A Conversation with Tan Sri Leo Moggie: Perdana Leadership Foundation Oral History Series

By Perdana Leadership Foundation

Tan Sri Datuk Amar Leo Moggie anak Irok was Malaysia's Minister of Energy, Communications and Multimedia, and Minister of Welfare Services in the Sarawak State Government in the eras of Tun Abdul Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, and Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. He had an illustrious career as a politician in Sarawak, first as a member of the Opposition, then as part of the National Front. Tan Sri is the longest -serving Chairman of TNB, Malaysia's largest electricity utility company, having helmed the company since 2004. 

Perdana Leadership Foundation interviewed Tan Sri Leo Moggie as part of its Oral History Series. A proud Dayak, Tan Sri shares much of what life was like in East Malaysia before Sarawak's Independence, and the complications that arose once it became part of Malaysia. He shares also many entertaining anecdotes of life as a politician in Sarawak.

This book shines a spotlight on one of Malaysia's longest-serving members of Cabinet, and an icon of Sarawak politics, Tan Sri Leo Moggie anak Irok.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Perdana Leadership Foundation
• Release date: Mar 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386292883

Perdana Leadership Foundation

Perdana Leadership Foundation was chartered in January 2003 as a non-profit organisation, founded with gifts from people who supported the vision of a thriving research and learning institution dedicated to the study of Malaysian leadership and nation-building. It is unique in the sense that it began as an entirely private sector initiative, seed-funded and organised by private sector individuals and corporations. Most of the Foundation’s present trustees were the early benefactors of this Foundation. The Foundation’s physical home in Precinct 8, Putrajaya, was completed in October 2003. The stately building now houses the Perdana Library, an auditorium as well as a multi-purpose hall in addition to the offices of the Foundation’s Honorary President and Malaysia's fourth Prime Minister, YABhg Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. A tax-exempt, non-profit organisation, the Foundation intends to become the premier institution for the study of Malaysia’s Prime Ministers and the central resource centre for research into national stewardship as well as a platform for reflection, debate, and discussion with distinguished figures in Malaysian leadership. On May 10, 2005, the Foundation was officially launched by the fifth Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. who expressed the government's full support for the Foundation's objectives and programmes Perdana Leadership Foundation aims to: Highlight the contribution of Malaysia's past Prime Ministers in the social, economic and political development of the nation Create awareness of the development process of the nation and draw lessons from the nation's history to enhance future development Become the premier resource centre for the policies, strategies and initiatives adopted under Malaysia's various Prime Ministers which may be used and adapted by other developing nations The Foundation also has a broader objective i.e. to promote global understanding by providing a channel for scholars and thinkers to undertake research and idea-sharing for lasting, peaceful resolutions

Book preview

1

Background

DR. MOHD SHAHWAHID (DMS) | Good morning Tan Sri, Perdana Leadership Foundation is very fortunate to be able to interview you today for this series of leadership interviews. For a start, Tan Sri, could you tell us about your family background and your childhood? What was it like growing up in Kanowit?

TAN SRI LEO MOGGIE (TSLM) | I came from a very average rural subsistence farming family. We lived in a long house which at that time was still in a remote part of the Kanowit District.

DMS |Was your family planting paddy?

TSLM |It was mainly hill paddy via shifting cultivation to begin with. Subsequently, we cultivated wet paddy then rubber. It was typical of longhouse subsistence farming families at that time, nothing exceptional. That was my childhood in the early 1940s.

My parents were sufficiently open-minded to send us to school. Schooling was available only at Christian (Catholic) mission schools at that time as Kanowit District was one of the early mission areas assigned to the Catholic Church. I went to a mission school which was quite a distance (from home).

We had to board at the school which really meant the school provided a space where you could roll and unroll your sleeping mat. You had to attend classes, and your parents had to provide food. It was the same for every kid.

DMS |What would a typical household size be?

TSLM |Well, ours was considered a smallish household. There were my parents, my older brother, my older sister, and me. Some families had five or six children but most were not too big in size. The average was probably ten people per household. I believe the longhouse where I lived had about 18 to 20 households.

People who live in the same longhouse tend to be related to each other. You had your close cousins, your third cousins, and so on. Generally, kids played among themselves so it was quite a good atmosphere with a lot of interaction among children our own age.

But, of course, life was not that simple because we needed to help our families in whatever they were doing at that time. Again, that would be typical of any other family.

DMS | As a child, what was your ambition in life?

TSLM |I don’t think I was conscious about what I wanted to do in life at that particular age. Given my background, I knew that I did not want to rubber-tap for a living. Planting paddy isn’t the sort of thing that you would want to do unless you have no choice. I guess there was a push factor there but I doubt if it was conscious. It just happened and my parents had the foresight to see that education was important. My father, in particular, was very keen on education. He was the one who insisted I go to