By V. Sivaji
A Penangite making “strides” in Bangkok, Thailand is Dato Tai Chong Yih who is the deputy chief executive officer of NOK Air.
He has been making Penang and Malaysia proud by holding the post in the airline industry.
He was previously a senior executive of a Thai financial conglomerate. The major shareholder happens to also be the major shareholder at NOK Airlines and they wanted someone they could trust, as well as his expertise in rehabilitation.
Thus started his tenure with NOK Airlines as their Deputy CEO in July 2020 to help in the rehabilitation exercise.
Moreover, Tai is also the president of Kelab Malaysia of Thailand (KMT) which was set up in 1990 under the patronage of the Malaysian Embassy in Thailand.
“I have made returns to KMT as the President four times in the past 32 years and is by far, the longest serving President in the history of KMT (total of eight years as President and three years as Committee member).
“The latest time was in 2020 and I have just been re-elected as President in 2022,” said Tai to Penang Hyperlocal.
Other than meeting up with fellow Malaysians and promoting Malaysian food festival, they are also active in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
“Despite the COVID situation globally, Thailand is no exception, it has been a very active year for KMT.
“Just on CSR alone, KMT raised more than 200,000 baht to assist four Malaysian families to safely return to Malaysia from Thailand, including a Malaysian flood victim whose family home in Malaysia suffered damage from the big flood from last year.
“Incidentally, one of the recipients of our donation drive was a Penangnite who has re-settled back in Penang with his three young children,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dato Tai started working in Thailand in 1987 (35 years ago) after being sent over by United Malaysian Banking Corporation (UMBC).
“Almost all of these years, he has mostly been involved in banking and finance but somehow still involves Thailand or Thai credits in one way or another, even though I was working in a different capacity outside of Thailand for some of the years.
“Therefore, it is as if I did not leave Thailand at all. I am fairly established in Thailand and appeared in “Who’s Who in Thai Executives 1997”.
His past work experience includes stints with Sumitomo Trust & Banking in Singapore; Cathay Trust in Thailand; London Forfaiting Asia Pacific in Hong Kong; Ek Chor in Shanghai; Westmont Berhad in Kenya; RHB Bank in Thailand (first Country Head); AEC Securities in Thailand, AIRA financial conglomerate in Thailand and now with NOK Airlines.
“On top of that, I am serving as the board member/audit committee of several corporations in Thailand,” he added.
In the meantime, he hopes to visit Penang to catch up with family and friends soon.