Present/CEO, Charman?

And so they announced it. The hotspot goes to Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas, a MISC pensioner as a new President/CEO of PETRONAS. Datuk Shamsul Azhar age 57 is a former CEO of MISC Bhd, a subsidiary of PETRONAS and will replace Tan Sri Hassan effective 10 Feb 2010, the day we supposed to present our TP roadmap to Yayasan. I just wonder what will happen then…

TEMPORARY PLATFORM

I believe Datuk Shamsul Azhar do have a vast experience considering has was a VP of Oil, Petchem, Upstream and Maritime & Logistic during his service with PETRONAS. But my question was why do you need to replace a 56 year old, healthy with a very good business minded person of Tan Sri Hassan? Is it obvious that Tan Sri has been disrespectly taken out from his position, after all the contributions and commitment to PETRONAS all these years. Or Datuk Shamsul Azhar will be just a stepping stone/temporary platform for Najib’s man to enter into PETRONAS’ management? Datuk Anuar and Wan Zul, jangan berharap la….

Tun Mahathir has earlier signaled his ‘discomfort-ness’ for one to replace Hassan, which he describes as a person who dynamically reinvented PETRONAS to be a very successful Malay corporate company in Malaysia and the world (New Seven Sisters). The question is will Tun M blows as in the case of Tan Sri Tengku Mahaleel? I think he won’t do that cos’ Tun Abdullah was also a 'temporary platform' before Najib entered the PM Office…

SUDAN

I remembered the last time I was in Sudan, I’ve been advised should I enter into some difficulties with the Sudanese, just mention that you are from PETRONAS and they will spare you. Not even Malaysia! That’s how Tan Sri Hassan managed to portray the company’s image in the eyes of the world.

Whatever it is as a PETRONAS’ staff, I’m just hoping that the company will flourish and further developed irrespective siapa pun yang menerajuinya. However, it is clear that PETRONAS should continue to be managed by professionals and free from people who have ‘different’ motives. This includes politicians and political appointments to chair the BOD and top executive positions. I’m quite sure other PETRONAS staff will agree to this statement too.

P/s – Tan Sri Hassan, thank you for everything and I wish you happy retirement (pls jgn terima tawaran Presiden/CEO 1Malaysia pulak). Datuk Shamsul Azhar...welcome back!