Datuk Ruben Emir Gnanalingam
bin Abdullah
Extracts of an interview with
Datuk Ruben Gnanalingam
Executive Chairman of Westports
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From The Victorian, 2025
We'll start with your introduction. Would you mind introducing yourself and sharing a brief journey of your professional career? My name is Ruben Gnanalingam. I was in the VI from 1989 to 1993. After I left school, I went to do my A-levels at Eton College in the UK from 1994 until 1995. From there, I went to the London School of Economics (LSE) to do a Bachelor of Science (Honours) Degree in Economics. After graduating, I joined Westports as a trainee for the first time in 1999. My role was to do every job, so my dad put me through all kinds of different roles, from storage clerk to manning the gate. I couldn't drive the trucks because I didn't have a license; in those days, you required an official license to drive a truck but I didn't have one. My boss was very strict at the time, so he didn't allow me to drive one. I still haven't driven a truck until today, and now they're going to be automated soon. I stayed in Westports for about a year, after which my family set up an incubator fund, called Makmal Jaya, which I ran with five other VI Old Boys for about four years. In 2004, I came back to Westports as a director to join my dad. I sold off Makmal Jaya to my partners, the other VI Old Boys. I was later appointed as CEO in 2009, a position I held until 31 December 2017 before being appointed as the Group Managing Director for Westports Holdings Berhad on 1 January 2018. I was appointed as Executive Chairman and Group Managing Director on 20 July 2023. I've been in Westports since 2004. Since I rejoined, it's been 20 years, but I was here for a year before I rejoined, which makes it a total of 21 years in Westports. I am the owner and vice-chairman of Queens Park Rangers Football Club, which participates in the English Football League. From a charitable perspective, I also serve as the chairman of the QPR Community Trust. I am also a founder and board member of the Los Angeles Football Club and serve as an executive council member of the Football Association of Selangor. I am the President of Kuala Lumpur Business Club, and a member of the APEC Business Advisory Council for Malaysia. I am on the steering committee for the CEO Action Network and currently sit on the boards of the Malaysian Productivity Corporation and the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation. You were, of course, a student at the Victoria Institution. How did your time in VI shape or influence your leadership style? I don't think it's just the time. I think it's those moments which you can learn from that actually shape your leadership style. I think what the VI gives you is a lot of such moments to allow you to experiment on whatever your leadership style is. When you're in Form 1, there's no leadership style because you're basically just trying to avoid Prefects and run away as far as you can, right? And then as you get older, you would, of course, be entrusted to more leadership positions. I think, for me, the leadership opportunities came about mostly as a Prefect and, of course, as Shaw House Captain. These were the two areas where I got to experiment with leadership. I wouldn't say I excelled at it, but I definitely experimented with it. In those days, it was not easy. Just imagine fifteen prefects managing 1,300 boys. That is a ratio which is unheard of anywhere. So, on behalf of the teachers, fifteen people are trying to manage everybody else from going crazy. The teachers empower you as a prefect, but, they want you to maintain the discipline to a certain extent. So you have to take on the responsibility of managing 1,300 boys to ensure that discipline is maintained, from ensuring their hair is according to the right length to making sure they don't bring in any contraband items. We instill discipline everywhere but in the classroom, where the teachers take control of discipline. I believe that is one aspect of leadership.  Shaw House 1993 Sitting, from left: Rahazi bt Yusof, Ahmad Fazreen, Rubendra Gnanalingam (House Captain), Mr Ngui Thiam Khoon, Yeoh Phee Leong, Alan Mak, Hani Kartini As Shaw House Captain. I think that's where I truly learned a lot from a leadership perspective because, when I was Form 1, Shaw was seventh in the School Sports. When I was Form 2, Shaw was eighth. When I was Form 3, Shaw was seventh; then in Form 4, Shaw was eighth again. But, in Form 5 and Form 6, they were first twice because I decided, as House Captain, that this nonsense could not continue. We were not going to finish last or second last anymore! I took the initiative and we won for two years in a row. So that was quite fun. I think we learned to lead a group of at least 100 plus boys to ensure that they all got as many points as they could. Trying to figure out the system of how to get as many points as you can is what, I believe, is very useful from a leadership perspective. The payoff in the end was that we were House champions in the School Sports. Who was your favourite teacher at VI? And in what ways did he influence you in your professional development? Unfortunately, I think he just passed away. He was Mr. Ngui Thiam Khoon, my economics teacher, and he was a very good teacher. He played a very huge role, I would say, in terms of driving me towards economics and helping me understand that economics is based on supply and demand. If you master that, it's not so difficult. Eventually, I did a degree in economics as well, thanks partly to him. I'm not sure about the current syllabus, but in those days, A-levels was SPM converted from English to Malay. If you did SPM economics, you've effectively done A-level economics. Just that you have done it in Malay. When I went to do A-levels, all I had to do was just convert from Malay to English. It was the same for geography, too. I did A-levels in geography and, effectively, it was just converting the words from Malay to English. The technical parts were
