America has Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to champion giving — and Asia has Mr Li Ka-shing. The Hongkong tycoon, Asia's richest man, made his call to Asians to adopt a culture of philanthropy, saying charity is a way of investing for the future.
Speaking after receiving a lifetime award in recognition of his entrepreneurial achievements at the 6th Forbes Global CEO Conference at Shangri-La Hotel last month, Mr Li said: "In Asia, our traditional values encourage and even demand that wealth and means pass through lineage as an imperative duty. I urge and hope to persuade you, especially all of us in Asia, that if we are in a position to do so, that we transcend this traditional belief."
Even if our government structure is not yet geared towards supporting a culture of giving, we must in our hearts see building society as a duty in line with supporting our children."
Mr Li's company announced that he had given personal holdings in a healthcare company worth more than US$300 million ($470 million) to his charitable organisation — the Li Ka-shing Foundation. He had also said previously that he intended to give away a third of his estimated US$12.4 billion fortune to charity.
Chairman of Hong Kong's Hang Lung Properties Ronnie Chan said that Asia needs more role models like Mr Li to spur philanthropic giving. Mr Chan was one of four prominent philanthropists speaking at the Give As Good As You Get: Asian Philanthropy session.
The other three were Mr Sukanto Tanoto, Indonesia's richest man and, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of RGM International; Mr Douglas Hsu, chairman and CEO of Far Eastern Group in Taiwan and Ms Yang Lan, chairperson of China's Sun Culture Foundation.
[Excerpt of an article by Jasmine Yin, MediaCorp Press]
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