A day before the Transformation Conference 2009, some of us got a chance to hear from Datuk Edward Ong (who prefers to be called Edward) about his journey of faith and obedience that has transformed his marketplace. Edward is someone who has inspired many, included Pastor Melvyn Mak, to faith. He was thankful for the opportunity to share of God's goodness to a room full of people from different industries. Edward is a Singaporean who has been away for 16 years, called by God to go to East Malaysia. When God called him, he was actually ready for semi-retirement, but God had other plans. Not only was it a journey of faith, but it was a journey of brokenness, of humbling himself and believing God.
It started in 1993 when he went to Kota Kinabalu, thinking he was going to retire. But an opportunity arose for development on a piece of reclaimed land (384 acres, twice the size of KK town). The seafront was dirty, toxic and would stink at low tide. From an environment impact assessment done, it showed that the coral habitat was in poor condition. Yet Edward knew that God wanted him to do it and he received further confirmation when a rare Bird of Paradise flew into his Orchard Road penthouse. Through pictures taken of the development, Edward showed how the degraded coastline was reclaimed and transformed into a beautiful marina, golf and country club and two 5-star resort accommodations.
He speaks of the sense of awe every time he goes to Sutera Harbour Resort, saying: "It's God, it's not me." Clad in a plain blue cotton short-sleeved shirt, his simple testimony spoke volumes. God rewarded him in 2003 when he was offered management of Mount Kinabalu, a World Heritage Site. It was something that he had prayed about a year before that. One of his powerpoint slides said: "The way we live is a consequence of the size of God we believe". Edward's view of God was stretched during the Asian financial crisis in 1997 where in one day, he lost $400m. But God saw him through that and also other challenges such as Sept 11, Sars, avian flu and Bali bombing. Today he employs over 2,000 employees, second only to Sabah's civil service. Sutera Harbour also dedicates one floor of its building to church 24/7 and has paid intercessors praying full-time. How does he pray when he faces a problem? He does not pray that God removes the problem, instead he prays that God will be in the problem to manifest His glory and to have his faith level go up. This trust in the Lord has seen Edward through multiple political changes (8 chief ministers have come and gone, God Almighty stays the same).
Where God directs, He provides. This is seen in Edward's latest project in East Timor which will involve reforestation, community empowerment and the turning of ashes to beauty (one project site was where there was a massacre years ago). He has had a chance to meet with President Gusmao and the opposition side as well, receiving much favour from both. He said: "Faith is the power that God uses to create, while fear is what the devil uses to destroy." He encouraged us to see that there's tremendous opportunity in the current collapse of the Babylonian system that's based on deceit. Those who has been standing firm in the Lord have nothing to fear.He ended his talk with how God gave him a sign for his work in East Timor's Lake Tacitolu. His company there is called Pelican Paradise and in the many times he has gone to the lake, there has been no life there, but there was once he went and saw 33 pelicans there. Pelicans, due to their self-sacrificial nature for their young, is a symbol of Christ's love and the 33 birds there reminded him of Jeremiah 33:3 - call to Me and I will show you great and mighty things that you know not of.
During the Question+Answer time, he was asked whether he needed to work with people of the same faith. His answer: God will always provide qualified workers (His prayer "Lord change them or remove them" has always worked, they will resign on their own if incompetent). Where they are from a different faith, it's a chance to witness to them. One of his pre-believing staff has started saying back to him "God bless you too". He spoke more on faith, saying that it is the ability to see the invisible so that you can do the impossible. Time and again, God has opened doors for him to raise millions of dollars for the projects. He said "Your project should not be controlled by the budget but by the vision God has given you" and quoted Hebrews 11:1.When facing crisis, one can either harden the heart and backslide or take the path of brokenness and allow God to deal with you.There was a time when he wondered whether Sutera was an idol between him and God. He was ready to sell Sutera but when no buyers came through, he took that to mean that God didn't want him to sell. The exercise was useful for him to realise that he was not afraid of losing Sutera. When you're not afraid of losing things, there's great freedom.There have been people who try to intimidate him into selling Sutera, to them he says: "I'm only a steward, if you want it, talk to my God." His final encouragement: Don't give in to fear.
Reported By: Teh Jen Lee
