Tan Siew Sin: A contrarian father

IN investing and in parenting, my father, the late Tun Tan Siew Sin, was the ultimate contrarian.

Buy shares when everyone is selling and sell when there is a buying frenzy, he advised friends. Many thought his advice was contrary to the adage that investors should "make the trend your friend".

My father's view is shared by Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway chairman and the fourth richest man in the world. He said: "Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful."

My father also firmly believed "restraint is the parent of excess". Prohibiting smoking, drinking or gambling will only prompt your child to indulge in the forbidden activity, he said.

And my father practised what he preached.

When he began his term as minister of finance in 1959, one of his first decisions was to instruct the ministry's officials to buy gold. At that time, the average price of gold was around US$35 an ounce.

His decision was based on two facts. From 1833 until 1933, gold prices ranged around US$20 an ounce before increasing to US$35 an ounce in 1934 and had remained range-bound until the 1960s. During the same period, inflation had risen sharply and the US dollar's purchasing power had plummeted.

When my father passed away in March 1988, gold had jumped to the US$400-plus per ounce price range.

While we were still schooling, my father decided to teach me and my sisters how to play poker with my mother as his opponent. Unfortunately, the training session ended when my father refused to allow my mother to see the cards he held before he shuffled them.

"You didn't pay, so you can't see my cards," he admonished her.

"It is only a game," my mother grumbled indignantly.

"Rules are rules, whether we are playing for fun or for serious money," my father told her.

When I was in secondary school, my mother asked my father whether I should be allowed to read Mills & Boon novels. Not only did he approve, he assured my mother this was part of the growing-up process.

He strongly believed university-age children should be given responsibility for their personal expenditure – without any questions asked. Early exposure to budgeting will make the offspring less likely to indulge in extravagant purchases upon receiving his or her patrimony, he told other interested parents.

When my sisters and I started going to university in the UK, we received our annual allowance in one lump sum in September.

He thoroughly researched the quantum of our allowance. Using as a base the annual sum the Education Ministry gave to scholarship students in the UK, my father added university tuition and hostel fees, the cost of an economy class airfare to and from London plus a small sum for living expenses.

To ensure we didn't have a dewy-eyed view of marriage, family or friends, over dinner, he would tell us about human frailties – husbands indulging in affairs, brothers cheating their siblings of their inheritance and high-risk takers who caused their partners to go bankrupt.

And he warned us about participating in too-good-to-be-true business propositions.

"If a deal offers high profits in a short time, it can only be one of two things: either it is a con or it is illegal," he said.

When a friend complained about a son who didn't know how to save, my father responded: "He needs to learn how to make money, not how to save."

As a staunch follower of Confucius, my father reiterated the importance of this central tenet: "If you help others, you help yourself. If you hurt others, you hurt yourself."

To illustrate this point, he told us this story: In 1953, he was invited to attend an international rubber conference in Copenhagen. When the names of the Malayan delegates to Denmark were announced, the rubber smallholders protested at their lack of representation.

Because my father felt this complaint was justified, he gave up his place in the delegation to the smallholders' representative Mohammed Aris. On May 3, 1953, the plane carrying all the delegates crashed in India without any survivors.

"I thought I was doing a favour to the smallholder; instead I was helping myself. If I had been selfish and insisted on being part of the delegation, you would have been orphans," he constantly reminded us.

My father also had a gift for one-liners. Noteworthy quotes include:

» "The government has no business going into business";

» "The Federation of Malaya needs foreign capital far more than foreign capital needs the Federation of Malaya"; and

» "Today, free enterprise is on trial: the verdict will be delivered by the hungry masses of Asia."

On Father's Day every year, I always give thanks for the privilege of having had a father who was a contrarian parent and an excellent teacher of Confucian values. -Sundaily