company is a
division to lead the challenges within the travel industry. Since its establishment, it has
achieved a reputation of being a leading agency and plan to expand locally and globally. The
vast experience of Dato’ Pardip in the tourism industry, won him the General Sales Agent or
Passenger Sales Agent appointments for the Air India, the Air Zimbabwe, the Expo Air, the
Nepal Airlines, the Yeti Airlines, and the Spice Jet. The airlines representation is under a
specialized division of the Group, carnal travel Sdn. Bhd. This company was established in
1993 offers foreign airlines a more economical approach in maintaining their businesses in
Malaysia through airlines representation. His quest to expand and diversify his business led
him to establish Grand Paradise Hotels in 1999 and subsequently Grand Paradise Highway
Hotels with branches at the City Hotels in Johore Bahru and Penang; and the Highway Hotels
3
See Abstract B
in Seremban North & South, Ayer Keroh, Gunung Semanggol, and Rawang. The Paradise
Group has also ventured into property investments. He was the first Malaysian to introduce the
concept of Bed & Breakfast (B & B) into Malaysia in 1988. He also established Kohinoor
restaurant located at CapSquare Capital Square Kuala Lumpur. This restaurant serves over 200
dishes of Indian foods from various paths of Indian sub-continent.
Dato’ Pardip has contributed and continues contributing to important portfolios in
business, social and religious entities or bodies. They include the following either past or
present positions:Member of the Special Task Force (PEMUDAH) formed by Prime Minister.
Director, Human Resource Development Council of Malaysia (HRDC);
ASEAN Chamber of Commerce & Industry;
Member of Private Sector Consultative Committee (Ministry of Home Affairs);
Member of Bumiputra-Non Bumiputra Joint Venture Committee.
Deputy President of Malaysia Hindu Sangam
Founder of Tara Foundation (Welfare Home/Orphanage for boys housing 34 children);
President of Malaysian Associated Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry
(MAICCI),
Hon. Secretary General, MAICCI.
Advisor to Malaysian Indian Business Association (MIBA)
Advisor to Malaysian Indian Business Cooperative (MIBC)
Figure 3: Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew4
Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew was born in Batu Pahat, Johore in 1955. He was attended his primary and
secondary school in the Chinese schools in his hometown. He came from a poor family and he
started working at the age of 17th years old after he finished his secondary school. He worked as
a publisher in Ampang Park, Kuala Lumpur for two years and received RM120 as the monthly
salary. At the age of 19th years old, he started his own business in multi-businesses including
paper printing, food equipment, antique furnishers, bakery, and medical business. At the age of
30, he was gave up with his multi-businesses and involved in the property development.
He is the founder of Country Heights Holdings Berhad and was first appointed to the
Board on 1 October 1986. He is also a member of the remuneration Committees of the Board.
Tan Sri Lee is an established businessmen and an innovative entrepreneur in the properties
industry. He has almost over 30 years of immeasurable experience in residential, industrial park,
hotel and leisure, commercial and recreation projects. His strong business wisdom and visionary
leadership are the factors which led the Group’s successful completion of several highly
acclaimed projects. Country Height Damansara and Borneo Highlands Resort have being
awarded the “Highly Commended-Best Development Malaysia” and “Highly Commended-Best
Golf Development Malaysia” respectively in the Asia Pacific Residential Property Awards in
association with Bloomberg Television 2010. The Country Heights Holdings Berhad has won the
“BestBrand Conglomerate Awards 2010-2011.”
One of the commercial project, Exhibition and Conference Center (“Excel”) project in
London took off when Malaysia was hit by the Asian Economic crisis in 1998. Excel project was
4
See Abstract C
made possible by Tan Sri Lee’s involvement. Excel London has hosted several consumer and
trade, private and public events since its opening in 2000. The annual G-20 Leaders’ Summit in
2009 was held in Excel. His magnificent development by transforming the World’s largest
excavated tin mine into a flagship development within breathtaking landmarks such as
His
magnificent development by transforming the World’s largest excavated tin mine into a flagship
development with breathtaking landmarks such as Palace of the Golden Horses, Mines Wellness
Hotel, Mines Waterfront Business Park, Malaysia International Exhibition and Convention
Centre, Mines Wonderland and Mines Resort & Golf Club that has earned “The Mines Resort
City” the National Creativity & Innovation Award by the Malaysian Design Technology Centre
in 2004. The MINES Resort & Golf Club was the first Golf course to organize the first ever PGA
TOUR sanctioned event in Southeast Asia. This premier golf tournament which is also
sanctioned by the Asian Tour was held from the 28 to 31 October 2010.
