Chief Exec Officer of the No 1 Life Insurance Co in Malaysia -- Mr. Alex Foong;
The President of NAMLIFA, and respected GSM -- Mr. Kenny Chong;
Chairman of our special seminar today -- GSM Foo Hon Lin;
President of GELFAAM -- Mr. Steven Lau;
Our Past Presidents of the Association;
My fellow Council Members in the GSMs Association;
Fellow Group Sales Managers of the No 1 Agency Force in Malaysia;
All new member GSMs of our beloved Association;
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Before I proceed with my opening address at today's Seminar, I wish to first extend a
very special and warm welcome to our entire new member GSMs in the Association --
can I ask all new members to please stand up and be recognized?
Ladies and Gentlemen, please give an enthusiastic welcome to these persons who have
joined us this year to make our Association stronger, wiser and better!! Thank you.
My dear Fellow GSMs, Ladies and Gentlemen,
When I came into Office as President of our Association - just about a year ago -
there were several major issues affecting all of us in this industry. They were
disturbing issues for us:
the capping of commissions at 5,000 for ILP policies;
the unfair imposition of higher persistency requirements;
the impractical requirements for agency manpower;
the questionable and controversial Great Saver Rider (GSR);
the issues related to Replacement of Policies (ROP);
the matters related to perpetual over-riding and the transfer of demoted GSMs
to their mother-GSMs after the 5-year period.
When I reviewed with my Council members all of these challenges, it was obvious that all
of these matters could broadly be divided into TWO categories :
Company based problems, and industry based problems.
Which is why, today, we have with us the two people who can help to resolve these issues
for us - from the Company's side, our CEO Mr. Alex Foong; and from the industry side,
the President of NAMLIFA, Mr. Kenny Chong.
I really want to thank them both for their courtesies and considerations to us; and
for their valuable time to be with us for the whole of this morning. I sincerely
wish that today will be a day for mature and responsible discussion on both sides;
and I will be truly pleased to record some meaningful decisions by the end of the session.
It is important for us to recognize up front that Mr. Alex Foong - as the CEO of the
Company over the past nine years - has actually taken many fair and considerate
decisions in flavor of our Agency Force. We acknowledge your valuable contribution,
Mr. Foong - and we really thank you for that.
But one area we cannot understand is why our Company - even though we are the undisputed
leader in the industry - has to take a stand on several industry-based issues as if
our hands are tied by the others, and as if there is nothing Great Eastern could do
about them.
Can I hear all of your support for me on this??
The other hero with us today is none other than our respected President of NAMLIFA,
Mr. Kenny Chong!
But unlike Mr Foong whom we are asking to support us.., to this President we must give
our total support! And I promise the support of the Association to Kenny today..,
from this platform. We know that NAMLIFA's effectiveness depends largely upon the
support you get from us. And for being our spokesman and representative in the industry,
we thank you, and extend our solidarity with NAMLIFA.., and all other In-house
Associations, toward the achievement of our professional goals and dreams.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in the final analysis, we are the real heroes at ground level.
We are the real engineers of Great Eastern Life - the soldier ants and the worker bees!!
Without us there is no Council, no Association, and no Company even.
But we cannot therefore take ourselves for granted. We need to be ever guarded because
there are people out there who are envious and jealous of us, our positions, our income,
our wealth, and our potential!! Unfortunately these people also have some powers with
them… unfortunate, but true. So we have to be careful how we show ourselves to them;
how we handle ourselves with them; and how we handle the problems which they dish out
to us!!
The economic mantra in today's globalizing world is: TO ACHIEVE MORE WITH LESS!!
Unless we keep renewing ourselves.., and our business.., and our efforts..,
unless we keep improving ourselves in our production and delivery.., and unless we
keep ourselves sharp.., and keep ourselves in good shape.., we will not survive
in this jungle of the fittest.
In this regard, it is a matter of pride for me, my fellow Council Members, and for
the Association itself, that we are officially launching our website later on this
morning.
Having expressed these views to all of you, let us now get on to the business of this
morning… our Seminar. Throughout the proceedings, let us all be warm… and friendly.
Let us all be open… and willing. Let the feelings be sincere… and committed.
Let the questions be frank… and fair. And let the answers be honest and promising.
All in all, Ladies and Gentlemen, let this forum be a renewed launch into another era
of mutual support whereby we can all prepare ourselves for a wonderful and grand 100th
Anniversary Celebration within the next 2 years.
Thank you.
A. M. NAIDU
President (2005 - 2007)
Great Eastern Life Group Sales Managers Association, Malaysia
