THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

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the AIA. One joked, “Did you come by bus? Do you know how much
you have already lost?” I thought the joke was in bad taste. Among the
hundreds of conventioneers were two Americans, two Indians, a sea of
Chinese, and myself. When it dawned on them that I was the only Malay,
the American AIA manager said, “Since Enchik Mustapha is the only
Malay present today, Enchik Mustapha is the best Malay in Malaya.” The
conventioneers applauded.
A successful Chinese agent, who had sold policies worth millions to
tycoons, spoke. He had also been the Million Dollar Club president for
several years, having made the highest annual sales. I told myself, “This
is not surprising; the Chinese are the wealthy ones in this country. It is
easy for any of these tycoons to buy a $100,000 policy. If I were to claim
there is no Malay rich enough to buy that big a policy, the company
manager would probably say, ‘Get Chinese clients to buy from you.’”
No Malay then could buy a $100,000 policy. To gain that, I would
have to convince thirty Malays to each buy between $3,000 and $5,000.
Just imagine, just looking for these thirty clients, a Malay agent would
have to talk to at least a hundred people. Since Malays lived in rural areas,
just imagine how far a Malay agent would have to travel in a car and on
foot to meet the hundred people. Would you believe that between 1953
and 1973 I had travelled almost as far as an astronaut – to the moon and
back. I had covered an unbelievable 480,000 miles in eight cars. That
was my sacrifice as a father, to raise and educate my nine children.
The biggest problem for a Malay agent is to get the first premium.
As Malays were mostly employees, they had no money lying around the
house. This meant having to call on them again at the end of the month,
which in turn called for additional travel, petrol, food, drinks, cigarettes,
treating, and sometimes an overnight stay at a hotel. After studying the
Malay community and their lifestyle, I decided to introduce AIA’s Salary
Savings Plan, a scheme to encourage employees to save through insurance.
I felt that this plan was well tailored for Malays who earned small but
regular incomes. After much lobbying, the secretary of the Malay Teachers
Loan and Savings Co-operative Society in Taiping agreed that members
could pay their insurance premium through the society, provided the
society got two per cent of the commission.
So started my Salary Savings Plan insurance scheme, consisting of
just ten people. The number of insurers and the number of societies grew
steadily. As they were group projects, I had to facilitate all accident,
medical and death claims as speedily as possible to avoid any rumblings
of dissatisfaction. I established schemes in Kuala Kangsar, Teluk Intan,
Taiping and Ipoh in Perak before moving to Kuala Lipis in Pahang, to