/// Exclusive Interview
/// EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Dato’ Jimmy Pang
- Building for The Future
I
n the late 1970s, Dato’ Jimmy Pang
left his hometown to embark on
new adventures to fulfill his dreams.
He believes it was God that brought
him to a small town in the east coast
of Sabah called Tawau where he
worked in a property development
company before venturing out on his
own.
His group of companies have been
involved in developing the town
into what it is today. Tawau has
changed dramatically since Pang
started developing properties there
approximately 40 years ago. This is
partially thanks to Pang who is the
pioneer of many developments there.
He was the first developer in Tawau
to build strata title offices, low cost
housing, budget hotels and gated
residential homes.
16 years ago, Pang saw the
tourism potential of Semporna and
ventured there to build commercial
shophouses in this small seaside
town. Since then, he has built more
than half of the shophouses in
Semporna.
Dare to be Different
Pang said, “Innovation invites
opposition. There’s always a risk when
you introduce something new as you
would definitely encounter resistance
from the market’. However, history
has proven that his new ideas have
become trendsetters in Tawau.
He adds: “When a person buys a
property especially a house, most
of the time they use their lifelong
savings and sometimes they only buy
one house throughout their entire
life. It’s a big responsibility we are
given as developers and that is why
it is so important to make sure we
have high quality products”. “People
want good quality products and it
is our duty and responsibility as the
developer to deliver what is expected
of us”.
Pang is a man of quality instead of
quantity and he prefers focusing
on smaller niche projects. He was
the brains behind the extension of
the Tawau Township 2 in Bandaran
Baru and other projects like Perdana
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www.PropertyHunter.com.my
Square, Perdanajaya and Corinthian
Garden. There’s always a sense of
pleasure and pride when Pang sees
what was an empty land turned into a
successful development aesthetically
pleasing and functional to the local
community.
He explains, “Property development
is not only my business, it’s my
passion, and I feel great satisfaction
irrespective of the size of the project
or the profit margin that is made.
It is important to be visionary and I
believe that we should all strive to
be different and forward looking.
That’s how we will make this a better
place for our future generation. As
developers, we need to stay relevant
to the needs of our buyers and this is
why in our business policy, we review
our strategy every five years.”
The Economic Crisis
Although Pang is currently at the top
of his game, things haven’t always
been easy. He has overcome three
economic crisis and admits that
the financial collapse in the 1980s
nearly wipe out his company. At that
time, more than three quarters of
the developers were forced to stop
their projects and the thing that kept
Pang’s company alive was due to the
grace of God and his ability to adapt
and change.
He recalls: “Back in the 1980s,
our country’s main income was
dependent on the agriculture sector
and Tawau produced 80% of cocoa
in Malaysia. When the economic
crisis happened, the whole market
collapsed and cocoa was selling
below production cost. Very few
people were buying properties
and many were foreclosed by the
banks. Some were even giving away
properties as they couldn’t continue
with the loans.”
“Cocoa prices were suppressed for
about 10 to 15 years and during this
period, there were a lot of forced
sale properties selling at 30% below
the market price. When an auction
is not successful, the prices went
down another 10%, and it kept going
further below market prices. Lands
were also selling a prices 10 times
below what is being sold today,” Pang
said.
as we are so diverse in terms of
needs and incomes.
Because there were so many second
hand properties on the market that
were selling at such cheap prices,
developers couldn’t sell or build
newer properties. This created a
vacuum where no new properties
were being built. When the economy
recovered in the 1990s due to the
stock market boom, demands for
properties improved and the prices
of properties immediately shot up.
Another area of his concern is that
due to the cooling measures, there
will be a slowdown in property
launches as developers will be more
careful and adopt a wait and see
attitude. The problem when this
happens is that properties availabl