IT has been proven time and again – and the examples are one too many – that Singapore would ‘cuddle with open arms’ human talents that Malaysia discard.
It is not that our southern neighbour is a good talent scout; they do so based on pure common sense.
Singapore knows that if it is unable to outclass its northern neighbour by merit of size – Malaysia is easily 450 times bigger than Singapore – it can outdo the latter by virtue of brain-power.
Above all else, Malaysia is not a good breeding ground for meritocracy to thrive – meritocracy is often crippled on the grounds of ethnic, creed or political alignment.
Former International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Darell Leiking was spot on when he attributed the short-sightedness to lack of supportive government policies and an unresponsive attitude towards new ideas.
On the same account, it has to be accepted that Singapore has the knack to separate the wheat from the chaff – the country is willing to invest dearly on good talents by offering lifetime opportunities or out-of-this-world incentives which are hard to resist.
In its quest to harness loyalty – to both the employer and island nation – Singapore has no qualm to dish out permanent residential status with perks of sorts to the right manpower.
Therefore, news that Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s (Petronas) former president and CEO Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican had retired as Sembcorp Industries Ltd’s independent and non-executive director recently only brings back un-fond memory.
Looking back, one wonders how Malaysia could lose a genius whose expertise is sought after the world over except by his nation of birth.
Despite having clocked 68 years of age, Hassan has been acknowledged as a rare breed of oilman.
Helming Petronas from 1995 until his retirement in February 2010, Hassan possesses a wealth of experience in the energy sector as well as being equally apt in finance and management.
After all, he was instrumental in propelling the state-controlled company into a Fortune 500 oil and gas multinational corporation. In fact, the 2015 World Oil & Gas awards honoured Hassan with the prestigious lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the sector.
Diversity should be a fertile ground to breed gifted icons but Malaysia tends to allow these individuals to slip out of its borders, either failing to acknowledge them or unable to grant them the right opportunity to harness their talents.
Faced with a brain drain scenario, Malaysia has to endure the irony of digging deep into its reserves only to find capable-yet-tainted individuals to fill up corporate vacancies as in the case of Bank Pembangunan Malaysia’s newly appointed chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak.
One wonders if Hassan is willing to consider yet another round of ‘national service’ to his motherland. Recall that he was appointed by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as a member of the Council of Eminent Persons of Malaysia in the aftermath of the 14th General Election in 2018.
After all, he may still be preoccupied with his portfolios as chairman of SP Group (formerly Singapore Power), Pavilion Energy, Lan Ting Holdings and Mh Marican Advisory while holding directorships in Sarawak Energy Bhd and Lambert Energy Advisory. He is also a Senior International Advisor at Temasek International Advisors.
Hassan’s bitter sweet experience with his motherland bears semblance with that of MyTeksi – an upstart for-profit, taxi-hailing service back in July 2011 – which morphs into a behemoth called Grab valued at US$40 bil (RM160 bil) or nearly 70% more than the market value of Malaysia’s largest listed company, Malayan Banking Bhd.
Like Hassan, MyTeksi grew regionally but for reasons not publicly disclosed moved to Singapore while changing its name to Grab along the way. – April 27, 2021
