DO WE NEED A 38 YEAR OLD PERSON ON THE BOARD OF PETRONAS?

Can someone satisfy my conscience by justifying that a 38 year old gentleman by the name of Omar Mustapha Ong is professionally and technically qualified to be a director of the largest national conglomerate....Petronas. Yes, he may be a brilliant Petronas scholar who is a Oxford graduate, but can we be certain that he is equally brilliant in contributing effectively to the management of Petronas?

He can be brilliant as a special officer to the PM Najib, when the latter was the DPM. And if he is extremely brilliant, Omar Mustapha should be better employed to manage the financial woes affecting the nation today, and just leave Petronas to be managed by professional in the oil and gas industry. And Petronas, rightly so has its reservation with regards to the appointment of Omar Mustapha as a board member to the company.

By wanting to appoint Omar Mustapha, is PM Najib implying that the current board members of Petronas is not performing well, and requires the likes of Omar Mustapha to rejuvenate Petronas? Or is the current President and Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Hassan Merican showing signs of incompetency, and is on the verge of a 'downward trend, and Omar Mustapha's presence is to salvage Petronas from slipping?.

I am told that Petronas has not had a politician as a board member, and if Omar Mustapha does get a position in Petronas, he will create history, and I suppose the youngest to be named to the board. Former PM Tun Mahathir Mohamed who is currently the present advisor to Petronas opined that “a politician in Petronas may have other agenda which may or may not be in keeping with the national interest”.

PM Najib choice of Omar Mustapha, whom many say is a close associated of PM Najib, may raise many unwieldy perceptions of PM Najib among the general public, that will place him in bad light. Certainly, the first perception will be that Omar Mustapha is a sure crony of PM Najib, who will act as PM Najib's proxy in the oil and gas business, even if PM Najib does not have any business dealing with Petronas. The second perception would be that PM Najib wants to groom his crony for the exulted post of President and Chief Executive Officer of the conglomerate, and to eventually secure all his cronies to a top managerial position in the company. The list of perceptions are endless, and these are 'fodder' for the opposition to justify the unworthiness of the BN government and PM Najib, during the next general elections.

PM Najib has to seriously look at Indonesia's Pertamina, and to see what had caused it to be, what it is today..........the once super rich Indonesian industry that is now struggling to remain afloat. Strangely, UMNO is silent over the intended appointment of Omar Mustapha to the Petronas board.


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION