MALAYSIA'S LOSS = SINGAPORE'S GAIN

From the Straits Times April 8

It has been almost two years now since Hassan Marican, 60, left Petronas. His career with the country's oil giant spanned 21 years, including 15 years as its President and CEO.

His exit from Petronas Malaysia to the boards of Sembcorp Industries and Sembcorp Marine and Singapore Power is a painful reminder that the brain drain from Malaysia shows no signs of abating.

Losing someone of Hassan Marican's stature is a double blow to our country. Petronas is our best corporate success story, and with Marican at the helm, Petronas can only continue expanding and contributing to our economy.

Hassan Marican was well-known for his frugality and he applied this trait to his management of Petronas. He did not suffer government interference, especially from the PMs. The friction between PM Najib and Hassan was an open secret. It probably explained why there were no serious efforts made on the part of the government to extend Hassan's contract.

The air-conditioned KLCC-Pavilion pedestrian walkway, financed by Petronas under its CSR programme. However, the walkway caters mainly to tourists.

If Hassan were still with Petronas, one wonders whether he would have agreed to Petronas funding the air-conditioned KLCC to Pavilion walkway. It cost Petronas a cool RM100 million to finance the 562-metre long and 5-metre pedestrian walkway. That works out to RM3,307 per square foot! Think of the number of houses or schools this RM100m could have been used to build.

But I digress.

In the Straits Times article, Hassan comes across as a workaholic who has a reputation as a 'penny-pinching' chief. He is quoted as saying, "Whether it involves RM1 or RM10 or RM1 million is not relevant. The expenditure must be justifiable, relevant and beneficial.

Where would you find a corporate captain like Hassan? He belongs to a dying breed. That's why his departure from our shores to Singapore is a huge loss. This June he will have another feather to add to his star-studded resume with his appointment as Chairman of Singapore Power.

During his 15 years tenure as President and CEO, Petronas grew into a top Fortune 500 firm with assets worth more than RM400 billion.

PETROL PRICE UP - PENSIONERS THE HARDEST HIT

First it was the increase in food prices, now it's petrol price, and beginning on 1 July, new electricity tariffs. A triple whammy hitting Malaysians within a month. The post-election euphoria was certainly short-lived.

Without doubt, pensioners are the hardest hit. They don't even have the benefit of a salary increase or higher COLA to help cushion the blow to their wallets.

The Star (5 June) carried a table showing that the petrol price hike to RM2.70 a litre is still the lowest compared to what folks are paying in Thailand (RM3.90), Singapore (RM5.20), Indonesia (RM2.07) and India (RM4.00). Cold comfort indeed.

And where's the logic in comparing our petrol price with that of non-oil producing countries like Singapore and Thailand? Malaysia is an oil-producing country like these countries below. Check out their petrol prices:

UAE - RM1.19/litre

Eygpt - RM1.03/litre

Bahrain - RM0.87/litre

Qatar - RM0.68/litre

Kuwait - RM0.67/litre

Saudi Arabia - RM0.38/litre

Iran - RM0.35/litre

Brunei - RM1.10/litre

Nigeria - RM0.32/litre

Turkmenistan - RM0.25/litre

The government claims it had no choice but to increase the price following the rise in global crude oil prices due to fuel shortage. MAS managing director and CEO Datuk Seri Idris Jala has refuted the claim. He believes there is no global shortage. Prices are pushed up by speculators, hedge funds and oil futures traders. As a former oilman with SHELL, he probably knows what he's taking about. He feels the current price of US$135 a barrel is unrealistic. US$40 is more reflective of the fair value of oil.

The irony is Petronas reported a net profit of RM1,092,949,000 for the full year ended March 31, 2008. As a state-owned enterprise, Petronas' earnings help boost government coffers. For the year ended 31 March 2007, Petronas paid RM48.3 billion in taxes, royalties, dividends and export duty.

Malaysians have a right to expect some of the huge profits from oil to be channelled towards lessening the impact of rising prices in the country. The government is certainly not gaining points for the way it's handling the situation.