Thai industrial estate tycoon Vikrom Kromadit inherited hot blood – and he nearly murdered his own father

THE SON OF a sugar cane farmer, 55-year-old Vikrom Kromadit has become one of the most successful businessmen in Thailand. As chairman and CEO of Amata Corporation, he founded and runs the largest industrial estates in the country. The nearly 500 local and multinational firms manufacturing on his two estates – Amata City and Amata Nakorn – account for between 6 percent and 7 percent of Thailand’s gross domestic product. A proponent of stronger ties with and more investment in Vietnam, his company has also established the Amata City Bien Hoa industrial estate outside Ho Chi Minh City and is beginning work on Amata Dung Quat in central Vietnam. As vice chairman of the Thai-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Vikrom has been outspoken on social and political issues, hosting a talk radio program in which he expounds on social justice and more equitable and sustainable ways in which Thailand should develop. It’s not just talk: Vikrom donates several million dollars a year in dividends from his shares in Amata Corporation to his Amata Foundation, chaired by former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun. The foundation funds education projects and the arts. In fact, he’s used $50 million of his personal fortune to build Amata Castle, a medieval-style fortress just outside of Bangkok, which he intends to be a showcase and home for Thai artists and writers.

A lover of sports cars (he owns six) and adventure (he has flown fighter jets), Vikrom nonetheless spends much of his time in a small house in the center of a lake in Khao Yai National Park, north of Bangkok, surrounded by lotus flowers and Buddha images, contemplating business and life and writing bestselling books, many of which are autobiographical.

His story is rich in drama and tragedy. Vikrom grew up in Kanchanaburi, a province near the border with Burma, which in those days was a haven for bandits. Lawlessness and killing were commonplace. The eldest of 22 children, he suffered violent physical and emotional abuse from his father, Sombat. He turned his back and walked away from his father, vowing never to return. Until one day 21 years ago, when he was so filled with rage that he packed up his rifle, got in his car and began driving from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi determined to kill his father – and then himself.

You worked yourself up from nothing to become one of the most successful businessmen in Thailand, owning its largest industrial estates. And yet 21 years ago, you were prepared to throw all of that away, including your own life. You took a rifle, got in your car, and drove off with the intention of killing your father. What led you to that terrible moment?
You have to understand my history and the situation of that moment. The history is what my dad did to me and my family, what I heard and saw. Since I was a kid, my dad never did one thing that I can say was fair to me. I worked for him like a horse. I worked for duty to my family. But I never got one good word of praise from my dad. I never heard, “You are good, you are super, you are my good son.” He never gave me a good word in my life even until today. No matter how hard I worked, or how many good things I did, he only attacked me, beat me, hurt me.

Even when I was a little boy he hit me, and that really hurt because if I was a bad or naughty boy I could accept it. But I was a good boy, and did so many good things for my family and others. I never knew the meaning of love, because I never received it. It never touched me. 

The situation was that he had shot my brother Vithit in the head. I am the eldest of 22 brothers and sisters. Vithit was number four. They were at their home in Kanchanaburi at the time, and I was in Bangkok. They had been fighting over business. Vithit was under a lot of pressure from my father, because he treated Vithit just like he treated me. Finally Vithit snapped. He was so angry he took his gun and started firing at my dad. But he didn’t fire directly at him. He shot at the sky and fired at the ground. Vithit is an excellent marksman. He could shoot a small bird or even hit a coin. Yet he never came close to hitting my dad. Nonetheless, this angered my father. He did not consider that this is his own son. He just wanted to kill Vithit, that is all, and took his own gun and shot him in the head. When my sister called and told me what happened, all the anger, hurt and pain that had built up in my over the years, all the memories of all the bad things my dad had done to me, drove me to pack my guns, get in my car and start driving to Kanchanaburi. I had no doubt that if I saw my father, I would shoot him.

What stopped you form going through with it?
The traffic in Bangkok. I was stuck in a traffic jam and I began to think. One question kept coming into my head: if I shoot my dad, what will happen to my family? Because when I shoot my dad I think absolutely I will shoot myself right after.

And I thought my family needs a leader. If there is no father and no me, what will my family be worth in the future? Can I continue leading and helping my family if I am gone? And why should I shoot him? Just to satisfy my rage? Will it make me feel great, make me feel like a hero? And so the answers came to me. It didn’t make any sense and wouldn’t be good for me or my family. So that was the answer for me: it will be nonsense to kill him and myself.

