CONGRATULATIONS TO DR HO

Thursday, 27 October 2016 | MYT 12:44 PM

Dr Ho becomes first Malaysian to receive award from American College of Surgeons

Ho (left) receiving the International Guest Scholarship Award. certificate from Nigri

 

WASHINGTON DC: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Urologists and Sexual Medicine Professor Dr Christopher Ho Chee Kong became the first Malaysian to receive the International Guest Scholarship Award from the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

The award was presented by Giuseppe Nigri, who is also Chair of the International Relations Committee (IRC) Scholar Selection Subcommittee of the ACS at a ceremony during its annual congress recently, in the United States capital.

American College of Surgeons Vice-President Prof Hilary Sanfey said: We are particularly, pleased that one of the 2016 recipients is Dr Christopher Ho Chee Kong, the first surgeon from Malaysia to receive this honour.

Dr Kong (Ho) is one of 12 recipients selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants, all of whom had demonstrated a commitment to teaching and/or research in accordance with the standards of the applicants country,” she told Bernama when contacted.

On being the first Malaysian to be recognised by American Surgeons, Dr Ho, 41, of Malacca said: I am very happy and proud as a Malaysian... to be accepted in America, traditionally all doctors in Malaysia look up to the United Kingdom or Australia.

Dr Ho was given the opportunity to carry out clinical, teaching and research activities in North America, besides attending and participating fully in educational opportunities and activities of the ACS Clinical Congress.

The son of parents who taught deaf students at a school in Malacca, did not expect his application to be part of the ACS programme would be accepted with US$10,000 (RM41,820) in scholarship.

“I sent the application early last year to be in the programme, and only received an email answer at the end of the year,” he told Bernama while thanking College of Surgeons of Malaysia president Prof Dr Hanafiah Harunarashid, who he said had put in a good word to ACS on his application.

During the five-day congress beginning Oct 16, Dr Ho also presented a paper on ‘Surgical Training in Malaysia: Challenges and Roadmap’ which was also attended by Dr Hanafiah.

While in the US, he also had the opportunity to visit the world-renowned University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, where he observed robotic surgery on prostate cancer and kidney cancer performed by the distinguished Professor of Urology, Dr Claus Roehrborn.

He also took a tour of the facilities and the set-up of this spanking new state-of-the-art university hospital and was mentored by the illustrious Professor Dr Arthur Sagalowsky, another prominent urologist in America.

Meanwhile, Dr Hanifah said the Malaysia College of Surgeons and indeed, the nation was very proud to see the young surgeon receiving the award from the largest surgical institution in the world at a meeting attended by 30,000 surgeons from all over the world.

I hope this will be an inspiration to our young trainees in Malaysia and Dr Christopher (Ho) will use this opportunity to learn some of the finer aspects of modern surgery from the institutions that has produced many Nobel laureates and transfer the knowledge for the benefit of our patients, said Dr Hanifah when met in Washington recently.

Dr Hanifah, who has also won the International Medal for Distinguished Award from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, is the first Malaysian to have received the award. - Bernama

Webmaster : Dr Ho is a MHS graduate from 1988 TO 1994

MHS former student strives for better things

Monday, 10 October 2016

Where there’s a will...

BY LIM WING HOOI

Bottling in process. — LIM WING HOOI/TheStar

So what if you don’t have the knowledge or expertise? Ho Yew Pun, the founder of Bodibasixs Manufacturing, knew nothing about making personal care products, and yet he managed to build a company that exports to over 20 countries and makes over RM50mil in revenue every year. LIM WING HOOI reports

JUST because you don’t have the expertise in a particular field doesn’t mean you have no chance of making a successful go of it. They say where there’s a will there’s a way, and sometimes it really is true.

Take Ho Yew Pun, for example.

The founder and managing director of Bodibasixs, which makes 12 types of personal care products and exports to over 20 countries, had no background in personal care products at all.

Before he started the company in 1995, Ho spent umpteen years as the branch manager of a finance company. Then, one day, he decided he wanted a career change, to move away from being a salaryman.

The question is: What business to get into?

This was a question that he was to dwell on for five long years. When Ho threw in his letter, he joined the family business and spent a few years helping his father to expand the hardware shop in Malacca into a wholesale business.

