COMMENT | The late Chu Ah Ngee ran his aggregator and pre-mix business on a large piece of land in Semenyih. Every Chinese New Year, it was party time for the staff and his customers.

Beers flowed; a roast pig was on the pit, and a feast was being prepared in a tent. Especially for his Muslim workers, he would have satay and biryani and other halal food.

There were no workers’ union and he personally attended to their grouses. When an employee had a happy or even a sad occasion, he would be there to help out. He was generous to the hilt and there was not a dry eye in the factory when he passed away in 2016.

His workers were housed in living quarters complete with running water and electricity.

I gathered his management styles during our close association, and with those in mind, these were some of the questions I posed in my column “Health before wealth – the way forward” on Nov 28...