What had they been fighting about?
It was over a business I had started and given to my family, a cattle feed company. It was doing well, and so I went into a partnership with another company, Kanchanaburi Flour Company, to get more investment. But my father came to me and said, “Why did you give this business to other people? You should look after your family.” He was a farmer, but he wanted to be an entrepreneur. He wanted a factory. The word “family” made me change my mind. So I ended the partnership and started it all from zero again for him. And I ended up working as the general manager for this company for very, very little salary. Nearly nothing. I built this business from nothing. I made my father the chairman. And when he was a chairman, he was suddenly quite full of himself. Strutting around, full of power and so proud. Then a relative who worked with us said that some of the supplies we were using could be bought cheaper, so why were we using these ones? To my father, this seemed like I was involved in some sort of corruption, and he believed that it had made him, as the chairman, lose face. He became angry and told me to let the factory go out of business and collapse. I couldn’t believe it. So I told him I had had enough and was going back to Bangkok. I walked to my car to go, I was only a few steps away, but he followed me, pulled out his gun and said “I should shoot you.” I was just two steps from my car, where I had a 12-gauge shotgun. I really had the urge to take that shotgun and shoot him. But when I looked in his eyes, well, he is my father, and so I just gave up. I got in my car and drove away. Since that moment, I have never returned to that house.

My brother Vithit took over as general manager. But the business had so many problems. As a consequence, my father put all the pressure on him and abused him the way he did me. I don’t remember exactly what the issue was that drove him to snap, but he did. Still, it was obvious he didn’t really want to kill our father. But our father really wanted to kill him. And that filled me full of rage. I’ve never been that angry in my life. If I had seen him at that moment, I would have killed him for sure.

To this day I don’t like to see or talk to my father. Of course, he wants to see me now because I am rich. One of my neighbors in Kanchanaburi who is now successful in business here in Bangkok talks to him. He says my father still doesn’t have a good word for me and blames me for the factory collapsing. He told this friend that if I give him 10 million baht to compensate him for the failed business he won’t blame me for anything anymore. This friend asked me to dine with my father and talk to him. I asked this friend, “Do you think if I go dine with him that he will understand all the bad things he has done to me and our family? Do you think he will really see that what he did to me is wrong and that I am his son? The day he can do that is the day I would like to see my dad.” The friend suggested that perhaps the money could bridge the gap between my father and me. I told him that 10 million baht is nothing to me. I’ve spent two billion baht building Amata Castle. But I don’t want a relationship built on money, a commercial relationship. I don’t need a man who comes to be my father because of money. I need a man who can hug me and talk to me as a father. As a son I need a father. My dad loves money. I need love.

What happened to Vithit?
Vithit nearly died because half of his brain was gone. He was really lucky. We had one doctor in Kanchanaburi who took care of the first surgery, and then sent him to a better doctor in Bangkok. It’s incredible that he survived. He was shot point blank in the head with a .38-caliber bullet. His situation afterwards was difficult, though. He is so weak physically and it was so painful. He felt as if he had now become a burden on the family because he needs to be taken care of. So often he loses his confidence. He began to think he should shoot himself. One day when everyone was out of our house in Bangkok, he went to where I keep my guns. But before he could do it, our other brother, Vitoon, returned home because he had forgotten a document. When he saw Vitoon, he stopped. We were really lucky Vitoon forgot that document.

I’ve talked to Vithit many times to tell him not to worry about anything. You are not a burden. We are all grateful you are alive and with us. You still have family and a lot of people love you.

Parents are always an influence on us. How has your father and your experiences with him made you what you are?
What I got from dad, and what makes me who I am standing here, are fighting guts. And my dad has a very active mind; he is creative and has vision. He is also very healthy and very strong. He has the power of two strong men. I think I got my strength from him. I can hit a golf ball farther than anyone. I got that form my dad. I really have a lot of good things from my dad, and also I have bad points from my dad. But I know my bad points, so I control them.

What are the bad points?
I’m a barbarian. I have a kind of killing mind. I think half of it is from my blood, and half is from environment. Because Kanchanaburi was a closed city when I grew up there. Outsiders didn’t often dare to go there and there were lots of people killing each other. Killing in Kanchanaburi was like normal life. I saw so many people killed before my own eyes. I saw people filled with hatred and people who were bad. And so I learned to be that way and became addicted to it when I was a boy. I thought it was fun. But part of it also came from my father. But I know what is my dark side and what is my light side. It seems I have a Satan, that is my bad side. And every time I get angry I remind myself this is the Satan and so I try to walk away from the trouble. I could easily kill and destroy people if I really let my bad side take control.

Have you ever killed anyone?
I almost killed someone about three years ago in Tibet. He was an undertaker in Lhasa. I went there with friends. There was a funeral ceremony in which they cut pieces of the dead person’s flesh and leave them for the vultures, because they believe the vultures will carry the spirit to heaven.