In recognition of his immeasurable contribution to the property development and
hospitality industry in Malaysia, Tan Sri Lee has been bestowed with the “Lifetime Achievement
Award” in the 2008 Technology Business Review ASEAN Awards. Tan Sri Lee also sits on the
board of Golden Horse Palace Berhad, Mines Excellence Golf Resort Berhad, Plentiful GoldClass Berhad, Bluwater Developments Berhad and several other private companies. In view of
his direct interest in CHHB and substantial shareholdings in Golden Touch Venture Sdn Bhd, he
is deemed interested in certain related party transactions of a profit or trading nature which are
necessary for the day-to-day operations of the Group.
THE INTEGRATION OF SPIRITUALITY WITH BUSINESS: THE EXPERIENCE OF
SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMEN IN MALAYSIA
From the research conducted by the researcher, she found that all of the selected respondents are
not only successful in their businesses, but they are also successfully integrated the spirituality in
their businesses. Ir. Suhaimi bin Deraman understand spirituality as mainly more to what a
person is practiced which is come from the internal himself. Dato’ Pardip Kumar Kukreja
differentiates between religion and spirituality. For him, religion is a set of rules created for a
group of people at particular time and civilization at the particular location. While, spirituality
goes beyond the religion and it is about the inner values on what a person does with relation to
the world. The fundamental of spirituality is that when a person begin to see the whole world as
one big family and respecting each others. Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew views spirituality as practicing
small love and then enlarges it to the big love. In practicing small love, a person should practice
filial piety where he should respect and love his parents and taking care of his siblings or family.
He should emphasize his family first before the others. Then he should enlarge his love to the
community where he should take care of the others.
All of the selected respondents are successful in their businesses not mainly because of
the products or services that they offered to the customers or clients, but also due to the reason
that they are successfully integrated the spiritual values in their businesses. All of them have the
essential traits of spiritual person which led them to become spiritual leaders. As the spiritual
leaders, they have created spiritually-friendly workplaces, they have avoided religious
discrimination, and avoiding the “exploitational spirit.” Their companies are having the key
spiritual values, vision and mission, and involved in the corporate social responsibility.
Spiritual Person a.k.a. Spiritual Leaders
A spiritual person holds a set of moral beliefs that inform their sense of right and wrong in the
workplace. Smith in her book outlined seven essential traits of a spiritual person. Among the
essential traits of a spiritual person are authenticity, integrity, humility, openness, hospitality,
gratitude and compassion.5 Authenticity is grace or being genuine and honest both with yourself
and others, sincere, not hypocrites, and responsible for your own mistakes. John Baldani
mentions that “an authentic leader should stand up for what he believes and delivers on what he
promises.” Integrity refers to Man of Trust. Humility means that a person admits when he is
wrong, even to his co-workers, and ask forgiveness. Openness is openness of the plurality of
perspectives upon the world including the plurality of ideas, values, concepts of truth, beauty,
and goodness which may enables you to grow personally and professions. Hospitality is related
to openness and to be hospitable is to accept the pluralism as a natural condition in the world and
the best person who you can show hospitality is the person who is most different from you i.e.
strangers. Gratitude is to say ‘thank you’ which will avoid from be suspicion, proud, and become
more trust, and humble give and take. Compassion; is feel empathy upon the suffering of others
and tries to eliminate that suffering, able to feel the misery of others and not solely focusing on
your own needs or desires.
This study found that all of the selected respondents have the essential attributes of a
spiritual person. They are not only a spiritual person, but also spiritual leaders. As a spiritual
leader, all of them perceived their employees as the most important resource. They found that
the key area for applying spirituality is in how their employees were treated. All of them treat
Nancy R Smith, Workplace Spirituality (Massachusetts: Axial Age Publishing, 2006), 110.
their employees well and build a good relationship between the managements and employees.
