Victoria Institution Old Boys' Association celebrates 100 years

Speech by Tan Sri (Sir) Francis Yeoh
at the Victoria Institution Old Boys’ Association (Vioba) Centenary Gala Dinner
26 November 2022 at the Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur

So in that Harrow dinner I reminded Harrow. Most of my family of younger next generation leaders came from Harrow and I reminded them that Harrow could only produce seven prime ministers, where else Eton produced 20 prime ministers. In Malaysia we have already got 10 prime ministers and 2 from the Sultan Hamid College and 2 are from Malay College, Kuala Kangsar. 1 is from St John Institution. 1 from Methodist Boy School Penang = Pak Lah, 1 from Muar High School and 1 from Sekolah Menengah Teknik Kuantan but 0 from VI.

VI has not produced any Prime Minister in this country. So I am waiting. I am waiting. Headmaster, Headmistress of VI. I hope you will produce some future Prime Ministers from Malaysia through VI. All right, that sounds like a very pessimistic note of knocking VI but I'm not because VI did produce some legendary, legendary heroes.

Who are they? Who are the legendary heroes of the VI alumni? Number one, I would put that no less than Tun Ismail Ali, our legendary governor of Bank Negara. I think nobody wants to dispute that. We have Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz our legendary trade minister impressed on woman diversity, came to the fore through VI and her great contribution. We have also a great entrepreneur, Ananda Krishnan, who introduced so many great things to this country like Astro etc.

We also have Tan Sri Dr Koh Chee Koon. Dr Koh Chee Koon, the founder of Gerakan, Mr. Opposition. So yes, we may not have Prime Ministers, but we did have many great institutional greats. But I still wish and pray and hope for a Prime Minister from Victoria Institution. But let me at least share with you the truth is that actually we have a Prime Minister, not in Malaysia but Prime Minister in Brunei! The Sultan of Brunei is actually the King but also the Prime Minister. So we have 1 Prime Minister that we produced outside of Malaysia. And probably we will produce the next President of Indonesia, Prabowo, probably if he makes it, VI alumni would also make it to be a President of a great country, Indonesia. So that's good. So we are not that bad. The alumni of VI is not that bad. 

We also produced a great sportsman like Mokhtar Dahari and the Sidek brothers. In my time I have got Woo Fee Meng and Cheah Hong Chong they were all Thomas Scott players. And one of the things in YTL that I absolutely have an open door system was anybody from VI If you are VI alumni, you come in, you got a job. And Woo Fee Meng of course, become the head of my construction company. And Cheah Hong Chong the Thomas Scott player, Cambridge University thereafter became the head of my property company and many others. So VI is an alumni that I feel should have been trained well and I believe in, trusts the teachers and the institution and the foundation of what they built.

It is very simple If you want to be alumni of YTL, you have to master three languages. The first language is a language of God. You have to have morality, you have to have integrity. The next language you have to master is a language of man. You have to articulate with a passion and zeal for what you believe to make sure as a leader, all the people can work with you to make the company great. And the next language of the master is the language of machine and which is technology. You have to leverage on technology to produce first class, first world, first class services at third world prices. And if you can do that, if you can master these three language, YTL welcomes you. And to me in the past many people of YTL alumni has built with me and Woo Fee Meng have died, Cheah Hong Chong and all these good people I've got great alumni that actually built YTL from a company of 10 million Ringgit in sales to 22 billion Ringgit today, how could I do it without an alumni of people that were trained well, educated well and actually did very well for YTL.

And today I like to tell you YTL still welcomes a YTL alumni. So I like to at least share with you my fears. My fear is that we forget quite easily the foundation of institutions like the Victorian Institution or St John's or Methodist school. All these great institutions and all these great schools in our country that produce Prime Ministers, including Kuala Kangsar Malay College, were great institutions that produce great leaders that held this country well. And I like to see VI competing continually with these institutions as a producer of great leaders for tomorrow. 

So I'm reminded of a speech by John F Kennedy in 1963, and he said, you know what is the greatest boast in the world 2000 years ago, 2000 years ago, when you say, I am a Roman, I am a Roman, Cevis Romanus. So I am a Roman. When you say I'm a Roman, everybody vows, whoa! It means you're a man of integrity and fortitude. That's 2000 years ago. I ask this our VI alumni now and for the future can a VI alumni or alumnus ever go out to the world and say proudly look at all the employers anywhere in the world and say, I am from Victoria Institution and Victoria Institution stands for character, fortitude, integrity. Then the founder of our school, the great Sultan Abdul Samad and all these great people would have at least be very proud of us. All the great teachers of the past and present today would be justified for their sacrifices. 

And all the old Victorians and the new Victorians will still be a beacon of light today and tomorrow. And with this thought, I pray that Victoria Institution will remain for another hundred years and may we produce many great prime ministers from now. Thank you.