His familiarity with the hardware business naturally prompted him to consider going into the manufacture of hardware goods like nuts and bolts. But after spending five years doing research into the manufacturing processes as he worked for his father, Ho decided that it would be much better to make personal care products instead.

The manufacturing process for such products would be more systematic and cleaner, not to mention quieter.

“In early 90s, there weren’t many such players, while brand owners of personal care products were more keen to focus on marketing,” Ho recalls.

The next big question he had to grapple with was how to go about it since he had zero expertise in this segment.

Products that have been bottled are inspected before being sent for labeling.

Ho had a big hurdle to surmount, “but I had the people to help me make it happen,” he says. A key person who helped him was Goh Ser Heng, 62, who is today the company’s non-executive director.

It was Goh, then a factory manager at a pharmaceutical company in Malacca, who suggested that Ho go into contract manufacturing for personal care products. He was also the person who helped Ho set up his manufacturing line.

Being pretty much a finance guy, Ho knew he didn’t have the expertise to manage the new business. But, well, if you can’t do it yourself, you could always hire somebody who can do it, right?

And that’s exactly what he did.

Ho’s first hire was Lee Pang, then a logistics manager at one of the largest food and personal care contract manufacturing companies based in Shah Alam, Selangor. Ho came to know of her through his brother-in-law and decided she would be the best person to run his new factory.

He offered Lee the position of general manager, throwing in some shares as sweetener, to encourage her to join him as “Employee No 1”.

Lee, 60, remembers that the conditions then were good. The economy was booming and she had climbed a long way up the corporate ladder at her company, where she joined as a clerk and, over 16 years, rose to become the manager overseeing purchasing, planning and warehousing.

A worker ensuring that the labels for the products are correct.

But she also wondered how much further she could climb.

Lee says she was impressed with Ho’s sincerity in wanting to get her on his team and decided to embark on a new chapter as part-manager and part-entrepreneur.

“I wanted to do something different, and Ho offered me that avenue.

“I was also aware that both Ho and Goh had invested over RM1mil in the company. I felt the pressure to deliver results,” says Lee.

Bodibasixs was formed in 1995 and operated out of a one-acre factory in Shah Alam with a staff of eight. Having to sign cheques on behalf of the company for payments to staff and contractors in her new job was something that Lee was not used to.

After all, she had been an employee with a stable salary all her life.

It was stressful, she admits.

“I saw the funds rapidly decreasing,” says Lee. But the pressure she felt also motivated her to work hard.

Lee (left) and Ho at the company HQ in Klang.

The company began with just one manufacturing line for talcum powder. To try and secure their first orders, they brought over 10 potential clients, multinational companies (MNCs) included, to tour the factory.

“MNCs require references. But being a new company, we had none, so we switched to looking at local brand owners,” Lee relates.

While it was generally easier to get orders from local brand owners. this type of clients didn’t have their own formulas for their products — unlike MNCS.

It meant Lee’s team would have to develop the formulations for their potential clients.

The problem with this was that they didn’t have a R&D team.

“We didn’t even have a chemist. We needed a laboratory, and we had to justify to the owners as to why this investment was vital,” Lee recalls.

Understanding the need, Ho got the funds required and made it happen.

“We then continued to invest in the necessary equipment. We understood that we had to get over this barrier,” says Ho.

The laboratory where they test and formulate products for clients.

Four months later, with everything in place, they did a trial run and managed to secure their very first local client.

That maiden contract was only for RM7,000, but as Lee humbly says: “We have to start somewhere.”

Bodibasixc has since grown from strength to strength. In the financial year ending June 30, 2016, the company achieved a revenue of RM58mil, compared to RM50mil previously.

Today, Bodibasixs has over 60 brand owners as clients, including hypermarkets, pharmacy chain stores, MNCs and local brand owners. They manufacture over 12 types of products and export over 40% of their products to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, India, the Middle East and South-East Asia.

In 2007, the company moved to a new six-acre factory in Klang. These days, they don’t just help brand owners with formulations but also offer one-stop solution — labeling and packaging included.

“We also share with brand owners information about product viability and market trends. Our philosophy is that we hope to grow with these brand owners,” says Ho.

Out into the wide world you go.

He reveals that many of their early clients had grown sizeable enough to begin manufacturing on their own. Meanwhile, Bodibasixs continues to stick to their humble roots of accepting orders as small as RM3,000 even as they handle RM1mil orders.