What we didn’t know was that they don’t want women to witness this kind of ceremony, and there were women among my friends. All of sudden this one guy comes running at us with a knife. Our guide said, “Run, run, run!” and everyone did. Then he cut the leg of a lady friend of mine from Shanghai named Maggie. She went down screaming. I thought this guy is a barbarian. You can’t do this. This is the 21st century. There was only one thought in my mind: kill him. So I charged him. He slashed at my head with his knife, but I was too fast for him. I grabbed him and his wrist with the knife in his hand and pushed and pushed until it started cutting into his body.

The temperature was below freezing and we were 3,500m above sea level. I’m a sea level man, so I was tired from the altitude. But I was determined to kill him. He pulled the knife out, but I turned his wrist to break it, and then turned his head trying to break his neck. Fortunately, we were on a steep slope, and I fell and rolled three times. That separated us. I reached for a Swiss army knife in my back pocket, but my guide and other friends grabbed me. They said, “Stop, stop, don’t kill here, we have to return home.” My god, I was so tired from the thin air. I needed oxygen. That’s what broke my rage. I had really gone mad.

How have your experiences with your father influenced your approach to business?
My family since my great grandfather who came from China were merchants. It’s genetic. I always look at anything as an opportunity. I’ve inherited that from my dad’s side and my mom’s too. Once I have a direction I never give up. I’m always patient, always looking forward, and always walk forward. That is the way of my life that I got from my dad.

Why do you think you are so successful in business?
I don’t think I’m really successful in my business yet because I still have a big dream. In fact I don’t feel I’m successful at all. I feel proud if we talk about what I have today, but I don’t feel successful yet.

I always have a goal, always have a dream. I am a dream chaser. Dreams push me up, dreams help me walk forward. And my goal is to always be moving forward. Always getting bigger and bigger every year. I can never fulfill my goals, and so I don’t feel I am a success. I’m like a greyhound chasing the rabbit, and I haven’t caught the rabbit yet.

What will the rabbit be for you?
I would like to have my own city. My own territory. My own empire. I would like to be like a little king, but I’m not there yet. Of course today we have land that is over 60 sq km, but next year we should have an additional 100 sq km. It means the rabbit is still running. Maybe one year or one day we will have over 1,000 sq km. And maybe 20 percent of the GDP of this country will be under my umbrella. Maybe that day I will feel like a success. But I am proud of what I have achieved so far.

What are the lessons from your life that you would like to share with others?
Right thought, right speech, and doing things that are reasonable. If I didn’t have these values I really could turn into a murderer. I came from zero. I came from minus. I could be an eagle, with too much pride in myself. But what I have learned is to carry the past with me. I always remind myself of the days when I was a student, and in my pocket I had only 25 satang [a few cents]. I didn’t even have enough money to pay the bus fare. Not enough to buy anything to eat. And that was me. And today also it’s me.

It also makes me realize and appreciate that what I have today is so great. And that makes me feel that I should give back. In December, I transferred over 260 million shares I own in Amata Corporation to the Amata Foundation so that it can use the dividends, over 100 million baht every year, for projects to help other people. And when I finish building Amata Castle, I will transfer it to the foundation. It will be a place where artists and others can come and do their work and discuss things that are good for mankind. The foundation is what makes me proud. I started it when I was poor, because in my mind I was determined that one day I would be a success, and when that happens I was thinking what to do with my wealth.

You said recently that your business now is hell. Are you facing another crisis?
The first company that will be hurt if anything happens to the security in this country is my company. The first day of the [military] coup d’?tat in September 2006, my investors pulled out. When they saw the tanks in Bangkok on CNN, they invested in another country. That is the trouble Amata has.

What can you take from your previous crisis that may help you get through this one?
Two or three crises have really taught me how to survive. The one that may help the most now was the 1997 economic crisis. We had no business for so long. We almost went under. But my family is closer than ever before, and so my mind is free, bright and strong. I have a lot of ideas and they help me a lot. Having survived those previous crises has taught me how to stay cool and calm. In fact, I’m sleeping well. I know I have big trouble, but my mind is calm.

Are you optimistic about Thailand’s future?
Yes, I am. A country isn’t defined by just a few people. This country is defined by its 60 million plus people. I believe our 700 years of history has accumulated in our genetic makeup and our culture and philosophy. That is what is real in this country. The fighting you see now [between supporters and opponents of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra] is just between a few thousand people. They are a tiny, tiny percentage of the population. The big picture of Thailand and its people is that they are really lovely, peaceful and friendly. You almost never see Thai people fighting on the road or attacking others, like in some other countries. That is the real culture. What we are seeing on television today is not the real culture.

Is there anything you would like to add?
I would ask the world to understand the history of Thailand. We are a peaceful country. The meaning of Thailand is “land of freedom.” Anyone can come to Thailand and they will be treated well. We are respected for how we treat people. Second, when people have come to my country to invest or live, most of them are successful. They have been able to find greater success here than in their own countries. That means we Thais are good partners and good at cooperating with investors. This is what has made our country what it is today.