ALTER EGO

The True Path

I think the saying 'Don't judge a book by its cover' must have been devised to describe the likes of Andrew Ong. He has this perpetual scowl on his face and a serious disposition. I first met him as a new Law Society Council member in 2007. A non-believer of the adage 'silence is golden', he contributes a lot during meetings, gives lengthy and detailed responses to e-mails and in so doing, has gained respect from the rest of us. Respect not just for his legal acumen but also for the entertainment that he dishes out during our social events. Hanging out with Andrew is fun and many of us would have liked to have done more of that with him. Alas, he has left practice for greener pastures, but more of that later. During gatherings, he will provide the wine and regale us with funny stories and jokes. Believe me, his stories sometimes out do the dinner served at the restaurants. We like him for his down to earth simplicity and lack of airs.

Describing his favourite wine maker as the man who had 'lovingly made whatever bottle that I am opening at the moment', he says that wine and good company go together. 'I don't drink wine alone at all. That is too sad and you will need counselling for that. I will be happier sharing a very modest bottle with a good friend who makes me laugh than drink an expensive bottle with someone who asks me if I can detect a hint of perfumed cedar or mature gooseberry in the wine we are drinking. What in the world is gooseberry? Fruit or fowl?'

When he reels off a long list of wine labels that he likes, you make a mental note of two things - have him at your next wine and dinner party or get his mobile number for the SOS wine call.

He waxes lyrical about his wife: 'She is my northern star. She is like white truffles on a hazy autumn day, my sunshine in bleak winters, my joie de vivre, my milky way …'. The other women in his life are his three daughters whom he acknowledges as his greatest achievement and blessing. He also dotes on his youngest, a boy.

He is also into mechanical watches, handmade medieval toy soldiers and Doonesbury comics. To his question whether he is the only one in the world who reads this comic, the answer must be yes.

I forgot to tell you this. For single men, Andrew is the go-to for women-wooing techniques. He has plenty to share. Just ask our bachelor Council members.

One day during college, he woke up and decided that he had to put an end to the one torture in his life - Maths! He stopped going for Maths classes and didn't take the exams for it. That choice, he realised, shut the doors to many careers, especially his interest in business. The academic options left by default were arts or law. He chose law but wondered many a time what his true calling was.
The relationship he has with business goes back a long way. At the age of 16, his grandfather offered him a significant position in the family timber business. Unlike the other male members in the family who joined the business, Andrew refused the offer. He wanted to venture into the business world on his own. And 25 years later, he did. He has been the Executive Vice President of Business Development and Legal at The True Group since early this year.

I knew precisely what Andrew meant when he described his work style as 'compulsive obsessive, anal retentive, almost autistic in everything I do'. He has a need to excel in everything he does and would die trying to do so. He diffuses this by joking about his bar of excellence being as low as his knee.

Starting his legal career as a judicial officer in the legal service, he describes the experience as a 'badge of honour' and the most incredible privilege that has been bestowed on him. The decision of not taking up a LLM and thus not staying in the legal service paved his entry into private practice. During his time, there was an 'uncomfortable disparity' between the remuneration and benefits offered in the legal service and the private sector. The strong pull came in the form of Steven Chong, SC who was then in Drew & Napier and who later became Andrew's mentor, fellow partner in Rajah & Tann and very close friend. 'When someone of that caliber offers you the opportunity to be personally trained by him, it is difficult to say no,' he explained. So he made the switch in 1992. He acknowledges this to be one of the best decisions that he has made in his life.

'What do you mean by "giving up a lucrative law practice?"' he asks in response to my e-mail questions for this interview. 'Who have you been talking to? And to my Rajah & Tann ex-partners, are you reading this whilst deciding on my distributions?' he jokes.

He changes gear and tells you how he misses law practice for two reasons - his partners and for being reminded daily how honourable he is and what a great friend he makes. He then tells you the most incredulous thing. 'Now dogs wandering by will just come and piss on my leg as if it is the most natural thing to do. I think they detect the lack of honour and importance. That never used to happen when I was a lawyer.' I can almost imagine him saying this with his most deadpan look.

On the subject of yoga which is one of the core businesses of True Yoga, Andrew says yoga is popular in Singapore for its physical rather than meditational or spiritual aspects. Besides being beneficial health-wise, it creates better body awareness. It is reputed to develop a muscular lean frame with greater mobility and flexibility.