All of them believe that trust is important in their relationship with the employees. Trust is
composed of credibility, respect, and fairness. Dato’ Pardip believes that without trust, a
businessman cannot develop a company or organization. If the employer and employees are not
trustworthy, the company cannot grow or will grow for a short term only. His philosophy of trust
is that the moment people come and work in his company, he will trust his employees, but the
moment they betray, he will immediately eliminate them.
As a spiritual leader, Ir. Suhaimi Deraman practices authenticity when he didn’t put any
distance with his workers. He and his employees work at the same floor and sometimes people
didn’t know who the boss is. The purpose is to make the employees aware that whatever they do,
the bosses had also did it before, and the bosses also do the jobs together with them. As
imperfect person, he will admit his mistake if he did anything wrong and he does not totally
blaming the employees if they did any mistake. In his business, his company needs many skillful
people from multi-disciplines background including chemical engineering, mechanical, piping,
civil structure, and etc. As a leader, he feels that openness is a necessary requirement in the
business. His employees are among the best brains and skillful people in this country. Thus, he
will openly listen to the opinions of his employees and the employees are free to express their
opinions. His company organizes a session; Employees Sharing Suggestion (ESS) where the
employees can give their suggestions to the leaders and their suggestions will be revising every
three months. He believes that if you do goods, you will receive good rewards. Thus, he shows
his hospitality not only to the clients but also the competitors. For example, he and his
competitors who are the members of the Malaysian Oil & Gas Association will meet together,
share the information about business market for the benefit of the staffs. He and his partners also
established Kelab Reakrasi Staf (Staffs Recreation Club) which takes care of the welfare of the
staffs. Yet, as a leader he believes that sometime he should be a dictator in order to make sure
that the company will be successful. For examples, when he needs to make a critical decision
related to commercial, profit, or to win a project.
Dato’ Pardip mentions that the most important value among the spiritual values which he
had integrated in his business is honesty. According to him, honesty is related to integrity. Once
people have integrity, everything will fall into the place. As an honest person, he is totally
against bribery. From his experience in business, he rejected and cancelled a 10 million project
because his consultant asked him to pay 700 thousand as reserved cash as a payment to be paid
to certain people in order to get the project. He also rejected an offer from a journalist who
wanted to write about his company in the famous newspaper with the condition that he has to
pay to him. As a leader, he also encourages all the staffs not give the bribery. If the authority
issued any summons to his staffs, he asked them to pay the summons, but never give the bribery.
It is because giving bribery is also a source of corruption. In making the business decision, Dato’
Pardip will always make sure that the decision being grounded with spiritual ground. For
example, bribery should not be involved in any business decision that he take. He also will make
sure that his business will not take an excessive profit where the company can be branded as
cheating by the customers. As a leader, Dato’ Pardip is also taking care of the welfare of his
employees. He is aware that nowadays the cost of living in Malaysia is much more expensive
than previously. As a leader, he is conscious that the employees deserve the increment of salary,
so that they have comfortable lives. He will increase the salary of his employees before the
workers come and ask from him. He also gives consolation money to his employees who are
facing serious deceases or involve in any serious incidents such as accidents, losing their houses
in fire, and etc.
Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew expects that all staffs of the Country Heights Holdings Berhad to
maintain the highest standards of propriety, integrity, and conduct in all their business
relationships. Workers are contractually bound to monitor prescribed standards of business ethics
when conducting themselves at work and in relationship with external parties including
customers and suppliers. The company provides a healthy and safe working environment for the
employees including the provision of insurance coverage in terms of hospitalization and surgical
allowances together with the group term life and personal accident coverage for employees for
medical or accidental emergencies. To further enrich good working relationship and to build a
strong team spirit among workers, the Sports Living Club, Kajang has organized various sports
activities for the employees. In addition, the company creates and designs an informative ehealth newsletter for dissemination to the employees as an effort to continuously educate them
about health issues.