Moving forward, Lee says they are looking at automating more of the processes at the factory, while maintaining the room for customisation for their diverse clientele.

“We are also going into manufacturing higher value products such as skincare and perfumes,” she confides.

Webmaster: Mr. Ho Yew Pun graduated from Malacca High in 1973 after Form 5.

TUN TAN SIEW SIN CENTENNIAL

MCA commemorates Tan Siew Sin's centennial

BY FOONG PEK YEE

 (From left) Liow, Tan Siok Choo and Dr Hou tour the exhibition on Tun Tan's centennial.

KUALA LUMPUR: He is known for being thrifty, to the point of not carrying any cash with him when he goes around.

However, Tun Tan Siew Sin, the country's longest serving finance minister, is best remembered for great things, including laying a strong foundation for Malaysia's economy.

Tan, who was MCA president from 1961 to 1974 and finance minister from 1959 to 1974, passed away on Mar 17, 1988.

Born on May 21, 1916, the MCA held a ceremony to commemorate Tan's centennial at the party headquarters here Saturday afternoon.

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Liow Tiong Lai paid tribute to Tan, saying the strong financial foundation he laid helped Malaysia weather financial challenges thereafter.

On education, he said Tan set up the Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TAR College) in 1969, and the college had produced 170,000 graduates to date, who in turn contributed to nation-building.

TAR College's status was upgraded to Tunku Abdul Rahman University College in 2013.

Liow, who is also the university college's chairman, pledged to continue Tan's good work.

Besides TAR College, he said, Tan also helped to develop Chinese education in the country.

Liow said TAR College's good track record had enabled the MCA to set up Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) in 2002, and it has subsequently risen to be among the biggest private universities in the country now.

Liow also launched a book titled Ancestral Home of Tun Tan Siew Sin.

Also present were Tan's children, Tan Siok Eng, Datin Paduka Tan Siok Choo and Tan Siok Lee and other family members.

Those present observed a minute of silence to pay respects to Tan's wife, Toh Puan Catherine Lim Cheng Neo who passed away on May 10.

The event's organising chairman Datuk Dr Hou Kok Chung advised the younger generation to visit the exhibition on Tan at Wisma MCA here from Saturday and May 29 to get to know more about the outstanding man.

Webmaster: Tun Tan Siew Sin studied in Malacca High School during his formative years. Datuk Seri Dr. Liow Tiong Lai studied 2 years in MHS for his 6th. Form. He came in from Merlimau/Jasin.

TUN ABDULLAH SALLEH ( 1926 TO 2006 )

A Tribute to Tun Abdullah Salleh (1926-2006)

Abdullah Salleh (1926-2006)
June 22, 2006 21:23 PM KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 (Bernama)

Former Chief Secretary to the Government Tun Abdullah Salleh who died Thursday was Malaysia's most illustrious civil servant who served under four prime ministers and had the distinction of once being the boss of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the ex-civil servant who is now prime minister. After being intermittently hospitalised for the last three months, the wheel-chair bound Abdullah succumbed to lymphoma, a cancer of the blood cells, at the Universiti Kebangsaan Hospital here at about 3.30pm. To say that Abdullah came up the hard way in life to become the country's top civil servant in 1976 and two years later as chairman and chief executive of the newly-formed Petronas, the national oil corporation, was an understatement.

Born on June 24, 1926 at Kampung Padang Sebang, Alor Gajah in Melaka, against the backdrop of a country under colonial rule and when poverty and deprivation were the order of the day, Abdullah survived extremely severe circumstances, seemingly against all odds. Seven of his younger siblings had died of diphtheria, his mother died during a typhoid epidemic when he was only in Standard 5, but nothing was to deter him from pursuing his ambition to go for higher studies to obtain a then rare university degree, not even a world war which came to the country's shores from 1941-1945. He enrolled in an English school run by the British in Melaka town -- he was the only Malay at the school -- commuting daily by train from Gadek and then walking part of the way. He was made to pay school fees of $2.50 a month when his father was earning only $26 a month but because he excelled in his studies in the first year, he secured a free place. In the second year, he topped the class and was given a scholarship of $9 a month.

