Tycoon says his RM350k bid for Dr M portrait has nothing to do with business
(Malaysiakini) – Having splurged RM350,000 for an auctioned portrait of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, tycoon Stanley Thai said that he only wanted to have the photograph because it was “memorable”.
The founder of giant medical glove manufacturer Supermax Corporation said his bid during the Pakatan Harapan fundraising dinner last night had nothing to do with his business.
“Anybody can ‘play’ (join the bid) today. I thought that Dr Mahathir’s picture is a memorable one.
“The amount was not intended for… but when you go for a bidding, if you want it and the competition comes in, you bid the price that you want to pay,” Thai told Malaysiakini after the event last night.
Thai, who founded the corporation together with his wife Cheryl Tan in 1987, then as a trading business distributing latex gloves, won after he made the highest bid in a somewhat fierce race for the portrait.
The event was organised by Harapan to raise money for its political funds, where it managed to raise RM2.89 million in total from the sales of 156 tables and an auction of six portraits featuring Harapan leaders.
“No, we are in the export business. We are established, we export our products all over the world, so (it’s) nothing to do with business,” Thai said when asked if his generosity had any business intentions.
“The objective was to get the memorable picture of Tun Dr M in the office. I understand that the picture was taken two days ago, something like that. So that was the objective,” he added.
However, Thai declined to answer when asked to comment about his apology to then Barisan Nasional chairperson Najib Abdul Razak earlier this year for supporting Pakatan Rakyat in 2013.
Thai was among two figures who shocked many last night when they spent hundreds of thousands of ringgit to buy the portraits during the auction.
The other figure was businessperson Deepak Jaikishan, who is a former associate of Najib and Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor.
Prior to the 13th general election in 2013, Thai had openly backed the then opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat, stating that it was to “protect the future of my children”.
Then the managing director of Supermax, Thai immediately ran into trouble when BN retained its power in that election.
A month before the 14th general election, Thai made a public apology to Najib, claiming that he was “influenced” by the opposition and said that as a businessperson, he should not have been involved in politics.
However, the May 9 election saw Harapan swept into power by defeating BN to form a federal government.
Meanwhile, Deepak, who admitted to orchestrating the late private investigator S Balasubramaniam’s disappearance after the latter made serious allegations against Najib, purchased a portrait of Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for RM150,000.
