theceomagazine.com | 85“We have known Siow Chien Fu for many years, from his time as
a practising architect. Hence engaging with him is easy due to the
mutual understanding of our respective fields of work. This has enabled
his projects to run smoothly with minimal fuss.” – Lim Soon Keng,
Managing Director, Jurutera JRK Sdn BhdDEVELOPMENTS IN MALAYSIA
In May, Malaysia saw a general election that promised
to transform the South-East Asian nation. In a series
of firsts, the ruling party suffered its first defeat since
independence in 1957 and the new Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad became the oldest head of state
in the world. This new Malaysia, Chien Fu expects,
will likely bring a lot of changes, not least to the
property sector.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of foreign
investment in this country,” he says. “With that, we’ll
increase productivity and encourage people into office
jobs. That will be followed by the development of
residential policy, housing and so on, to help keep the
population growing. It will take a while for the new
government to get investors into the country.”
At the same time, opportunities may open up for
Malaysian companies to move beyond the country’sshores. While Capital City Property does have a
presence in countries such as Singapore, Indonesia
and Thailand, it has not yet pursued any development
opportunities elsewhere. When the company does
eventually pursue these options, Chien Fu says, it will
be helped along by commonalities between Malaysia
and its neighbours. For now, Capital City Property is
content to bide its time.
“We started in Johor, the second-largest city in
Malaysia,” Chien Fu says. “Before we do any regional
expansion, there are plenty of opportunities in
Malaysia, particularly in Kuala Lumpur. Also, I believe
that we have to have a firm footing in what we are
doing now, that is, property development, before we
expand to other areas.”
In the meantime, Chien Fu believes Capital City
Property is well-positioned to take advantage of the
coming boom – it’s capable of taking on hotel,
private housing, retail and industrial projects, giving it
serious adaptability. That said, Chien Fu doesn’t relate
success to his company’s abilities or resources. “I
define success in business like this,” says Chien Fu. “If
you can walk out of your office at the end of the day,
and feel you’ve done your part to contribute in a
professional manner, then that’s success. What you do
for society and what you do for your family, comes
together to make you successful.”“ YOU MUS T HAVE
PASSION. IF YOU
DON’T HAVE
PASSION, THEN
YOU WON’T BE
SUCCESSFUL.”