#14 The Agreement at Sunset: Meeting Tok Borhan

It was late September, and our day in Seremban began with a visit to the hospital to see Pak Ngah Ghazali. Pak Ngah is someone who always appreciates visitors, a familiar rhythm for him given his frequent hospital stays for dialysis and other ongoing health challenges. True to form, he half-jokingly asked us to smuggle in some teh tarik and local delicacies—a request we were more than happy to fulfill.

After spending about an hour with him, my father and I headed out for our next destination: a local mamak restaurant to meet Tok Borhan.

We had discussed the terms of our arrangement several weeks prior, and this meeting was set to finally sign the agreement. Because evening was settling in and Maghrib time was fast approaching, the meeting was quick and focused. We ordered hot drinks, and Tok Borhan shared his perspective on the arrangement. For him, the core principle was simple: the agreement needed to be fair, ensuring it wouldn’t burden him or put him at a loss. I completely agreed. With that mutual understanding, without combing through every single legal line, he signed the paper.

Just like that, with a stroke of a pen at a roadside table, I officially entered the palm oil business. I stepped into it with virtually no personal knowledge of the trade, but with a deliberate strategy: leaning on Tok Borhan’s decades of experience, with the goal of absorbing his knowledge over the next three years.