All of the selected respondents can be considered as a spiritual leader because they are
avoiding religious discrimination. They are willing to accept people from multi-religions as their
employees. They are also encourages their employees to the spirituality friendly
environment and workplace. Spirituality in the workplace means that employees find
nourishment for both vertical and horizontal dimensions of their spirituality at work. Examples
of vertical organizational spirituality include; meditation time or recitation of prayer (al-Fatihah
for Muslims) at the beginning of meeting, and appropriate accommodation of employee prayer
practices (surau or mosque for Muslims and temples for Buddhists and Hindus). Examples of
horizontal organizational spirituality will generally demonstrate some or all of the following;
caring behaviors among co-workers, a social responsibility orientation, environmental
sensitivity, and a significant volume of community service activities. They are also reasonably
accommodating a place for their employees to perform their religious practices. For example, all
of them provide a small mosque (surau) in their companies or branches for Muslim employees to
perform their prayers. Ir. Suhaimi also fix the launch time as similar time for his Muslim
employees to perform prayer. Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew is also in the process to build a temple for
his Hindu employees in Pajam, Negeri Sembilan.
As a spiritual leader, the selected respondents are avoiding the “exploitational spirit” and
practicing the “entrepreneurial spirit.” Bob Fraser views “exploitational spirit” as “…sees
business primarily as a means of cashing a check. Such people disrespect what I call the sanctity
of business.” The “exploitational spirit” is more concerned with getting money from a customer
than providing value. Businessmen with this kind of spirit pursue riches by using their customers
to enrich themselves rather than serving the customers. Fraser believes that business is mainly
about “serving others, creating value, constantly improving products and services, committing to
customers, being there for customers and supporting them long-term.” He suggested a
businessman should have “entrepreneurial spirit” where he is able to balance between the visions
of making money or profit with the vision of producing the products or services which can
contribute to the society to make life better for everyone. All of the selected respondents manage
to balance these two visions. For example, the vision of RNZ is “to be a highly reputable, global
integrated solution provider to the oil and gas industry. The mission of this company is
“committed to consistently deliver high quality and innovative solutions in conformation to
quality, health, safety, and environmental (QHSE) standards and regulatory requirements which
exceeds client expectations. Thus, instead of becoming a highly successful engineering
consultant company, RNZ is continuously synergizing their vast resources to assist their clients
to fulfill their business objectives. The vision of the Paradise Groups is “To Be the Best” and this
vision can be achieved through the practice of “transformation programme.” Its mission is
“Towards the High Performance Driven Culture” together with the mottos; “Just Make It
Happen,” “Just make It Happen,” and “Just Do It.” This company believes that the visions and
missions can be achieved if they can accomplish their corporate philosophy which emphasizes
more on the fulfilling of the customers satisfaction as well as their prize needs. Among their
corporate philosophy are;
-
“We shall at all times endeavor to make these dealings pleasant and satisfying.”
-
“We will respect our clients in view of building and nurturing a relationship for mutual
benefit.”
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“We shall maintain the highest standards of integrity when dealing with our customers.”
-
“We will strive to provide them with service of utmost satisfaction bringing new meaning
to the words ‘Serving from the Heart’.”
Key Values
A spiritual leader or company will think through values in making the business decision. Values
are the beliefs and principles that express understanding of the company regarding which goals
are good or bad and which actions are right or wrong. Values guide managers or employees in
making decisions about acceptable behavior and ethical business decisions. The core value
statements of RNZ are excellence, integrity, innovative, cohesiveness, and globalization.
Excellence is bringing out the best in themselves in whatever they do, integrity is conducting
themselves with the highest ethical behavior, innovative is referring to their believe in forging
technology and creativity in our work, cohesiveness is they value the teamwork and unity
through the diversity, and globalization means that they should think global but at the same time
respect the local values.
