My impression of Eric Chia

As a kid, living in the midst of motor repair workshops, I used to see this tall and big gentleman (to me then) laying planks in front of a tractor on its way to the workshop situated right at the back of our land.

From a lowloader parked beside the main Jalan Ipoh, the tractor is driven off it. To avoid damaging our temporary road, Eric Chia was good enough to personally lay the planks! It had to pass our house and he would wave to my dad out of courtesy.

While I was still in UK, it seems there was a write-up on him in Malaysian Business in which he referred to Ha Tham Engineering (one of our tenants) as the place where he learned tractor service and repairs before he brought in Komatsu tractors in a big way under United Motor Works Bhd.

The spill-over benefits were the repairs of his company cars by our other tenants. Even in the ‘60s, I have seen Aston Martin (due to his company’s dealership of David Brown’s tractors), Cadillac and some Mercedes.

From my personal point of view, Eric Chia was born with a silver spoon, though he did managed to take his companies to a higher level compared with his father’s low profile businesses in Singapore. The reason I commented this was the usual ‘rags to riches’ storyline of successful businessmen. I remember having read that he came over to Malaysia with a few dollars in his pocket! Having said that, he was already very successful before he was invited by Dr. Mahathir to take charge of Perwaja. Many people assumed that he got rich because of Perwaja.

According to his then old manager, Low Woon, he is known for his hot temper. He mentioned this with tears, obviously having tasted his ranting and tirade. But his soft side included looking after LW by appointing him a director upon listing of UMW on the KLSE, providing a Mercedes and a driver.

Being a true gentleman, LW felt bad when I suggested that he sells his shares to invest in property, simply because the shares were given to him! His shares were worth some Rm240,000 in the ‘60s and equivalent to 3 3-storey shops along 3rd mile, Jalan Ipoh. Anyway, he opted for pension upon his retirement and his decision proved right because he lived up to a ripe old age of 95 when he passed on in 2004!

Low Woon was of same age as my dad but he outlived him by 22 years. After his retirement, he used to join my dad and me for lunch almost daily. Being English educated and with a good sense of humour, he could get along with me like father and son, in a different way from my relationship with my own dad who could read only a bit of Chinese.

He once helped my eldest brother to get a discharge from the army in the ‘50s. It involved a trip to Singapore and using his connections with United Motors in Singapore, for which my dad had been eternally grateful. Yet, with the benefit of hindsight, most of us in the family thought that my brother would have been better off if he had stuck with his army career, particularly in terms of discipline!

Coming back to Tan Sri, if only I could be a character witness… best of luck in your long awaited trial.