He admits that doing business is his final career move. When he is older, he would like to own a small restaurant on a remote island where pigs will be allowed to interact with his customers until they are led away to be lovingly prepared as the main course. When he is inspired, he will cook a dish off the menu and serve it for free. Of course, wine without corkage ('as God intended it to be') will be served. The customer will be issued a 'do not return' warning and be told to leave the restaurant immediately if he brings and shares wine that tastes like 'pig swill' or requests for a change of the 80s soft rock love ballads that the pianist sings or has his marriage proposal turned down by his girlfriend. If the girlfriend accepts the proposal, Andrew will then sing a love ballad like Faithfully or Open Arms, weep a little and offer free dessert.

He sums up his life as one that is blessed, filling him with humility and gratitude. 'I just cannot ask for more.'

The New Bikram Hot Yoga

Where: The True Group

Why it is hot: Followers include Hollywood celebrities such as Madonna, Sharon Stone, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Matthew McConaughey, supermodel Elle MacPherson and newbies such as Roland Kickinger who is the new lead in Terminator 4.

Why it is different: It is taught in a studio with a running temperature of 41 degrees. The 26 different postures work on specific parts of the body.

The health benefits: You sweat out every toxin in your body at the end of the session together with the whisky or red bull vodka you drank last night, as well as the red meat, carbohydrates and you shed 52 pounds instantly.

The social benefits: All the women are dressed in whatever is comfortable at 41 degrees. And the men are bare bodied. At the end of the session, you will miraculously speak French immediately.

A Day in the Life of Andrew Ong

6.45am to 9.00am: Work out at the gym. Resolve never to eat carbo again.

9.30am to 12pm: Meeting with lawyers and accountants and poring over acquisition contract documentation, due diligence reports, scary financial statements. I now understand why I hated corporate law.

12.05pm: Splitting headache due to the financial statements. Hate the word 'cash ebitda' because it is Latin sounding and was repeated 782 times during the meeting.

12.10pm to 12.30pm: Working sandwich lunch. I get upset and threaten to quit for inhuman dietary treatment. Colleagues call me a wimp for eating lunch.

12.30pm to 3.00pm: More pain with lawyers and accountants.

3.05pm: I now hate accountants and am beginning to hate lawyers.

3.30pm: Roof top meeting at Pacific Plaza with contractor, Rockwell Pang and other sub-contractors. Engage in discussion on where the aircon vents, diffusers and chiller units should go. Getting agitated and finally breaking out into Hokkien profanities. I am calmed down by the contractors who have a new found respect for me for using words even they have not heard of.

4.00pm: Feeling hungry. Visit colleague in the next office, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, a sculpted and very healthy Indian man. He offers me a healthy turd-like snack which looks like fruit loop excrement and is probably home baked with seven different types of wheatgerm and alfafa sprouts. I curse at him in fluent Tamil and leave.

4.02pm: Still hungry. Go back to the Indian colleague, apologise in Punjabi and accept turd snack. Tastes strangely delicious.

4.15pm: Meeting with two aerobics instructors and have a surreal discussion on whether we should have more spinning or body combat classes in our clubs. I fly into a rage when I notice that their earrings are bigger than mine and have to calm down by eating delicious turd snack.

4.30pm: Discussion with suppliers on multi-million dollar contracts involving gym machinery known as treads, cross trainers, Kinesis, Vibrogym, Smith Machines, Jungle Gyms, Humansports, AMT, EFX, TBT. Get lost in all the mumbo jumbo and order all of the machinery.

5.00pm to 7.00pm: Return 17 telephone calls, participate in 23 teleconferences with colleagues in Thailand (with the usual sawardeekap, kap koon kap and talk in a singsong fashion), Taiwan (interspersed with my 'powderful' fierce sounding Mandarin which they claim they don't understand) and India (extremely long-winded teleconferences and their standard promise to complete anything is two minutes).

7.00pm to 8.30pm: More meetings with CEO and others to discuss business matters. Splitting headache again. Threaten to resign from this job which I spend more time on than as a litigation partner in a major law firm. Feeling groggy and hungry.

8.32pm: Eat that delicious turd snack again. Curse the Indian colleague and show him some Bhangra hand gestures for not stocking up on proper alpha male food.

8.45pm to 10.30pm: Review 23 new lease agreements, 156 operational contracts, read and answer 388 e-mails (including from this writer and cursing him for his unreasonable deadline). Compose e-mail to Board of Directors for the third time this week threatening to resign.

10.32pm: Withdraw resignation yet again. Eat more delicious turd snack. Say goodbye to colleagues and go home.

Rajan Chettiar
Rajan Chettiar & Co
E-mail: rajan@rajanchettiar.com