{"id":4602,"date":"2024-08-24T13:08:55","date_gmt":"2024-08-24T13:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/?p=4602"},"modified":"2025-11-05T06:43:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T06:43:44","slug":"the-power-to-transform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/the-power-to-transform\/","title":{"rendered":"The power to transform"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Tan Sri Ong Leong Huat : From a\u00a0 teenage rubber tapper and labourer to the man who built OSK Investment Bank, one of the largest investment banks in South East Asia with presence in Asean countries and Hong Kong and a conglomerate with business interests in financial services, property and investment, construction, hospitality and industries.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Foong Pek Yee<\/p>\n

foongpekyee@gmail.com<\/p>\n

Aug 24, 2024<\/p>\n

Tan Sri Ong Leong Huat joins\u00a0 the work force very early to help put food on the table for his family of 12 in Merbau New Village in Sitiawan, Perak.<\/p>\n

He is a rubber tapper and labourer while schooling,\u00a0 and has\u00a0 a two-year temporary teaching stint\u00a0 upon completing his form five education.<\/p>\n

Ong\u00a0 subsequently joins\u00a0 a finance company as a\u00a0 counter clerk and climbs the corporate ladder via self study.<\/p>\n

He left the company as a senior general manager after working there for 17 years.<\/p>\n

In the 1980s, Ong\u00a0 developed OSK Securities into one of the biggest investment banks in\u00a0 South East Asia\u00a0 -OSK Investment Bank- before it merged with RHB Investment Bank in 2012.<\/p>\n

His flagship company –\u00a0 OSK Holdings Bhd – is a conglomerate with business interests in property development and investment, construction, industries, hospitality and financial services;\u00a0 with business operations in Malaysia and Australia.<\/p>\n

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All for education: OSK Holdings Bhd chairman Tan Sri Ong Leong Huat (centre), flanked by UTAR council chairman Tan Sri Dr Ting Chew Peh (left)\u00a0 and UTAR\u00a0 president Datuk Professor Dr Ewe Hong Tat (right) at the opening of the UTAR 39th convocation ceremony session 3 in Dewan Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik\u00a0 in the Kampar campus on Aug 17, 2024.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Guest of honour procession:\u00a0 UTAR president Datuk Professor Dr Ewe Hong Tat,\u00a0 UTAR Education Foundation Board of Trustees Chairman Tan Sri Dr Sak Cheng Lum, UTAR council chairman Tan Sri Dr Ting Chew Peh and guest of honour Tan Sri Ong Leong Huat at the UTAR 39th convocation ceremony session 3 in Dewan Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik in the Kampar campus on Aug 17, 2024.<\/strong><\/p>\n

UTAR 39th convocation ceremony session 3 video<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KCaIecsYe9o&t=5103s<\/a><\/p>\n

AT 80, Ong, a well-known\u00a0 tycoon and philanthropist, provides a glimpse of his life journey at the opening of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) 39th convocation ceremony session 3 in the Kampar campus on Aug 17, 2024<\/p>\n

As the event’s guest of honour, he\u00a0 says he hopes his sharing would\u00a0 be helpful for graduates who are at the threshold of embarking on a new journey – like join the workforce or further studies.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0A major milestone: UTAR graduates at the 39th UTAR convocation ceremony session 3 in Dewan Tun Dr Ling Liong\u00a0 Sik in the Kampar campus on Aug 17, 2024.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While he did not get a tertiary education opportunity, Ong says, he joined the work force very early and managed to support some of his siblings’ tertiary education.<\/p>\n

Stating that tertiary education is a good foundation , Ong says he has to compensate by putting in extra effort to learn and excel in his work.<\/p>\n

“After work, I diligently study\u00a0 to improve my English and understanding of finance by reading newspapers and financial magazines.<\/p>\n

“I also consult\u00a0 people who are experts in the subject (finance),” recalls Ong.<\/p>\n

Looking back, Ong says he understand the importance of education at a very young age.<\/p>\n

” As a Christian,\u00a0 I recognised first and foremost that God has been gracious to me. God\u00a0 has guided me throughout my life journey, blessed me with the desire and commitment to continue to learn and improve myself using my own effort though I did not get a tertiary education opportunity.<\/p>\n

“I am grateful I have reached a position that allows\u00a0 me to bless others with the opportunity\u00a0 I did not have,” says Ong followed by a big round of applause from his audience.<\/p>\n

UTAR students are among the beneficiaries of scholarships from OSK Foundation – the philanthropic arm of OSK Holdings Bhd.<\/p>\n

Ong also made a personal donation of RM5mil to UTAR which is a non-profit university.<\/p>\n

Ong who is now OSK Holdings Bhd chairman, OSK Ventures International Bhd chairman, RHB Investment Bank Bhd chairman and RHB Bank Bhd director says he continues to learn and grow.<\/p>\n

While graduation marks an important milestone in one’s life journey,\u00a0 he advises graduates to practise life long learning in order to progress.<\/p>\n

He cautions that even cutting – edge knowledge can turn obsolete overnight.<\/p>\n

“Thus, life long learning is a necessity and not just a concept.<\/p>\n

” There are many ways we can learn;\u00a0 from self study, interacting with people, visiting places to\u00a0 taking criticism as feedback for us to improve ourselves.<\/p>\n

“Being defensive and having a closed minded attitude\u00a0 is the biggest enemy to life long learning and progress.”<\/p>\n

Speaking from experience, he says interacting with older people is also\u00a0 a good way to learn as they are more willing to impart\u00a0 their knowledge and\u00a0 wisdom.<\/p>\n

Ong says challenges are part and parcel of life, and his advice is not to dwell on them but focused on looking for solutions and learned from the challenges.<\/p>\n

” I learned more in times of crises than times of\u00a0 success,” says Ong, adding that he had gone through major crises in his life journey, citing the oil crisis in the 1970s, the Pan – El crisis in the 1980s, Asian Financial crisis in the 1990s and the Global financial crisis in 2008.<\/p>\n

“While I was hurt financially and emotionally, I made sure I learned from each and every crisis and emerged stronger after riding out the crises.”<\/p>\n

On luck and success, Ong says:\u00a0 “While luck plays a role in success, luck also favours people who are well-prepared.\u00a0 Continue to learn and improve ourselves and luck is on our side.”<\/p>\n

Ong says in his almost 60 years in banking and business, he has met many successful people from different sectors, including politics, business and sports. There is no shortcut to glory.<\/p>\n

” Their common trait is an\u00a0 eagerness to stay curious and continue\u00a0 learning.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Tan Sri Ong Leong Huat : From a\u00a0 teenage rubber tapper and labourer to the man who built OSK Investment Bank, one of the largest investment banks in South East Asia with presence in Asean countries and Hong Kong and a conglomerate with business interests in financial services, property and investment, construction, hospitality and … Continue reading “The power to transform”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[438,437,399,433],"class_list":["post-4602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people","tag-ong-leong-huat","tag-osk-holdings-bhd","tag-universiti-tunku-abdul-rahman","tag-utar-39th-convocation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4602"}],"version-history":[{"count":62,"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4671,"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4602\/revisions\/4671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}