The Story of Ah Kau

The story of Ah Kau has made a significant impact on me..

Don't know whether it will on you?

I received this email about half a year back yet the story stays in my mind for a very very long time... It's just darn true.

The Story of Ah Kau

Ah Kau is a guy who sells newspaper every morningnext to your apartment, and you are one of his dailyregular customers. Before dashing off to your officeevery day, you will go to his small stall and buy TheStar newspaper. Wearing a newly pressed shirt, atie, and a pair of Clarks shoes, you grab a copy ofThe Star, pay RM1.20 and exchange smiles with AhKau and greet him.

"Apa macam Ah Kau ini hari? Bisnes ada baik?"

The normal greeting like you do every day. Yes, AhKau doesn't speak English. He speaks Chinese andknows a little bit of Malay. He speaks a littlebit of Malay but with a very thick Chinese accent.

"Biasa saja! ini bisnes aa, kadang kadang baik,kadang kadang tada untung."

"Biasalah hidup. Kadang kadang ok, kadang kadangtak ok." You give Ah Kau a pat on the back. Yousmile and walk away and get into your car. You startthe engine and start driving to your office, amultinational semiconductor company located in apremier industrial area. You are a young andpromising finance executive and the future looksbright for you.

A year goes by and things look pretty good on thetrack. You decide to marry your fiance and haveyour new wife moves in to your place. Both of youfeel happy because you can save more money as the twoof you will be sharing one apartment and can live asone.

Ah Kau is still selling the newspaper as usual.Sometimes in the morning your wife gets thenewspaper from Ah Kau instead of you.

A year later a child comes along, and you decide tobuy and move into a newly developed condominiumjust across the street. This place is bigger so itwill be perfectly fit for the 3 of you. But since bothof you are working, you decide to get a maid totake of the household and your kid.

By this time you're offered a managerial job fromanother multinational; the remuneration packageoffered is much better in terms of the pay,contractual bonus, medical benefits, ESOS scheme anda few others which make it impossible for you todecline. So you join this company happily.

You get busier. You realize that you spend less andless time with your family. When your departmentis busy preparing for the next audit, your workinghours become more and more ridiculous. Any internalissues arising in the office means you'll be stuckin the office until 8 or 9 pm. Sometimes, during theweekend, you'll spend your time in your office,buried under paper works and documentations, insteadof taking your family for a walk in the park.

One morning, on your way to get your copy of TheStar, you realized that Ah Kau is no longer in hisstall. So is his rundown motorbike. Instead, there'sanother young Chinese guy at the stall.

"What happen to Ah Kau?" You ask out of curiosity.

"Oh, he is still around, but he is no longer takingcare of this stall as he has opened up a new groceryshop down town. I am running this newspaper stall for him."

"Ok." you smile. You feel happy for Ah Kau. At lasthe manages to improve his life.

Your normal life continues. A year passes by and atthe end of your company's fiscal year, you'rerewarded for your effort with a 5 months bonuspay-out by your employer. Wow. Now that is a veryhandsome reward. You feel your effort has beenequally compensated. To celebrate, you decide thatit's time to trade your 5-year old Proton Wira tothe latest Honda Civic model. It won't be much aproblem to you to get a loan scheme from the bank asyour pay slip will provide you an easy gateway toaccess financial help from any bank.

One day, the hardest reality of life hits you righton the face. The company that you've been workingfor years announces that they're moving theirbusiness to China for cost and competitive reasonand has asked you to find a job somewhere else."What?"You scream out cold. "I got a lot of liabilities onthe card! Who's gonna pay for my mortgage? My car?My credit card? My gym fees? My bills?" You yelllike there's no way out.

This is the first time you feel let down by yourown employer. All your hard work seem to go up onthe smoke. You feel sick. You now hate your company.

On the way home, you stopped by at a mamakrestaurant for a cup of teh tarik while pondering about your future. Alone.

Suddenly you saw this new, shiny BMW 3 series beingparked nearby. And to your surprise, it was AhKau. Yes, Ah Kau who used to sell newspapers nearbyyour old apartment. "What happened to old Ah Kau?" You whisper to your self.

Ah Kau still recognizes you, and sit next to you,and shared his story.

To make it short, Ah Kau had accumulated his moneyfrom selling newspapers to open more stalls, oneafter another. Every new stall is run by his workersso that he focused on opening more and more stalls,which in turn give him more and more money.Over the years, he had accumulated enough cash toopen up new grocery store while at the same timebuying more assets to grow his wealth. And hiscurrent wealth and success is achieved without anyloan or financial help from banks and otherfinancial institutions.

There you go. That's the story. While Ah Kau is setto become financially free, you're back to whereyou're started before. Ground zero .

Before leaving, Ah Kau gives you a familiar quote," Biasalah hidup. Kadang kadang ok, kadang kadang tak ok."

He gives you a pat on the back and walks away.

In reality, if you're observant enough, there are alot of Ah Kaus out there, that you will see everyday and every where you go. The names are different,but inside them is every character of Ah Kau. Theymight be Uncle Dorai, Ah Chong, Pak Abu, MakcikGemuk, Pak Man nasi lemak or others.

They look to be struggling on the surface, but ifyou look carefully and compare with you life, manyof them are living with little or no liabilities.They ride an old kapcai bike.They live in an old rundown house. They don'thave credit card to swipe. They wear a 10-year oldshirt and short. No new, shiny Toyota Harrier.In short, their living means are far below than yours.But what you don't realize is that many of themcan save more money than yours, and over the yearsgenerate enough money to expand their business, orinvest in properties. Their asset columns aremuch thicker than that of yours.

So the next time you see Ah Kaus, never look downon them, and never under estimate them. Or elseyou're up for a harsh reality lesson.