Giving While Living

 

Where is today's Loke Yew? 

Our new age billionaire boys do not have the human touch in their branding. They believe in the American version of branding with expensive billboards, advertisements, F1 tracks, print on football jerseys and long list of mindless brand building strategies. 

Natesan Visnu 

The ‘giving while living’ philosophy was pioneered by Chuck Fenney through Atlantic Philanthropies (AP). The organization went on to invest in area of ageing, children & youth, population health and reconciliation & human rights. Fenney was inspired by Andrew Carnegie’s essay on ‘the gospel of wealth’. Andrew believes that the wealthy should redistribute their surplus wealth in an appropriate manner that would benefit the society in general.

Carnegie explained that by donating to charity, it does not guarantee that the charity organization would redistribute the funds wisely. He views that by donating to charitable organization, it does not improve the condition of the poor. He firmly believes that the nature of the charity should create new opportunities to the beneficiaries.

Carnegie put his philosophy into practice by providing grants for public libraries. He believes the libraries are tools for people to better themselves. To ensure that his ‘gift’ will not go into waste, he urged for the municipalities to establish a taxation system to support the operating cost. He created a foundation to continue the efforts after his death. It is truly a simple yet effective system to enhance the poor.

Carnegie also established Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. All the organization involved in philanthropic activities for betterment of mankind in various field of education, human rights, arts, etc.

Fenney with his philosophy of ‘education equals opportunity’ and ‘giving while living’ has distributed grants worth 2 billion for medical and educational facilities. AP invested 1 billion in Northern Ireland funding for research facilities inUniversity of Limerick and Dublin City University. AP also funded 4 million for Hue Central Hospital in Vietnam.

Why do billionaires like Fenney and Carnegie care so much for advancement of human civilization? Warren Buffet stated ‘We're hoping that America, which is the most generous society on Earth, becomes even more generous over time.’  The American billionaires club has taken the initiatives for the future of human civilization by developing programs to empower the poor. Gates and Buffet visited India to talk about The Giving Pledge to the Indians.

If the wealthiest person in the world has taken so much effort to combat poverty, why are there poor people? Why do the African children never get enough food? Why do Indian children live in the slum? Why are children and women killed mercilessly in wars? The ultimate answer is the politics of the country. The failure of the political system and greed leadership are the key components of failure of a nation. Africa, India, Syria and the list of troublesome countries should blame the political system and leadership for their downfall as a nation and society.

Echoing on the political system and leadership theory, the Scandinavian countries have proved their success as nations and their people continue to live harmoniously. Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway are in the top 20 list for happiest country in the world. Scandinavians have definitely developed the system to ensure the people of the country are cared accordingly. One of the key components for a happy country is the efficiency of social support for the people.

Blessed with natural resources, a multi-cultural society, emerging economy and colorful people; we are not happy as a nation. The social support system has not played a significant role in empowering the society. Apart from BR1M program, the Malaysian government has not provided ‘tools’ to empower the people of Malaysia. Echoing on Carnegie’s philosophy, the government should develop programs to empower the people, not give charity. On that note, the BR1M program is charity, not a tool to empower people.

One of the ‘tools’ that is clearly required is an efficient education system. The recent launch of the education blueprint has sparked much debate among the public. Comparing the Malaysian education blueprint and Finnish education system, our blueprint has many loopholes that need to be fixed. On that note, studying the Finnish education system and adapting the early year’s education programs will definitely benefit our education blueprint.

For Malaysian billionaires, ‘giving while living’ should inspire the billionaire boys club to use their surplus wealth to enhance our community. We have billionaires with football clubs, F1 team and spending millions for branding and marketing. We do not have billionaires that spend millions for libraries, universities, research facilities, etc.

I remember a talk by Yasmin Ahmad on branding and she said it’s the human touch that makes the brand. But our new age billionaire boys do not have the human touch in their branding. They believe in the American version of branding with expensive billboards, advertisements, F1 tracks, print on football jerseys and long list of mindless brand building strategies.

In the past we had Loke Yew donating his wealth to build various schools in Kuala Lumpur. He founded the Victoria Institution (VI) with Thamboosamy Pillai and donated a huge sum for Methodist Boys School (MBS). Loke Yew made a $500,000 loan interest free to Hong Kong University in 1915.

The ‘China pendatang’ donated his wealth for education and our current leadership failed to recognize the Chinese contribution dated from 1900s. The top politicians and businessmen are mostly from VI and MBS. The Victorian spirit initiated by Loke Yew is no longer there in modern Malaysia. We have ‘educated’ leaders and businessmen but not ‘learned’. Loke Yew would have been a very disappointed man if he was alive today.    

‘Education equals opportunity’, echoing the thoughts, the Malaysian government should develop a comprehensive education system that would benefit the rural folks in Sabah and Sarawak. The recent article by Baru Pian has highlighted the issues with education in rural areas. The education blueprint should aim to empower the rural kids.

The billionaires and millionaires kids go to the best schools. The poor kids go to the average schools. The disparity in education would cripple the future of this country. The politicians, policy makers and entrepreneurs have the wealth and power in their hand to make a difference. Make that difference and empower the poor kids.