Malaysia's Rich and The Giving Pledge

The Giving Pledge was initiated and made public in 2010 by two of the wealthiest men in the United States, billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

It is a campaign to encourage the wealthiest people in the United States to commit to giving the majority of their wealth for philanthropic causes. The campaign specifically targets billionaires and as of December 2010, 57 billionaires in the US have joined this campaign and pledged to give 50% or more of their wealth to charity.

A minimum total of at least $125 billion has been promised from the first 40 donors based on their aggregate wealth as of August 2010.


Go to the Giving Pledge website to see those who have given their pledge.

I made a count on the site today and the pledgers has increased to 59 and the latest person in the list is Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

So how about having a Giving Pledge the Malaysian chapter?

A writer from My Sinchew has related this noble cause by a local businessman's effort to initiate a similar philanthropic mission. The plan is to get at least 100 wealthy men in the country to fork out a million ringgit towards a RM100 million medical assistance fund to provide medical assistance to the underprivileged in the society.

If the plan materializes, the businessman said, yearly interests would sum up to around five or six million, and this interest revenue alone could help foot the medical bills of some 500 to 1,000 impoverished patients in the country.

Now, that really sounds like a noble idea.

The only problem, the writer suspects, is how to persuade these filthy rich people to take out RM1 million each? Everyone will come when we talk about making money, but not about digging into our own pockets, he wrote.

Read the whole translated article: Giving Pledge

Actually, this rightly reflects the way Malaysia's rich and famous think of their wealth, the writer sums up.

Well, not entirely so!

Tan at the launch of Berjaya Founder's Day, 26 Feb 2011

In February this year, one of the country's rich and famous, Tan Sri Vincent Tan, the Berjaya Corporation Bhd founder, announced his decision to join “The Giving Pledge” that was initiated by Bill Gates, his wife Melinda and Warren Buffett.

To kick-start his plans, Tan will donate RM20mil this year to various charities that will be announced soon.

Eventually, Tan said, he would like to give away half of his wealth and hopes that it will inspire more wealthy Malaysians to donate money for charity. This pledge was made during an impromptu speech at the launch of the Berjaya Founder’s Day event,

According to a Bernama report, Tan's assets is worth RM2.43bil. He is ranked the 9th richest person in Malaysia and 828th on the Forbes 2011 world billionaire list with a net worth of US$1.25bil (RM3.66bil).

To all the doubting Thomases out there who think his pledge to donate half his fortune is just a publicity stunt, read about why Tan made the pledge: A pledge from the heart

Now, what about the country's other wealthy people? Have they made any announcement to make the pledge?

Below is a list of the nation’s 15 richest personalities and their worth:

Do you think by donating RM1million for a good cause would make them any less poor?

Rank                                                          Net worth (USD Million)

1	Robert Kuok                           (12,500)
2	Ananda Krishnan                  (9,500)
3	Lee Kim Hua                           (6.600)
4	Lee Shin Cheng                       (5,000)
5	Quek Leng Chan                     (4,800)
6	Teh Hong Piow                        (4,700)
7	Yeoh Tiong Lay                        (2,700)
8	Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary     (2,500)
9	Vincent Tan                             (1,250)	1,250	58
10	Tiong Hiew King                     (1,200)
11	Lee Oi Hian/Lee Hau Hian     (900)
12	Azman Hashim                         (785)
13	Lim Kok Thay                           (665)
14	A.K. Nathan                             (600)
15	Mokhzani Mahathir                (560)