FOCUS
THE
Reluctant
King
It was a responsibility
he didn’t want, a title he
would rather not have.
But, the circumstances
of his life dictated
otherwise. Meet the
accidental leader who
dragged a dying business
back up to its feet.
Words Farhan Shah
Photos Glenn Lim
In 1992, a misty-eyed Wee Keng looked
at his frail father lying on the hospital
bed. Once, he was a strong, proud man
with an indomitable personality and an
iron will, helming a business dealing in
baby products. Two packets of cancercausing cigarettes a day though
wrought havoc on his insides and soon,
Wee Keng noticed a marked difference
in his father’s physical faculties. The
TollyJoy founder’s hands would shiver
uncontrollably. This happened in
1987, just before Wee Keng entered
the army
for his
mandatory
national service. “I asked him to get
it check out, so he did,” shares Wee
Keng. He pauses and I start to regret
prodding him for details about his
father’s passing. Wee Keng takes
a swig of water, composes himself,
and continues: “They found a tumour
the size of a tennis ball in his brain.
His left lung too was completely
blackened.”
It was a trying time for the family,
rocked by the news that the rock of
the family and the company could
potentially pass away. The situation
was so grave that Wee Keng’s father
turned to Wee Keng and pleaded for
him to take over the reins of TollyJoy
in the future. “My brothers never
had any interest in taking over the
business. Even though they were
working in TollyJoy at that moment,
one of them wanted to quit while
the other was seriously considering
the option. We discussed it among
ourselves and decided that it was best
if I came in. I guess, in a way, since I
was the youngest in the family, I was
taken advantage of,” Wee Keng says
with a wry smile. “I could have turned
down my father but can you really say
no to a terminally-ill person?”
LOSING YOUR BEARINGS
Fortunately, the doctors successfully
removed the tumour, a dangerous
undertaking that required two
10
Family & Life • Christmas 2014
operations, and Wee Keng’s
father went through an aggressive
chemotherapy cycle that kicked the
cancer to the remission curb. Five
years later, he suffered a relapse.
The suicidal cells had returned with
a vengeance, attacking his lymph
nodes. This time, there would be no
miraculous Hollywood comeback.
That was the situation Wee Keng
found himself in at the beginning of
this story, sitting by the bedside and
watching his father slowly fade away
into the pages of history. “It felt like
we had lost our compass. My brothers,
the employees and I were looking at
my mother for direction and guidance.
She was a strong woman and even
though I believe that my father’s
death had affected her badly, she
always kept her composure and never
cried openly when she was at work,”
says Wee Keng. For the second-year
university student, it also marked the
time for him to relinquish his own
dreams of venturing into the scientific
field and instead, pick up the mantle
of continuing his father’s legacy.
Wee Keng bravely admits that in the
beginning, he detested the position
that he had been forcefully placed in.
Years and years of studying had all
come to nought due to the overarching
influence of a dead man. But, in a
culture that valued quiet obedience
and filial piety over bold proclamations
and brash individualism, Wee Keng
knew he had to keep his head down
and accede to his late father’s wishes.