AsiaLIFE

“I like fast things like sports cars, but I never thought about motorcycles until I came to Cambodia,” says Saraboth Ea or Lee as he is better known. Raised in the U.S. for 32 years before moving to Cambodia, aged 34, Lee considers himself as Cambodian-American with Chinese ancestry. His family had lived in Cambodia for two generations by the time his father was born. Any connection with their family in China was lost through the generations. Lee returned to Cambodia from New York in 2004 to get to know the country of his birth. His parents relocated to the U.S. in 1974, when he was just a baby, to escape the brewing conflict.

Babe in Arms

“I moved when I was two years old so I don’t have any real memories of living here or growing up as a baby but I do remember sounds,” he says. “I actually remember the sounds of planes, helicopters, and even explosions. Looking back it is probably because my dad was in the air force.” His father was part of the first group of cadets sent to France in the 1940s for military training. He was the only one who passed and returned to Cambodia fully certified and commissioned as an officer in the air force. He eventually became the commander-in-chief of the air force during the Lon Nol regime. The admiration, respect, and love that Lee has for his parents are palpable. “I think they tried to teach us and show us the way,” he explains of the way he was raised. “They were also fairly flexible for traditional Cambodian parents. They wanted us to assimilate into our new environment.”

Banker with a Heart

One of the first employees hired by ANZ Royal Bank in Cambodia, he is a pioneer of sorts. As senior relationship manager, he is responsible for managing the accounts of the bank’s corporate and institutional clients, including the large multinational corporations that have invested in the country. His banking responsibilities include building more relations with top-tiered companies in Cambodia and providing them with superior financial services. Although driven by the number of clients he is able to bring under the ANZ Royal umbrella, there is much more to Lee than that.

“It’s not just about making profits and the bottom line,” he says. “It’s much more multi-dimensional than that. It’s about bringing a positive social benefit to the community you’re operating in. My personal philosophy has to fit with my business philosophy and ANZ Royal strongly believes in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).”

The Man and the Bike

Lee is also somewhat of a pioneer in the biking community in Cambodia too. Initially he stumbled upon the sport through a friend who had two bikes. His friend offered to teach him how to ride. Ever since he has been hooked. He started out with a simple dirt bike before purchasing his first sports bike, a Honda CV600. This was his ticket to meeting new friends in the biking community. “I loved that bike,” he says. “It was a fantastic bike – not too big and with a comfortable riding position. It had plenty of power and as I started riding around, I met new people and their friends.”

This loose collective of 35 biking buddies regularly meet near the Independence Monument. They share information about bikes and plan riding trips around Cambodia. As his passion for riding intensified, Lee purchased a new bike and now cruises the streets of Phnom Penh in his shiny, black Yamaha R6. Lee estimates there are now about 50 to 60 bikes in the country compared to around five when they first started a year ago. Enthusiasts here are also moving from 250cc to 600cc bikes.

Behind the Bike

For Lee though biking is not just something you do with some friends at the weekend. He is keen to develop the community aspect of the hobby of biking. “We want to come up with a vocational training programme for at-risk youth and provide them with more skills and training so they can find jobs in some of the garages in the capital and in the provinces,” he says. Lee has had initial discussions with a major motorcycle manufacturer in Japan to tap into its CSR programmes for possible funding for his group’s idea.

Lee’s boyish looks belie the true nature of his spirit. A self-proclaimed free spirit, he is a maverick. “My whole family thought I was crazy for leaving what I had in New York to move to Cambodia,” says Lee. This rebel has certainly paved the way for the causes he believes so passionately in. Causes that are about to be realised in the country he now calls home.