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Journeying through the jungle of steel and concrete
By Nehemiah Lee Chee Hai

Twelve years ago, I founded a construction company. The mission of the company was to earn a decent profit without succumbing to corrupt practices. At first, the mission seemed naïve and impossible to achieve since the construction industry is well known to be rife with corruption. You could say it is a jungle out there made of steel and concrete that is inhabited by unscrupulous players. The rule of the game is to do everything and anything possible in order to ‘survive’.

As a new start-up company with financing from mum and dad, our cashflow was extremely tight. All our suppliers wanted cash term while all our customers wanted credit terms. Banks would only lend to us when our cash position was more secure. One of the earliest challenges came from a quantity surveyor whose job was to certify our progress claims. He hinted that if we ‘greased’ his palm, our claims would be certified much quicker and without any hassle. In other words, we would get our money earlier thus enabling us to pay our suppliers and workers. He pointed out that this was what all the other sub-contractors were doing. We pretended not to understand. Sure enough, our claims remained uncertified. Whenever we called up, we were told there was something wrong with our claims. We had to re-submit over and over again. Given our tight cashflow situation, the pressure to give in was tremendous. I am glad to report we did not buckle under pressure. We got our claims certified eventually. Somehow, money came in from other sources to help ease our cashflow. We also had very understanding suppliers who were sympathetic and supportive of us.

Another incident demonstrated the challenge we faced as promoter of a new proprietary retaining wall system. We were bidding for a fairly big project. All technical submissions and clarification had been presented and accepted in principle. But we had not received the official letter of approval. We were told privately, “Why your company should be helped?”  It was understood that some form of inducement would resolve the problem. We politely declined to oblige although we needed the project badly. Our faith that God would intervene was severely tested. After some agonizing weeks of silent impasse, miraculously the official relented. The approval letter was released unconditionally.

However, it has not always ended well for us i.e. we have not always been able to collect all the money due to us and we have not always been able to get the projects we needed. For example, one time we were paid much less than what we billed because we refused to generate a fictitious invoice for a client so that he could evade tax and launder ‘black’ money. He was a Dato, by the way, and a very young one. In another instance, we lost the bid on a project because our competitor had bribed the project manager. We had to forgo many projects because we refused to pay the ‘commission’.

The question is how we survived despite our disadvantaged position due to our commitment to non-corrupt practice. In fact, we not only survived but we are doing fairly well by industry standards. I can think of many reasons why we are still around today. For one thing, we worked very hard. We also have many good, ‘clean’ and honourable friends at the right places who helped us without asking for favour in return. We were also at the right place at the right time. Somehow, the market turned in our favour. The list of reasons for our continued existence goes on. But to us, the bottom line is due to divine intervention. We received grace or undeserved favour from the Holy One above. Our faith and trust in the Almighty was vindicated. We were saved by grace through faith.

The next question is, “Does it get easier now compared with earlier days?”  The answer is, “Yes and no.” Yes, because we are more established now, we have stronger financial footing and we enjoy a certain amount of good reputation or brand name. No, because the corrupt practices is still rampant in the construction industry.

Today as in earlier days, our competitors would bribe if the situation demands it or if it gives them the competitive advantage. It appears that we are not on the same level playing field.  The pressure to conform to the norm is very strong and ever present. For example, a supervising engineer insisted on very ‘high standard’ for our product. Instead of the normal 24-hour requirement for curing our concrete panel, he insisted on 48 hours. What this means is that our productivity would be cut by half, our cost doubled and our work progress delayed. Furthermore, our product would be rejected for every little blemish. Of course, this unusually high standard can be lowered to comply with normal standards provided the appropriate amount of incentive is channelled to the ‘right pocket’. It made economic sense for us to do so rather than suffer loss. But we refused. The main contractor was upset with us as well for refusing to participate in the ‘incentive scheme’ arranged by the main contractor to line the pocket of the engineer.  

It is indeed tough to survive in this jungle of steel and concrete without being involved in corrupt practice. But by God’s grace and His faithfulness it is possible.

Nehemiah Lee is the Managing Director of Nehemiah Reinforced Soil Sdn Bhd
 and Moderator of Balai Baptis Damansara Utama.
He first joined SEA Park Baptist Church (now known as CBC) in 1975.
On returning from studies in the USA in 1979, he joined CBC’s daughter church, BBDU.

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