Preamble | Raja Tan Sri Muhammad Alias was born in Negeri Sembilan in 1932. From a very young age, Raja Alias was drilled in the values he espouses religiously until today, that is: “Work hard, lead an honest life, care for people, assist them when they need your help and never betray their trust.” A graduate of University of Malaya, Singapore, he joined the government service in 1958 before being seconded to the Federal Land Development Authority or FELDA in 1966. He attended the Harvard Busines School Advanced Management Program (AMP) in 1975. Raja Alias was with FELDA for 35 years from 1966 as Deputy Chairman until his retirement from the post of Group Chairman in June 2001. He remains active in plantation development through various public listed companies, notably as the Chairman of Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd.
On Harvard Business School We went to the program in Boston earlier. We were very impressed with the program. There was so much to learn. The place was a repository of knowledge. The men and women you met there were high-level people in various industries. The contacts with those people were very useful. It was an eyeopener to us. When I came back, I told the government to send a lot of people from the government service to this program. Unfortunately, they sent people who were about to retire. Our concept was to send the younger people between the ages of 45 and 50 who would serve the government for at least another 10 years. But gradually a lot of local companies also started sending people. That was useful. On HBSACM programs It was not easy to bring the program over here. Harvard was not prepared to operate in other countries but Malaysia was one of the countries it was willing to work with. The demand from here to go to Boston was quite big but the cost was very high. So it was better to bring the lecturers to Malaysia and have more people benefit from the program. We got more middle-level people to participate in this program. I think that was a very good move. We managed to bring Harvard here. It was well recognised and well supported. Some 2,700 people have gone through the program. They have contributed to the development of the country. We like to continue the program so that more people will be trained. Strategy is an important area. In my days, we never talk of a strategy officer or director. There was none. I see the standard of (corporate) management in the country has improved. We have made progress but it has taken us more than 60 years. We need a Club like this to support this program to build up more people. “I do not regret going there” The exposure to the program was very useful. When I was there I used to sleep after 2am because there were so many things to read. I was very young then. And I thought, if I could go there, there was no reason why others should not go, too. I do not regret going there. I learnt a lot and I was very grateful to Felda for sending me to that program. When I was in a position to recommend others to do the same program, I did it willingly and happily. And that was how Felda was built. They are the pillars of Felda which we built.