So, as I said, Mr Ngui was very influential in teaching me the basics. Through his teaching, I found it much easier to study for my degree. The other major influence was that he was the Shaw House Master. One of the key reasons why we did very badly before was that we always had an election for House Captain. In my Form 5 year, after we had assembled for the first House meeting of the year, Mr Ngui announced that there would be no election for House Captain. "Ruben is the Captain, and that is final!" he declared. Then he proceeded with elections for the House Vice-Captain and other lower positions. To be fair, I think I could have won if there had been an election for House Captain, but Mr Ngui made it very clear that his decision was final. His actions gave me a lot of confidence in the sense that he believed in my leadership abilities. That became one of my key motivators as Shaw House Captain. I didn't want to let him down. In those days, you had to manage a budget to construct a House tent and a mascot. Since the previous years were so diabolical, Mr Ngui had actually saved up a lot of the money and told me that I could spend it all that year. That's another reason why we had a budget: It was to teach students how to manage funds. Mr. Ngui permitted me to spend as much of the saved-up money as needed because our House was leading before Sports Day. He said that if I needed extra funds to win, he had saved them from previous years and I could use them to construct a better House tent. Well, did he guide you through the process or did he throw you in the deep end? The election part threw me in the deep end. All the responsibility was on me and I wasn't elected. It didn't sit well with some people but I made it work with the rest of the people. As a result, sometimes I believe that elections are not a good thing because you would have to pander to multiple parties when the goal was to win Sports Day. If I were elected, some would say that since they put me in that position, I would have to collaborate with them on certain aspects. You would then have to please everybody. That's why if you're appointed, it makes it easier to get the job done. In terms of your time in the VI, what would you say was the most memorable moment? Was it when you won the school games or was it when you became a Prefect? The ragging to become a Prefect or Lance Corporal was very memorable but when I look back at it now, I think it was a good experience because it helped to build character. To be fair, the ragging was milder compared to the years before I became a Prefect. How ragging helped build character is they made sure that you were one team as Prefects. The punishments were administered collectively; if someone made a mistake, everybody got punished at the same time. Therefore, I think that it built a lot of team spirit to make sure that the fifteen Prefects didn't try to undermine each other.  Prefects Board 1993 Standing, from left: Alan Mak, Muhamad Shamin, Wan Kamalazlan, Lee Mun Joon, Patrick Soong, Rubendra Gnanalingam, Donovan Soon, Ashok Panchalingam, Arief Hamid, Dzaiful Nizzam, Riza Sharif The fifteen Prefects stood up for each other because we had been through some very unique experiences. I'm not sure how harsh or mild it is now. One time, I came back from school with my shirt bloodied because the punishments were harsher that day. But when I showed my dad, he was like, it's nothing because he went to RMC, so he would consider that mild. It helped that he knew harsher standards but I'm not sure whether it's still applicable today. I'm not even sure whether I want my kids to undergo it today. On the contrary, it was very memorable because it was character building for sure. It made everyone more unified. I still remember that, back then, I had to memorise every goddamn thing about the Prefect room, behind every painting, behind every picture, there was somebody who wrote something. You have to remember all those things and all the rules. Basically, you had to remember everything. It was the same for the band. They used very similar ways to build your character. I was quite unfortunate because I got punished in back-to-back weeks. One week by the band and the following week by the Prefects. That's why my shirt was a bit bloodied in the second week. I do believe that it was very good for character building and I don't regret it at all. I'm glad I went through it. Even today, when I speak with members of my cohort, I don't think any of us thought that it was a bad thing. I think we all appreciated that experience. From another angle, being House Captain was a very nice experience because my team and I put in a lot of work for about two months. It was a lot of hard work, planning, and determination. The final event on Sports Day was Tarik Tali, the tug-of-war, right? I still remember vividly that before I went up to receive the Championship trophy as Shaw House Captain, we had to compete in Tarik Tali as well, which we also won. Given my size, I was the anchor at the back. But, in that last round, I felt numb, like my soul had left my body. A few people in front of me had fallen, so I had to hold the line until they got up. That's why it was a very memorable occasion for me. The rest of my favourite memories come from the nonsense you and your classmates get up to in class. I was in 5 Arts, I'm not sure if it's still the naughtiest class today. In those days, the class had a reputation, not just a reputation but a reputation that they wanted to uphold. It's as if they wanted to keep the tradition going. When you're a Prefect and your classmates are all from 5 Arts, how do you balance not killing them while making sure the school retains some level of discipline? And of course, your classmates are the ones who are making it the hardest for you! I think that was also a very nice test of leadership. I still keep in touch with a lot of them. Recently, we had our 25th year gathering. I think 220 people from my cohort came, which was a nice turnout for a 25th anniversary. Until today, it's still a very, very tight-knit batch.  Museum Board 1993 Sitting, from left: Mohd. Huzaini b Ghazali, Ashok Panchalingam (Chairman), Puan Mainmun, Puan Robeahtun (Principal), Tuan Syed b Hj Abu Hassan, En T Thiruchelvam, Rubendra Gnanalingam (Vice-Chairman), Shaiful Zahrin b. Subhan    
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already taught as part of the SPM syllabus. Back then, our SPM was on par with A-levels for geography and economics, but to be fair, you also have to go there and learn about UK economics.