The Year 2018 Part IV of VI - Years 1980’s

Way back in the 1970’s it was difficult to immigrate to New Zealand. My application for me and my family to immigrate to New Zealand was rejected twice but thanks to Sir Robert Muldoon’s Export Incentive Scheme at the time, Fletcher Construction managed to convince the Government that my employment was part of Fletcher’s export schemes to obtain construction projects in Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and eventually to China.

By 1980 my family had settled into our Pakuranga home off Cascades Road and my four children settled into Elm Park Primary, Farm Cove Intermediate, and Pakuranga College. There were so few Chinese (especially Chinese from South East Asia) students in these schools that they had ‘mother hands’ who were children of the second generation Chinese migrants who spoke no Chinese languages.

On the works front, the job at Fletcher’s in the early 1980 years was challenging as I was able to secure construction contracts in Singapore and in Hong Kong for them by convincing the authorities in these countries that Fletchers was able to introduce prestressed, precast concrete flooring system into their projects.

With members of the Fletcher Construction (Overseas Division) team, I visited China in 1981 and visited Tianjin for the first time. The last time that I visited Mainland China was in the early 1970’s as part of the SIS (Singapore Institute of Surveyors) professional visit exchange team, visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha, Guangzhou, and Guilin. The main difference between the two visits was the level of supervision the team members had. In the first visit, the authorities were represented in every meeting we had with the local professionals. In the second visit, almost ten years later, there were no official governmental members but the construction companies we met were all State-owned enterprises and the China-members’ main interests were never on the work topics but on wining and dining at their Government’s expenses.

Brief Dairy of the events during Fletcher’s trip to Hong Kong and China for the sole purpose of construction work prospecting (19th April to 15th May 1981)

Sunday 19th April - arrived in Hong Kong (1705 hrs). Met Keith Philcos for a briefing with Garry Searchfield on a possible job on Cement Works.

Monday 20th April - 0930 hrs Chinese Yum Char breakfast with Garry Searchfield, Pak Hang LAM, and Pui Kuen LEONG. Possible design and build contract in Taiwan and possible investments by LEONG in Auckland. 1200 hrs Met Keith Philcox in his office to discuss the timetable for the next ten days regarding the Cement Works contract. 1845 hrs Dinner at LEONG’s house.

Tuesday 21st April - 0930 hrs Keith introduced us to N K HUI who had a classmate CHEN, the chairman of the Bureau of Building Materials in Guangdong Province, Guangzhou. Team (Panos Anastasiou, Narendra Prasad, Garry Searchfield, Francis Lai, Keith Philcox and H K Hui) to visit Sansui Province in Guizhou, China 23rd to 27th April.

Pause:

Have I digressed? Yes, if we take into consideration that I have, in the first three parts in this topic, talked about New Year Resolutions for 2018. So, before I forget about this Resolutions, let me give all my eight New Year Resolutions hereunder basing on my past experiences.

So far, I have stated

Resolution # 1: Bury the Hatchet.

Resolution # 2: Keep Listening and Learning.

Resolution # 3: Start up further teaching classes via the social media.

Resolution # 4: Master the technique of providing on-line education on the areas of specialisation that I possess. 1960’s

Resolution # 5: Slow down, Relax. 1970’s

 

My last three New Year Resolutions 2018 are:

Resolution # 6: Concentrate on a single task at a time, no more multi-tasking. 1980’s

Resolution # 7: Continue to help New Migrants. 1990’s

Resolution # 8: Be Physically Fit - Tai Chi Quan. 2000’s

 

Pause ends:

Back to the Brief Dairy.

Wednesday 22nd April - Met Ray Jefferies, Trade Commissioner for New Zealand in Hong Kong, for lunch at the Australian Club with K. Philcox and Gary Searchfield. Evening dinner meeting with Peter CHANG of Built-Up Engineering.

Thursday 23rd April to 1st May - visited Guangzhou, Sansui’s Cement Works, Fuzhou, Xiamen (Gulang Yu) to see construction sites and to discuss possible joint ventures with Chinese construction companies.

Saturday 2nd May to Thursday 7th May - prospecting in Hong Kong and Macau.

Friday 8th May to Monday 11th May - prospecting in Singapore.

Tuesday 12th to Thursday 14th - prospecting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Notable people met during the visits:

Singapore: David Lum and Raymond Lum of Lum Chang Construction; Chng Gim Huat, Chng Beng Guan and Phang Poke Shum of Onando Cement; Kwek Leng Chan, Hong Leong Group’s Managing Director.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Kwek Leng Hai, Haji Hashim bin Endut, Hong Leong Credit Berhad.

Hong Kong: K T Philcox and Herbert Yu of Yiu Shu Housing; Wang Ker Duang of Wu Yi Construction; Alfred Yui, Modern Homes Ltd.; T K Shen, TK Shen Construction.

Fujian, China: Huang Chang Xi, Deputy President in charge of the island of Gu Lang Yu; Ling, Deputy Manager, Shu, Foreign Trade Department, Fu, Architect & Engineer, Wu, Secretary and Ms Chi Interpreter, Xiamen Construction and Development Corporation.

 

During the ten years of 1980 I tried my best to show how good I was in multi-tasking. I was doing Quantity Surveying (for Rawlinsons and also for Perry Dines at one of Muldoon’s Think Big Projects at Taranaki), Property Valuation for Institutional Purchasers, Real Estate Marketing (especially to New Migrants from Hong Kong and Taiwan, for Beltons), Teaching at Unitec, Life Insurance for AMP, Computer Programming for the Construction Industry, and Project Management of Construction Projects. True, I did manage to multi-task quite successfully but on reflection, I did feel that I had not given each task the attention each deserved.

 

In the meantime, compared with the earlier ten years, i did have a lot more quality time with my four children and watching them growing up in a relaxed and creative environment of New Zealand.

A small Papatoetoe Sales Team with big results.