Farewell Tuan Haji Kamalur

34 years is surely a long period, and to faithfully serving a company for that long is certainly very rare nowadays. Our general manager has finally decided to call it a day, after 34 years of loyalty to a company which was involved in a mega merger of GLC some years back. He has gone through all the challenging periods and critical transitions such as the infamous dawn raids and also the more recent mega merger of Guthrie, Golden Hope and Sime Darby.

We just had a simple farewell gathering for him, together with some other staff member who coincidentally also leaving the company for various reasons. The farewell high tea was too simple and hurriedly put up at Banting office, in my opinion. A person who has served a company for 34 years certainly deserves a much better farewell than the one that we just organized this evening.

Does a company really appreciate a loyalty of an employee? Or most of the companies just like one of the local leading oil palm company using people as though they are using ball pen, throwing away the old one and use the new one? Sometimes I just feel that all these employers be it GLC or any other private companies are just the same, saying one thing and doing another.

Just a couple of days ago when I was in Sabah I was told that one of the estate manager who has served various estates in Sabah under the same company asking for a transfer back to Peninsular Malaysia after a 15-year of service abroad. This guy’s home town is in Batu Pahat, Johor and he was hoping that he will get a transfer back to the estate closer to his home town.

He gets a transfer back indeed but the company posted him to far North in Kedah which is about 8 to 9 hours drive from his home town at Johor. All his friends are laughing at him as he is worst off after getting a transfer to West Malaysia. Instead, he just needs slightly more than two hours flight to get back to his home town in Batu Pahat if he remains at Sabah. This guy naturally gets very disappointed as he thought that for his loyalty to a company for about 20 years, he could have been treated better towards the tail end of his employment with the company.

I suppose that is the predicament of an employee, wherever you are.The company gives you two options, take it or leave it. So for all my "fellow employees", you know your options.

Farewell Tuan Haji, I salute your 34-year royalty and hoping that you and your family will live a healthy, fruitful and happy life together after your retirement.