The Paradise Groups also have their own foundation values. Dato’ Pardip mentions that
the spiritual values are very important in his business, thus he tries to inject the spiritual values in
his employees. According to him, spiritual values are the universal values which are applicable
to everybody in this world regardless their races, religions, culture, and etc. He mentions that a
spiritual person must have 5H Formulas which are the key values of this company; honesty,
hardwork, humility, helpfulness, and health. A spiritual person should practice honesty which is
similar to the integrity. A spiritual employee should work hard in any work and should always be
humble although he is already successful in his life. He also should help the others and not
selfish, and must have a good health because the health will affect the mind. Later on, these
values being outlined systematically by Dato’ Pardip in their “Transformation Programme” as
stated below;
•
Positive Attitude
•
Commitment
•
Initiative (Drive)
•
Thinking Culture
•
Leadership
•
Right People
•
Dynamism
•
Aggressive
•
Energetic (Be On Fire)
•
Honesty
•
Self Motivated
•
Integrity
•
Cooperation / Teamwork -C
•
Consistency-C
•
Concentration- C
Dato’ Pardip believe that these foundation values should be integrated with the work
cultures which they call “Pillars”. One of the pillars is Output vs. Outcome. Output is the work
that you do, while the outcome is the end result. The output is meaningless if the outcome is
negative. Thus, the outcome should be parallel with the output. Among the other pillars are;
•
Innovation
•
Marketing
•
Branding
•
Technology
•
Quality Management
•
Output Vs Outcome
•
‘Stretch’ Culture
•
‘Now’ Culture
•
‘Speed’ Culture
•
‘Quality’ Culture
•
‘No Excuse’ Culture
•
‘No Wastage’ Culture
•
‘Follow Up’ Culture
•
‘Hands On’ Culture
•
‘Micro Manage’ Culture
•
‘Caring’ Culture
•
Kpi’s (Key Performance Indicator)
•
Strategic Planning
•
Implementation
•
Customer Is King
•
High Product Knowledge
The “transformation programme” is an effort to disseminate the spiritual values to the
employees. Every morning from 8.45 a.m to 9.00 a.m, Dato’ Pardip will have daily assembly to
discuss the “transformation programme” with his employees in his office at Wisma Paradise. In
discussing these key values, they use a management book by Prof. Shiv Khera, You Can Win.
Every two weeks, his company will have a management meeting where all the managers will
come. Dato’ Pardip will talk about this programme with all the managers, and later on all of
them will deliver the message to all the staffs under their branches. Starting from November
2011, the Human Resource Development Fund will send the Human Resource Managers to all
branches to talk about this “transformation programme.” Since Dato’ Pardip started the
“transformation programme” a year ago, he can see a tremendous result where the profits as well
as the quality outputs of the company increased, the employees have high self-esteem and they
perform excellently; thus they are qualified to receive high salaries; and their customers will
show their loyalty to the company, thus they will continuously having the repeat customers.
According to Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew, there are five key values of Country Height Holding
Berhad; style, quality, love, nature, and excellent. The style means branding which is referring to
the style of the company. This company is the first company which introduced the concept of
‘gathered community’ which nowadays imitate by the other companies. This company believes
that the quality value should come together with the unique features of something. For example,
the water quality of the MINES Lake must be clean. This quality should come together with the
unique features such as beautiful Lotus being planted on the lake, the koi fishes live inside the
lake, the musical fountain, and aqua lesser. The horses were chose as the unique feature of the
Hotel Palace of the Golden Horses since horse are among the animals that people love. The other
value is love which indicates that the employees of this company should love their jobs, and they
should offered any products or services to the customer with love. Tan Sri Lee and his company
are strongly upholding the value of preserving the nature. To be excellent, Tan Sri Lee believes
that nobody is perfect and continuously in the learning process which is parallel to his company
tagline “Ever searching for Better Living.”
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expands beyond volunteerism, philanthropy, charity,
and cause-related marketing.6 Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) perceives CSR as a
holistic approach to business which accepts the responsibilities of full partnership with its
community. It understands CSR as “achieving commercial success in ways that respect people,
communities, and the natural environment...” CSR usually includes issues related to “business
ethics, community investment, environment, governance, human rights, marketplace, and
workplace.”7 Studies have shown that a successful or profitable company is the company which
rate highest on ethics and corporate social responsibility. The companies which are aware of the
impact of their operations have on society, the companies should seek to ensure that interest of
6
Nancy R Smith, Workplace Spirituality…, 110.
Nancy R Smith, Workplace Spirituality…, 111.
their stakeholders; from shareholders, investors consumers, customers and employees to the
larger community are take care of.