Abdullah continued with his schooling at the Melaka High School, which he once described as "one of the best schools in the country" and was in Standard 7 waiting to be promoted to Standard 8 when the Second World War broke out. He witnessed the arrival of the Japanese army and the fall of Singapore. In August 1945 when the war ended with the Japanese surrender, he resumed his interrupted schooling. Then over 18 years old, he by-passed Standard 8 to gain a direct entry into Standard 9 to sit for the School Certificate examination in 1946. But that year, disaster struck. "I found out I had tuberculosis," he once told Khidmat, the quarterly magazine of the Malaysian civil service. He was hospitalised for three months and although his sputum test proved negative, the side-effects appeared a few months later when water began to develop in his lungs. "I thought I would die, it was that bad. The water had to be pumped out twice a week," he recalled. Abdullah was hospitalised for a massive two-and-a-half years and after being discharged, he went back to school after missing the 1946 examination. But he told the magazine that the headmaster refused to admit him because he was over-aged and only relented after persuasion by a teacher who had once taught him. So he joined Standard 9 at an old age of 22 in a class among 17 and 18 year old boys. Again, he excelled by scoring six distinctions in the School Certificate examination. He joined the prestigious Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) for Form 6 and later the University of Malaya while still in poor health, and in fact suffered a relapse while at the university. Although Abdullah was hospitalised for a further two-and-a-half months and later was confined to the students' sick bay and had to miss his lectures for five months, he still managed to graduate from the university with a BA (Hons) in Geography. He started his career in the Johor civil service because he had to serve out his Johor scholarship bond, his first job being the secretary of the organising committee for the 50th anniversary of the reign of the ruler of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim.

This was followed by a string of civil service appointments in Johor and then Perak and from 1959 to 1961, he was private secretary to the first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman. "My greatest regret was that when the Tunku passed away (in 1989), I was not there to see his face for the last time. I was then in London. I regretted that very much", he told the magazine. Then came his posting to the Public Service Commission with a directive to ensure fair apportionment of scholarships and Division One appointments to Malay candidates. This was followed by his appointment as Under-Secretary to the Cabinet. Abdullah, together with Justice Hashim Sani drew up the National Language Act 1967,which provided for Bahasa Malaysia to be the main medium of instruction in schools.

Next he was assigned to set up Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia which was to use Bahasa Malaysia as medium of instruction and was appointed by then prime minister Tun Abdul Razak as its first Registrar, a fairly junior appointment given his seniority but which he said he dared not refuse. This was because he had declined Tun Razak's offers on two previous occasions, the first in 1963 to go to Sabah as Economic Adviser of then Chief Minister Tun Datu Mustapha and the second, to persuade him to stand as a candidate in Melaka in the 1969 general election and be its Chief Minister. "Evidently, Tun Razak was not going to accept 'no' for an answer for the third time," he told Khidmat. The setting up of UKM using Malay as the medium of instruction proved to be a monumental task indeed at a time when there was a scarcity of Malays with doctorates and Master's degrees to serve as lecturers but the problem was overcome with the recruitment of lecturers from Indonesia.

After the 1974 general election, Abdullah was made Director-General of the Public Services Department (PSD) and in May 1976 after Tun Razak died, he succeeded Tan Sri Kadir Shamsuddin was Chief Secretary to the Government. Kadir had gone to Petronas as its first chairman. At end-1978 upon retiring from the civil service, then prime minister Tun Hussein Onn made him chairman and chief executive of Petronas following the death of Kadir. It was an irony of sorts because Abdullah had earlier submitted various other names to the prime minister as Kadir's successor. But Hussein wanted him for the job which he took up at the age of 53. Much of the developments of Petronas, then with a staff of 600-700, was still in the planning stage and Abdullah's first job was to set up the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in Bintulu and to get Japanese power and utility companies to take up the LNG production. Abdullah also set up the Petronas refinery in Kerteh in Terengganu and followed by another refinery in Melaka and gave priority to the training of Malaysians who in later years were to take over the running of the refineries from foreign management teams.

Today, Petronas has a presence in over 30 countries and is one of the world's most profitable oil companies and the only Malaysian company listed in the Fortune 500. Age and ill health kept Abdullah away from the spotlight but from 1989 to last year, he was chairman of the Tun Razak Foundation, named after the second prime minister. In 2003, Abdullah was bestowed the Seri Setia Mahkota (SSM) which carries the title "Tun", the highest federal award, and became the first and only former Chief Secretary to the Government to receive the title.

Webmaster: Tun Abdullah Salleh studied in Malacca High School before the 2nd. World War. He was my father's classmate in Malacca High.