‘I remember you taught me wealth is important and that ’the end justifies the means’, I interrupted my grandpa halfway in our conversation.
My grandpa's apparition floated above me like a big soap bubble. His lips quivered as he sought the right answer to his delinquent grandson.
‘Certainly, it is’ he replied with his calm voice. ‘With wealth, you gain respect and honor. But don't be like me. I died because of my immoral ways. What's the point of gaining the world and losing your soul?’
Lying alone in the Sungai Buloh Prison cell, I was shivering and hallucinating. The place smelt of urine and feces. I wasn’t sure what was real and unreal, right or wrong. I felt like the ceiling and walls were closing in on me. My vision blurred and my mind muddled. I heard distant voices calling my name, howling, and laughing. The hard wooden bed that I slept on was also a cause of my insomnia.
‘Look what happened to you now?’ he added. ‘Didn’t I advise you to stop and get out? Gambling is not the way to get rich! You should learned a lesson from my life.’
‘‘I was following what you taught me.’ tears rolled down my cheek. It was my grandpa's third visit. His ghost had been haunting me ever since.
Grandpa’s face turned sour. His face dissolved through the prison wall like snow, vanishing, appearing like a slow-moving cloud. The only authentic thing I connected with him was his voice – that commanding voice that sounded like an army general.
Grandpa, a successful businessman, prided his business successes on his ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and courage in risk-taking. His business dealings were often dodgy, unscrupulous, and ruthless. He would not hesitate to crush his enemies or competitors to win.
‘Never Say Die’ ‘ AI Piah Cai Ai Eh’ ( Must Fight To Win - Hokkien translate) Those were his favorite mantras. And it's these mantras that kept him going.
‘It’s the law of the jungle. if you don't kill them, they will kill you! Business is about outwitting your competitors.’ he added. ’
Dabbling in numerous joint ventures, investments, and other businesses, he was also involved with illegal businesses.. Every business deal was measured in terms of profit and loss, cost and benefit. At times his shrewdness and ruthlessness would land him in trouble, but he managed to get himself out of trouble. He would hire gangsters or bribe the authorities to settle his problems. This was a more effective way than to go through the burdensome legal and bureaucratic way.
As the years passed he became more and more aggressive. He got carried away. He thought he was ‘ untouchable’, and it was his overconfidence that sealed his fate.
One late evening at the Thai-Malaysia border town of Kroh, his big shipment of illegal liquor was busted by the Royal Malaysian Customs for smuggling. This time he could not use his influence or crooked ways to get out of the situation. He was arrested, his goods confiscated, and was charged with tax evasion. That broke him. His business empire collapsed and he went bankrupt.
‘Learn from my lesson. Ah Choo,’ he told me on his deathbed. ‘ Crime doesn't pay.”
I worked my way up in business. I set up a company and secured a subcontractor’s contract with the multinational factories in Penang. With the knowledge and skills acquired during my apprenticeship with Grandpa, my business grew and I prospered. I became an astute businessman - arrogant, aggressive, and shrewd just like Grandpa. I manipulated the system, took risks, outmaneuvered the competitors, and beat the system through unscrupulous means.
With such traits that I learned greed got the better of me. I wanted more. This got me involved with dealing in dubious and risky businesses like shares and forex trading. My conscience told me not to be like my grandpa, but my inner demon said; ‘ Go ahead. Do it!’ This is a faster route to great wealth.’ I struggled with these moral dilemmas for years but it was the demon that won in the end.
The green and red LED light of my computer flickered in my office. I was at it again. Instead of running my business, I was staring at my company's share price. It kept rising.
‘ Buy more! ‘ I ordered my stockbroker.
‘ But you have exceeded your limit! ‘ replied the broker.
‘ Top up. Use the company's fund.’
I was on Margin Call, the banker warned. This meant I had exceeded the limit and might result in my assets being possessed by the banks if the price drop. I couldn't be bothered. I pumped up the share price artificially and sell on the side to make quick profits.
It worked. However, on that particular day, something strange happened. All of a sudden the green light blinked and turned red. The stock price nose-dived.
‘What happened!?’ I demanded my broker to explain.
‘ There's an unknown seller in the market. Big time!
‘ Who?’
‘It's from a big fund manager. They are profiting from your manipulation.’
I borrowed more from the bank to push up the price but couldn't.
‘Damn!’
The more I bought, the more the price slide. I couldn't beat the Fund Managers. They had bigger money.
Too late. I lost heavily. The Securities Commission was alerted and stepped in. I was investigated.
‘Guilty of three counts of share rigging, CBT, and fraud! " the judge of the KL High Court thumped his gavel on the table. ‘Sentenced to three years prison and two strokes of the rotan.'
That judgment ended my business. I was unable to pay back my bank loans and was declared bankrupt by the banks. I lost everything.
‘ I chose you to be my successor because you were the most capable. But your stubbornness had caused your downfall. You should not do the same as me.’
Grandpa said.
‘History is bound to repeat itself to those who don't learn from it.’
Jack Ung (jack.uct1953@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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