The Environment
All of the selected respondents see their commitment to the environment as their spiritual
mission. Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew and his company are strongly upholding the value of preserving
the nature. Thus, keeping the environment’s elements in balance is always a top priority in all
their projects. Their flagship project, MINES Resort City which previously an abandoned tin
mine was transformed from a hole to a peaceful natural surrounding from the concrete jungle of
Kuala Lumpur. Their name MINES is the short form for “Making Impossible Environmental
Sustainable” stands for what they truly believe and practice which is restoring nature back to its
natural state. They also strive to reduce the use of resources and generation of waste, while
encouraging the reduction of paper usage and promoting recycling plans. This can be seen at all
the hotels under the company which have its own organic farms. The most successful is seen in
Borneo Highlands where only vegetarian foods are served. In 2005, their five-star resort hotel,
Mines Wellness Hotel won the Asean Green Hotel Award 2010 during the Asean Tourism
Forum 2010. This Hotel is one of the hotels in Malaysia which were chosen to receive the Green
Award in 2010 due to their supportive in the consumption of green products, provision of
training programmes for operation on environmental management, and introduction of waste
management techniques such as recycling. In conjunction with the World Vegetarian Day 2010,
the Group’s hotels; Palace of the Golden Horses, Mines Wellness Hotel, and Borneo Highlands
had promised in their part for the environment by launching their own organic gardens under the
flag of a brand new environmental unit, the Mines Green Circle, a green environmental unit
dedicated towards promoting “Better Environment, Better Health.” The produce from the
gardens will be used in the hotels’ restaurants, now and then, these gardens will be made
available to the public during special events to encourage healthier eating. This unit continuously
puts educational efforts such as maintenance of an educational blog as well a social media
platforms that promulgate environmental consciousness, health, and personal development.
Dato’ Pardip always remind his employees to treat the environment with respect. He is so
upset with the dirtiness of Kuala Lumpur where people including educated and rich people are
openly throwing the rubbish anywhere they like. He is also encourages his employees to switch
off the lights and air-condition if there is nobody sitting or working at that particular place. Ir.
Suhaimi mentions that his company has safety environment section which is responsible to
organize any campaign related to environmental protection such as saving the trees campaign,
recycle campaign, and etc. His company is also using the recycle papers in their printing.
The Community
Apart from his success in business, Ir. Suhaimi bin Deraman is also involved in non-profit
organization activities. Ir. Suhaimi was appointed as a Member of Board to Faculty BioChemical of University Malaysia Perlis. He is also a central Committee of Malaysian’s Dragon
Fruit Society. In improving the development of education in school, he currently serves as
Chairman for Parents and Teachers Association of Sekolah Menengah Sains Hulu Selangor
(SEMASHUR) and Vice Chairman for Parents and Teachers Association of Sekolah Kebangsaan
Sentul 1 in Kuala Lumpur. Previously, he was appointed as Vice Chairman for Parents and
Teachers Association of Sekolah Menengah Convent Sentul and Sekolah Kebangsaan Convent 2
Sentul. He is also active in voluntary services to the local community and was appointed as the
Treasurer for Permuakatan PIBG under Program DBKL D21. He is a committee for Surau and
Rukun Tetangga Taman Pelanggi, the area where he lives. During his study, he was a VicePresident of Malaysian Sheffield Student Association in United Kingdom.
Ir. Suhaimi Deraman is also among the founders of the Yayasan RNZ, a foundation which
involves in a numbers of community services such as give donation to the orphanages and the
needy, and gives opportunities to at least ten university students per year to do their practical
training at the company with the allowance payment. The table below shows the Yayasan RNZ’s
donation summary for 2007 to 2010.
Yayasan RNZ - Donation Summary for 2007 to 2010
No.
Institution/ Association
Date
Donation Summary for 2007
1
Asy Syukur Mosque, Jawa Timur
4 Oct 07
2
Surau Kg. Tudan
4 Oct 07
3
Surau Sungai Adong, Miri
4 Oct 07
4
Rumah John – Rumah Panjang In Bekenu
4 Oct 07
5
Persatuan Pesakit Parah Malaysia (Malaysian Critical Patients Assc.)
6
Rumah Amal Limpahan Kasih (Charity Home)
4 Oct 07
7
Pert. Anak-Anak Yatim Darul Aminan, Seremban (Orphanage Home)
4 Oct 07
8
Asrama Anak-Anak Yatim Sekendi, Sabak Bernam (Orphanage Home)
4 Oct 07
9
Asrama Anak-Anak Yatim Kaung, Sg. Buloh (Orphanage Home)
4 Oct 07
10
Pertubuhan Kanak-Kanak Kanser Malaysia (Child Cancer Assc.)
