About 25 years ago, an unassuming young colleague in his late twenties approached me with a curious question:
“ Vincent, let’s say I tie you to a chair for 16 hours and allow you only to eat, sleep, and visit the toilet. At the end, I’ll pay you RM10,000. Would you take the deal?”
Without hesitation, I replied, “Yes.”
He smiled, looked me in the eye, and said cheekily, “Ha… in that case, I’ll fly economy on my next trip to the States.”
He was, of course, referring to the savings he would make compared to flying business class.
That young man was NK Tong.
Years later, NK was conferred the title Datuk by His Majesty the King of Malaysia. Yet to this day, he insists that I continue to call him simply “NK.”
Such is the humility of a man I had the privilege to work alongside with for almost 20 years before I retired as his Chief Operating Officer.
At The Edge Property Excellence Awards 2025 held at the Shangri-La Hotel recently, NK was honoured for his outstanding contributions to Malaysia’s real estate industry over the past three decades. Presenting the award was the Minister of Housing and Local Government, YB Nga Kor Ming.
My first encounter with NK was in 1990 when he was still studying at the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
During his semester breaks, he would return home and work at Sunrise Sdn Bhd, the property development company founded by his father, Dato Alan Tong Kok Mau.
At the time, I was the Assistant Public Affairs Manager while NK was the Public Affairs Manager. We shared a tiny room in our three-storey office in SS2 Petaling Jaya -so small that after placing two desks side by side, we had to carefully manoeuvre every time we wanted to get out.
From his younger days, NK has always come across as humble and down-to-earth. I have never seen him wear a branded item - not because he couldn’t afford it, but because he saw little value in such things. To him, life has always been about pragmatism.
Once, I recall seeing him take out his old, worn-out wallet at an airport check-in counter. It was in such a sorry state that I joked, “If that wallet fell into a fish tank, all the fish would die!”
He laughed, but to NK, materialism has never been his cup of tea.
While Dato Alan Tong earned the title “Condo King of Malaysia,” NK quietly made his own mark with innovative ideas. Many have heard of Mont’Kiara, but few know that the name itself was NK’s suggestion.
In the early 1990s, after Sunrise acquired several parcels of rubber estate land near Sri Hartamas, a discussion arose on what to name the new township.
As someone fluent in French, NK proposed Mont’Kiara - inspired by nearby Bukit Kiara and the French word “Mont,” meaning hill. The name gave the area a touch of international flair and sophistication.
To this day, NK remains particular that Mont’Kiara be spelt with the apostrophe - a small detail that reflects his passion and meticulousness.
If I were to describe NK in two words, they would be gratitude and humility.
When his project Verve Suites Mont’Kiara won an award in 2015 ( FIABCI World Gold Winner - the highest international award for its category ), NK reached out to me long after I had left the company. He invited me for lunch- bringing along the trophy so we could take a photo together. That gesture, simple as it was, spoke volumes about his character.
NK’s humility was never taught. It wasn’t a leadership strategy or a cultivated image.
It was inborn - deeply rooted in his character and woven into his very DNA. It defines the man he truly is.
And in a world that often equates success with status, he remains a reminder that true greatness shines most through humility.
From NK, I learned that humility is not the absence of success- rather it is the quiet grace that gives success its true meaning.
Vincent Lim (limhockmian@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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