Malaysian-born tycoon Robert Kuok is not a popular figure among Malay nationalists, who have accused him of profiteering and called for a boycott of his business.

However, in his latest memoir, the billionaire, who hails from Johor Bahru, said his mother had taught him never to engage in profiteering when it concerns essential goods.

Kuok said he even advised the government on preventing the price of essential goods from increasing and surrendered profits to this end.

"She (mother) would invariably urge upon me that, as rice and sugar and all such commodities are essential foods, on no account should I engage in profiteering.

"I knew exactly what she meant by profiteering. In the commodities trade, if you made between one and a half percent and two percent profit, that was considered pretty fair.

"Once you start to make over two percent you are beginning to stick in your knife, so to speak," he said in his memoir, a copy of which was obtained by Malaysiakini.

Predicted spike in wheat prices

Kuok said he put his mother's words into practice in Malaysia, which gave him all the major start-ups in his life.

He said this was also the case even when he had the opportunity to reap huge profits after correctly predicting a spike in wheat prices.

"When the British sterling was devalued in the early 1970s, it coincided with poor harvests that caused great dislocation in commodity prices. Wheat prices doubled.

"I was fortunate. Before the price jumped, my intuition told me that something dramatic was going to happen. I instructed my wheat buyers to negotiate for a whole year's supply.

"We secured 12 to 14 months' requirements. Within weeks, the world market went shooting up," he added.

Kuok said once his instincts were confirmed, he sought an appointment with then International Trade and Industry Ministry secretary-general Nasruddin Mohamed in Kuala Lumpur.

"I explained to Nasruddin what had happened in world wheat markets. I suggested that he issue a questionnaire to the flour millers in Malaysia (we occupied nearly 50 percent of the market), asking how much wheat they had bought, at what price, and so forth.

"I said, 'You have to do this, otherwise the price of your bread and other goods will rise immediately'," he said.

Kuok said after securing over a year's worth of wheat supply, he brought them into the country at cost price and kept the selling price of milled flour low.

"I surrendered RM30 million or more to the government, which had price controls on essential foods such as flour.

"It doesn't take a brilliant mind to realise that I could have transferred the contract of the purchase to an offshore company in Geneva or Hong Kong, then my flour mills could be seen to be buying wheat through those offshore entities.

"In other words, I could have transferred that windfall profit overseas. But instead, I deliberately chose to calm domestic price, for I was guided by mother's exhortations," he said.

Kuok said his mother had drilled into him the same message.

"If you have a mother who beats into you: 'Never be the cause of high prices of staple foods because food staples are the food for the poor,' then it sticks with you," he said.

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Robert Kuok: A Memoir became available in Hong Kong and Singapore on Nov 25. It will be released in Malaysia on Dec 1.