4 Oct 07
11
Tabung Gempa Nusantara (Nusantara Earthquake Fund)
4 Oct 07
Donation Summary for 2008
16 June 07
1
SMK Tunku Ampuan Durah, Seremban
9 June 08
2
Rumah Solehah – Anak-Anak HIV
15 July 08
3
Pusat Al-Qur’an Ciludug, Jakarta
4
Pusat Dakwah Islam Surowati, Gersik Surabaya
5
Tabung Amanah Asnaf Haluan
26 Sept. 08
6
Rumah Anak Yatim dan Miskin Bukit Kuda (Orphanage and Poor)
26 Sept. 08
7
Madrasah Diniah Ahmadiah
26 Sept. 08
8
Pertubuhan Anak-Anak Yatim & Miskin Sg. Pinang Klang
26 Sept. 08
9
Rumah Kasih Harmoni
26 Sept. 08
10
Persatuan Anak-Anak Yatim Malaysia
26 Sept. 08
Donation Summary for 2009
1
Sekolah / Pengajian Indonesia (Education)
26 March 09
2
PIBG Sek. Men. Saujana Impian
31 March 09
3
UTM – Minda Lestari
20 July 09
4
PIBG SRK Selayang Baru
10 Aug 09
5
Bendahari UTM
17 Nov 09
6
Asrama Anak Yatim Darul Taqwa (ASDAT)
7
PCSB Family Day
21 July 09
8
Persatuan Bekas Pelajar MRSM Malaysia (ANSARA)
10 Aug 09
7 Jan 09
Donation Summary for 2010
1
UTM – Trans Borneo Biodiesel Expectation 2010
22 Jan 10
2
Misi Perdana De Everest
19 Feb 10
3
Rumah Amal Limapahan Kasih (RALK)
6 March 10
4
Surau Al-Taqwa UP3
25 June 10
5
Program Kanak-Kanak Pembelajaran Bermasalah
Dato’ Pardip also involves in social charity in the community. He and his wife
established a shelter home for underprivileged children about thirty years ago. The Home which
is located in Kuala Lumpur is runs by his wife with the support from his company since its
inception in 14th February 1999. This Home is called as Tara Bhavan. Literally, the word Tara
means Star, and Bhavan means Home. This Home has a range of experiences in the field of
handling troubled and poor children backgrounds. These children are among the orphanages,
abandoned children as well as those from hardcore poor broken families. There are about 40
children who are protected under this Home. The main aim of the Home is to provide shelter to
children and protect them from the callous environment. The children under this Home are cared
well so that they will grow up to be responsible citizens. The mission of this Home is to provide
a conducive surrounding and a brighter future for the children. Tara Bhavan embeds the
importance of education integrated with the moral and spiritual values to enhance the self-esteem
and attitude of the children. Each of these values has an important role to play in a child’s growth
which eventually creates a new good individual in them. Since the main objective of Tara
Bhavan is to develop the lives of the troubled and poor children and local citizens, this Home is
always looking out for items including education material (books, stationery, writing materials);
food allowance (vegetarian food); school items (uniforms, shoes, socks, bags); electrical
appliances (washer machine, iron, blender, kettle, and toaster); sport goods (boots, board games);
medical kit, and diapers.
Other than the establishment of Tara Bhavan, Dato’ Pardip is also voluntarily offers the
mentoring service for those who are interested to open a business such as travel agency, property
investment, and etc. Within six months, that person will be exposed with the knowledge on how
to deal with the property and anything related to business. Every year, he and his employees will
organized several numbers of visits to the shelter homes and will arrange the blood donation
among the employees and friends in the office area.
The Corporate Social Responsibility is also a strong belief of Tan Sri Lee, thus he also
contribute through his position as Co-Chairman of Malaysia-China Business Council, Advisor of
Malaysia Buddhist Association, Honorary Advisor of the National Headmaster Union, Advisor
of The Federation of Taoist Associations Malaysia, Advisor of The Association of Confucianism
Malaysia, Founder and Honorary Chairman of Young Entrepreneurs Association of Malaysia
and various charity and social organization.
