Theodore Roosevelt once said that nothing worth having comes easy. This is exactly the case for Chong Phit Lian, ex-CEO of Jetstar and current CEO of Singbridge Corporate. In fact, it was this same resolve that saw her through troubled times since she was a young village girl.
Her childhood
Born into a family with seven siblings, Chong spent most of her youth in a small village in Kulai, Johor. During the wee hours of the morning, a young Chong would accompany her father to work in a rubber plantation, where she would keep an eye on the rubber tappers under the blazing sun and fend off pests with a machete. Unfortunately, Chong’s father, the sole breadwinner of the family, passed away shortly before her O-level examinations. This did not dampen her resolve to succeed in life.
Her education
Undaunted, she decided to make her way across the border to further her studies in a polytechnic. Determined to complete her studies, Chong had, besides relying on grants and giving tuition, also resorted to borrowing money from her relatives.
Despite being accepted to an engineering course at a university in Birmingham, Chong’s fight for a better life continued. Throughout her tertiary education, she had to juggle various part-time jobs to see her through graduation.
Tragedy in the family
She also had to endure the loss of two of her siblings to tragic accidents.
She recalls during an interview by Peak Magazine in 2015: “It was terrible for my mum. I told myself, ‘Now I have even more to make up and I need to do my very best’.
It doesn’t matter what you’ve gone through. Even if you fail in one aspect, it doesn’t mean you will fail in another. Every adversity can be an opportunity.”
Her career
Back in Singapore, she took several jobs in the engineering and business sector. Her hard work and determination eventually saw her become chief executive of Singapore Precision Industries and the Singapore Mint for 16 years. She eventually entered the airline industry after being appointed as CEO of Jetstar Asia Airways in 2006. The airline was then in dire financial straits.
It was a risky venture for Chong, to be taking up a heavy responsibility especially without any experience in the sector. Her “never say die” attitude, however, proved instrumental in turning the business away from the red zone. Under her leadership, Jetstar Asia made S$6 million in revenue in 2010, bringing them back into profitable territory.
“You have to know your shortcomings. By so doing, you know what you need to do, keeping in mind your surroundings, your team’s strengths and weaknesses, and your objectives.”
She eventually left her post in 2012, and joined Singbridge Corporate, a Temasek Holdings subsidiary. Her significant projects include extensive urban development and management in China. Her accomplishments include a joint venture management company in the Sino-Singapore Jilin Food Zone, and strengthened ties between Singapore and Guangdong in property rights protection and R&D.
Life Lessons
To Chong, her road to success taught her that failure should never spell the end of progression. Instead, she deems failures as opportunities for an individual to pick themselves up and try again.
“I was never very smart, and had to repeat my O levels after I failed my Bahasa Malaysia. I’m not very tall, smart or good-looking. But I just had to overcome all these imperfections.”
There are times when we can see ourselves in Chong’s experiences; times when burdens seem impossible to bear and failures overwhelm us. At these darkest moments, we’d say to take a leaf from her book, and keep pushing on. As long as you keep trying, you can always hope for the day when things turn for the better.
Do you know of any other inspiring stories from Singaporeans? We would love to hear from you!
(Header image by The Peak Magazine, words by editor)
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