KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 – Board members of Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) stood their ground this week and have politely turned down a bid by Prime Minister Najib Razak to admit a key political aide as a director of the national oil corporation.
Government officials close to the situation told The Straits Times that the board in a meeting on Wednesday had reaffirmed its decision a month previous not to admit Omar Mustapha as a director because he had defaulted on his scholarship loan agreement with Petronas two decades earlier.
The board, which was directed by Datuk Seri Najib to reconsider its decision last month over Omar’s proposed appointment, also decided it would send a delegation to brief the Prime Minister on the matter in the coming days.
Government officials familiar with the situation said the delegation would be headed by senior lawyers and a Petronas director, Abdul Kadir Kassim.
“I don’t think it is about his close ties to the PM. It has more to do with the scholarship issue,” said a senior government official, adding that Petronas took a firm view against scholarship defaulters.
Omar, 38, did not complete the required number of years of service with the oil corporation or a related government agency as stipulated in his scholarship agreement.
Petronas initiated legal proceedings against him in 2001.
Tan Sri Hassan Marican, Petronas chief executive and president, declined to comment on the issue when asked by reporters yesterday about possible changes to the board.
Government officials say that the Petronas board has briefed the company’s influential adviser, former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, of its decision to reject the proposed appointment of Omar.
Tun Dr Mahathir had on Monday voiced reservations about Najib’s plan to appoint his aide to the board of Petronas, Malaysia’s sole entry in the Fortune 500 list of the world’s most profitable companies.
While acknowledging that it was Najib’s prerogative as premier to “appoint a man who failed to honour his obligation to Petronas when he was given a scholarship by it”, Dr Mahathir said in a written response to this newspaper that “generally I would say that it is not a good thing to appoint such a person”.
Petronas has established itself as an international energy player over the last two decades, and many industry experts and economists credit that transformation to the government’s hands-off approach in the running of the oil corporation.
That is why Najib’s bid to appoint Omar to the board raised eyebrows.
Omar has emerged as one of the closest political confidants to Najib and is often tapped for advice on economic and financial matters.
He graduated from Oxford on a scholarship from Petronas and worked briefly with the national oil corporation and another government-linked corporation. He then joined McKinsey & Co, working for the international consulting company in London and Malaysia.
He left McKinsey in early 2002 to set up his own consultancy firm, called Ethos, with several close friends and two years later was tapped by Najib, who was then deputy prime minister, to become his special officer. – The Straits Times
bawak la kaum ko semua masuk dalam GLC najib oi…menjahanamkan lagi la masa depan syarikat-syarikat ni semua..tgk apa dah jadi dengan performance TM,TNB, Maybank,KTM,UEM,Proton etc…?
Bawak masuk Che Khalib(TNB), Wahid Omar(Maybank),Izzaddin Idris (UEM)…semua kroni..
TNB,Maybank and UEM was now leads by bancruptcy expert..
kesian..
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Good call from Petronas. I laud them for having common sense in exercising meritocracy rather than favoritism in (not) appointing him.
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ron Reply:
June 27th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Bravo PETRONAS for a brave stand indeed!
PETRONAS must appoint a highly qualified person to the Board, not only by having extraordinary backgrounds is a must (academic & experiences) but equally important the person must be seen & perceived as having excellent track records i.e. legally, morally & ethically excellent (bad character = off-track record).
Reject political & politician-influenced candidate. Be 100% free from the hands of political corrupts. Continue to run the business professionally, for the nation’s interest is above all.
Bravo & bravo!
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Person with ‘bad character’ can be given a chance, so long he pay back Petronas and redeem his bad faith. We must abolish the – once a thief always a thief – judgment of everyone. Those who do wrong can be cured so long they repent and remedy their ill will.
Tracing back OMAR’S record – if he continue to be delinquent in many more things than we can label him as BAD CHARACTER – one who cheats on scholarship and never had any intention to pay back.
So , judgement on OMAR must be fair and just – as everyone simply must have a second chance if there was no repetition of the same after the first misdeed.
I strongly believe the meaning of whats – FORGIVE AND FORGET.
Now the most important question I posed here is – why PETRONAS is being held by majority of BN’s supporters ? What about PKR and other oppositions. ?
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if we hae the goons rom PKR our beloved PETRONAS will go bangkrupt in no time..
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if we have the goons from PKR our beloved PETRONAS will go bankrupt in no time….
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PR Sokmo Reply:
June 26th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
bro bencipas..takkan marah kot PR dah makin kuat…hahahaha….
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desperado Reply:
June 27th, 2009 at 1:35 am
marah la tu kot…hehehe
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salman bin khalid Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 9:48 am
biase la tu..totok umno..asskisser..
HABISLAH KALAAU NAJIS YANG REKOMEN PUNYA NANTI COMPANY TERUS JADI BANKRUPT
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UMNOtronas !!
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Sekalong tahniah diucapkan kepada Petronas kerana dengan beraninya tidak melantik Omar Mustapha sebagai Derektor Petronas. Saya juga menyokong kenyataan Penasihat Petronas ayahanda Tun Mahathir perlantikan Omar adalah tidak baik. Bagi saya seseorang yang mungkir janji terhadap biasiswa yang diperolehi sebagai seorang yang tidak amanah dan tidak beretika. Bagaimana mungkin seorang berwatak demikian untuk menerajui Petronas.
Ramai yang mencadangkan agar Omar Mustapha diberi peluang kedua untuk menerajui Petronas. Bagi saya peluang kedua boleh diberi dengan syarat beliau sendiri memohon maaf secara terbuka kepada Petronas dan rakyat Malaysia serta membayar balik biasiswa dengan interest kepada Petronas. Selagi tuntutan ini tidak ditunaikan bagi saya tiada peluang kedua buat Omar. Walaubagaimana pun perlantikannya di Petronas terletak ditangan Najib.
Kita tidak mahu apa yang berlaku pada TM, TNB, Maybank, UEM, Proton dan banyak lagi akan berlaku kepada Petronas. Syarikat GLC tersebut telah mengelami beberapa masalah sejak kroni kroni yang dilantik menerajui syarikat tersebut. Bagi Petronas salah satu syarikat yang menjana ekonomi Malaysia patut diterajui oleh seorang yang berwibawa dalam bidang tersebut dan mampu untuk meningkatkan prestasi syarikat.
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Kudos to the BOD of Petronas for standing up.
Tan Sri Hassan has done a fantastic job and has not only increase the
revenue of the company but has brought it to greater heights.
NJB should in fact placed his aid in companies that are in dire need of
aid and Petronas is not one of them.
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ethos? where they got their fund from. check who be the chairman of ethos and u try to do your maths.
whistleblower.
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Jahanam lah Petronas kalau mamat ni masuk. Puak2 ni bukan berminat nak majukan dan bangunkan Petronas tapi nak sapu duit Petronas. Petronas adalah lembah emas yang Najib nak lombong. Puak2 ni neraka jahanam adalah tempat yang paling layak bagi mereka.Kepala otak puak2 Najib ni hanya memikirkan macam mana nak songlap duit rakyat dan mengkayakan diri.Mereka ni ingat bila mati boleh bawa harta haram ni masuk kubur.
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