His contribution in social charity can be seen in the establishment of The Cheng Ho Multi
Culture Education Trust. This Trust was respectfully established in Kuala Lumpur by Tan Sri
Lee Kim Yew and the Most Venerable Master Chin Kung, a Buddhist master of Mahayana
tradition. Tan Sri Lee was inspired by the Admiral Cheng Ho (Zheng He) the explorer, Chinese
diplomat and Fleet Admiral of the Ming Dynasty, who had commanded tours around the world
from 1405 to 1433. One of Admiral Cheng Ho’s aspirations was to unite religions in peace and
harmony to achieve the grand ideal of a world with integrity and harmony. It was a vision that
vibrated deeply with Tan Sri Lee himself, and with the blessings and guidance of Master Chin
Kung, he set the foundation and for this vision with the establishment of this Trust. The
objectives of this foundation are; to uphold the spirit of Admiral Cheng Ho, which is to promote
world peace and achieve unity in four areas, namely unity among nation states, unity among
religions, unity among factions or political parties, and unity among ethnic groups; and to form
unity among overseas Chinese and inspire them to support the development of world education.
The other objective is to promote harmony in a multi-cultural world through;
a.
Educational Funds
These funds give financial support for the Chinese, Malay and Indian schools in Malaysia and
ensure all schools, regardless of race or religion. It was endorsed and approved by the Malaysian
Union of Headmasters and the Malaysian Chinese Teachers’ Association and funded by donors
consisting mainly of the overseas Chinese community. The Trust practices transparency and
accountability by keeping a clear record of all beneficiaries and donated amounts.
b.
Unity Funds
The Trust has set up four awards to honor those who have done substantial work that promote or
encourage unity. These awards are the International Unity Award, the Inter-Religion Unity
Award, the Inter-Party Unity Award, and the Community Unity Award. These tokens of
appreciation are awarded in an annual gala Unity dinner to the men and women who have
contributed significantly in their respective categories.
Among the programmes that were organized by this Trust are;
-
The Establishment of The Cheng Ho Multi Culture Education Trust & Launch “Cheng
Ho’s 600 Years” Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2005)
-
Co-organized the first World Peace Forum in Jakarta, Indonesia with Muhammadiyah,
Centre for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilizations (CDCC) (August 2006)
-
Co-organized the second World Peace Forum in Jakarta, Indonesia with Muhammadiyah,
Centre for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilizations (CDCC) (June 2007)
-
Initiated the Malaysian Study Tour to China on “Multi Culturalism and Religions” (May
2008)
-
Participated in the 7th General Assembly of ASEAN Conference of Religions for Peace
(ACRP) in Philippine (October 2008)
-
Initiated and co-organized “One Humanity, Many Faiths” Peace Dialogue Tour to
Vatican City, Rome with Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Office of
the Most Reverend Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam, Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (30
June 2010 -2 July 2010)
-
Co-organized
the
third
World
Peace
Forum
in
Jogjakarta,
Indonesia
with
Muhammadiyah, Centre for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilizations (CDCC)
-
Organized the Religious Education Forum: “Building Peace and Harmony” at Palace of
Golden Horses Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (3 August 2010)
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the researcher found that the integration of spirituality in business is one of the
reasons which led a company to be successful. Companies which lead by spiritual leaders who
possess the essential traits of a spiritual person will success in their business as well as in any
aspects related to the business. A spiritual leader is a leader who is not only thinking about
making profit, but also taking care of his employees. He must communicate and listen to the
needs of employees. He should share honestly and seeks the response of the workers, and values
it. Among other things, the role as a spiritual leader is to encourage the spirituality friendly
environment and workplace. The employees in the companies which have a spirituality friendly
environment and workplace will find nourishment for both vertical and horizontal dimensions of
their spirituality at work. They find the nourishment in meditation time or recitation of prayer at
the beginning of meeting and appropriate accommodation of employee prayer practices which is
provided by the companies. The relationship between the managements and employees from
multi-religion are also good, they trust and take care of each others. They also involved in social
responsibility orientation, environmental sensitivity, and a significant volume of community
service activities.
ABSTRACT A
IR SUHAIMI BIN DERAMAN
RNZ INTEGRADTED SDN. BHD.
RNZ INTEGRATED SDN. BHD.
ABSTRACT B
DATO’ PARDIP KUMAR KUKREJA
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN OF PARADISE GROUP
DATO’ PARDIP KUMAR KUKREJA WITH THE RESEARCHER
WISMA PARADISE, KUALA LUMPUR