For this week's edition of Opinionist , we present to you some of the thoughts of Ho Kwon Ping, founder and executive chairman of the Banyan Tree Group which owns and operates a chain of award-winning premium resorts, hotels and spas, surrounding the great Sichuan earthquake. Ho, who owns resorts in Lijiang, Shangri-La and Sanya, had a close shave with the earthquake as his flight from Chengdu to Hong Kong was almost taking off when the earthquake struck. In the days of his youth, Ho was a political radical who was thrown out of Stanford University for protesting against eugenics and Vietnam. Later, he was jailed two times in Singapore for articles he wrote as a journalist for the Far Eastern Economic Review . Since then he has grown to become one of the city-state's most admired entrepreneurs, wealthiest individuals and respected thinkers. Ho wears many corporate hats, including Chairman of Singapore Management University; Chairman of MediaCorp Pte Ltd, the national television and radio company; Board Director of Air Seychelles; and member of the INSEAD International Council. THE woman a few rows behind me had become hysterical. We had been locked inside the packed aircraft for over six hours. Every time someone made occasional phone or SMS contact, there would be loud cries of relief or wails of sorrow. The Chengdu-Hong Kong flight was readying for take-off when we were rocked from side to side. The plane then came to an abrupt halt. ...