Visionary (Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew)

Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew was born in Hui of China. At 12 age, he immigrated with his family to Penang for a satisfied income. Tan Sri just could only speak Hokkien and no formal education, so he worked as a car mechanic upon his arrival. When he was 18 years old, he was interested in starting his own business and trying to make changes. He purchased 11 buses using his $2,000 in savings. He reconditioned the buses and sold them for $12,000. Unfortunately, his business suffocated by invading of Japanese Army during World War II. After WW II, he started to expand his business to used car, transport and buses.     

            In 1958, he traveled to Japan and he saw a motorcycle with a Honda brand that he had never seen in Malaysia. After he found out the manufacturer of the Honda motorcycle, he decided to order 12 units of the motorcycle. He believed that the low-cost but high-quality transport will be the choice of public although most of the people prefer England brand on that time. Boon Siew arranged to meet with Mr. Soichiro Honda, the Honda Super Cub's creator, and quickly convinced him to set up a Honda subsidiary in Malaysia.

            From then on, Boon Siew Honda would grow and develop into becoming one of the leading companies in Malaysia where it was once a market leader in the automotive industry of Malaysia. Today, his story has become one of the most significant stories for Malaysians around the country.

            As a conclusion, although Tan Sri Dato Loh Boon Siew do not have a formal education but he knew the direction to go in the future so he chose to be a car mechanism while he was young. Otherwise, he has a powerful plan for future that’s why he set up a Honda subsidiary on Malaysia. His foresight brought him to approach Honda Japan to look into setting up a subsidiary in Malaysia and the first Honda showroom was set up in Penang. Boon Siew was then appointed as the sole distributor for Malaysia and a factory would follow and from there the Boon Siew Honda Company was born.