Set up scholarships to help poor students, Koon Yew Yin donated to Perak SJKC and Chinese independent high schools

Exclusive report by Leong Ai Ran
China Press, October 15, 2015

Ipoh, Oct 14 – Following his conditional donation of RM50 million to Penang state government to build hostels for university students, retired business tycoon Koon Yew Yin’s next action plan is to donate to the students of Chinese primary schools (SJKC) and Chinese independent high schools in Perak through the planning of middle man.

Koon Yew Yin, 82, who has recently been thrust into the limelight because of his donation to Penang state government, said in an exclusive interview with the China Press that students from poor families would be benefitted through scholarships set up by him.

He said chairman of board of governors SJKC Yuk Choy cum Poi Lam High School deputy chairman of board of governors Teoh Beng Suang would help him in all the planning; the details would be discussed further.

On question why he donated such a hefty sum of money to Penang state government, Koon Yew Yin said since MCA rejected his RM30 million conditional donation to University Tunku Abdul Rahman six years ago, he had used the money to invest in share market and managed to make profit from the stock market, and therefore he decided to set up the aiding scheme.

Penang University hostels to complete in three years

On why he did not plan and build the hostels on his own, he said he decided to donate directly to the Penang state government because many other aspects are involved in the project and the governance of Penang state government is quite efficient.

“I am very much convinced of the transparency shown by the Penang state government in its administration and also it possesses ample reserve funds, it has immediately appointed three senior officials to follow up on the project showing how efficient it is, and now the project is in progress.”

He estimated that the project will be completed in three years and provide lodging for 2,200 students.

Koon Yew Yin stressed that the hostels are opened to all students who are studying in public or private universities, they are situated adjacent to Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) but not confined to students from USM, all needy college students are eligible to apply for staying in the hostels.

He said when Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng talked to him about the hostels project, Lim had even promised him that should the RM50 million is not enough to meet the needs of the project, the state government would make up the shortfalls to ensure that the project would be completed in time.

Within five years 100 secondary students were helped to further their education

Teoh Beng Suang who is in charge of the planning of helping the Chinese education scheme mentioned that over the last four to five years Koon Yew Yin had provided about 100 scholarships to secondary school students to further their education in University Tunku Abdul Rahman.

“In average each student will get about RM20,000; the spirit of generosity and support for education is admirable.”

Teoh Beng Suang had been the chairman of SJKC Ave Maria Convent and SMJK Ave Maria Convent Ipoh for 20 years and has just retired on July 30 this year.

Currently Teoh Beng Suang is the chairman of board of governors of SJKC Yuk Choy, SJKC Perak and SMK Perak Girl School, Ipoh, Perak. In an interview with China Press, he said the scheme of providing financial aids to the Chinese schools was still at the preparatory stage and the details would be confirmed later.

Education changes a person’s destiny

Education is the hope!

With outstanding academic performance, Koon Yew Yin managed to receive the government scholarship and completed his four-year civil engineering course in university; he always believe that education is the root of change of personal destiny.

So far he has sponsored about three hundred scholarships, emphasized always on donation to education related fields as he believed that to the younger generations, education is the beginning of every hope.

About 100 years ago, Koon Yew Yin’s father owned a coffin shop in Ipoh Road, Kuala Lumpur to support the 14 family members. With 12 siblings, Koon Yew Yin had to grab whatever his parents could provide in order to fill his stomach, this had let him experienced the taste of poverty and hunger.

After finished civil engineering course, in 1962 he managed to qualify as a chartered civil engineer through self-study. In 1967, he set up the Mudajaya Construction Sdn. Bhd and Gamuda Sdn. Bhd together with three other partners.

In early 1980, IGB、Jurutama and Mudajaya were grouped together to form IJM Corporation Bhd and listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.

Malaysia can’t be a developed country by 2020

Koon Yew Yin said owing to bad management and corruption, Malaysia would not become an advanced nation by 2020.

Quoting example, he said highway was one of the cases of corruption as the construction of the toll roads did not go through the process of open tender. Now that the price of petrol had gone down, why the toll rates were going up? Even the tariff on electricity should also go down.

On issue regarding 1MDB, he said the verification should be made base on Prime Minister’s monthly income and property he owned, the final prove of innocent should be on the presentation of bank statements.

On the racial issue, Koon Yew Yin said the Malays have already in control of the nation’s main administrative agency and authority including parliament, armed forces and banking, why were they afraid of Chinese?

Ringgit devaluates, so it is time to buy shares

Now is the right time to buy share!

Koon Yew Yin who has retired long ago is now focusing on stock investment and writing of commentary on current affairs which he had put on his personal website.

Koon Yew Yin who has never ceased following the current affairs told China Press that as ringgit has fallen to its lowest level in 17 years, it was time to buy stocks because many foreign investors and companies have left.

“However, one would have to be selective in buying the potential shares such as the export companies which pegged with US dollar.”

Among them, he is in favour of the shares of computer chips export companies and export orientated furniture companies.

Likes Malaysia most won’t encourage migration

“Migration is the most stupid thing!”

On question that many well-to-do tend to migrate to developed countries, he said looking back on our past history, how many Chinese had been able to succeed in advanced nations like US, England and Australia?

He confessed that those who settled in foreign countries were good paying wage earners, but to buy a house there was never an easy task. Moreover, it was very cold during winter; to him it was just like staying in the refrigerator which is bad for health.

After graduation, Koon Yew Yin fulfilled the contract of government scholarship and worked as government servant for five years. Subsequently he was invited by his university course mate who is also his good friend Yap Lim Sen to do business in Ipoh. Together with three other partners, they ventured into construction business.

Whenever talking about Ipoh, Koon Yew Yin who loved the Ipoh white coffee so much will praise Ipoh for its good air, beautiful landscape and relatively low cost of living, the property there is also cheaper and the taste of foods are just nice.

Racial policy is not suitable for running a country

“The inception of Parti Amanah Negara shows that today the Malays have realized that racial policy is not suitable for running a country, this has also puzzled PAS to lose its way.”

Koon Yew Yin felt that whether PAS will join Barisan Nasional or the “Pakatan Harapan” formed by PKR, DAP and Amanah, the party will be a burden to both of the political front.

“Governing the country by religion is not suitable for any period of time; this could be seen from the current war situation in West Asia region which demonstrates the ultimate situation of the state of religious governance.”

He opined that to ensure success, all the administrations or policies should be based on economy and not race.

Original Source:
設獎學金助清貧學生 官有緣捐款霹華小獨中