The World As I See It

Umno Youth head Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein [who is also the Education Minister] said the appointment of a foreigner to lead a nationally-owned company could be likened to allowing the country to be recolonized, albeit in a new manner. "Don’t look at it purely from the commercial aspect but we should look at the bigger agenda, that is the Malay Agenda." - Malaysian News Agency BERNAMA

Amid the ongoing spat of whether to let MAS and PROTON appoint a foreigner (more precisely a non-Malay) to the post of CEO, thanks to Mr Lim Kit Siang, a Malaysia opposition lawmaker, I have just learned that up to 2003 Singapore Airlines (a government-linked company, highly regarded worldwide) was run by a foreigner for 29 years. The foreigner is a MALAYSIAN CHINESE Dr. Cheong Choong Kong, who was picked by Fortune magazine as Asia’s Businessman of the Year in 1998, for SIA’s ability in having an "unbroken 27-year record of profitability through turbulent economic times". At the heart of the debate is discomfort over questions of race.

An editorial in The Sun Newspaper argued that "the priority is not the nationality, race or sex of the CEO. We must simply pick the right person for the job, a person who for the sake of Malaysian taxpayers can help set MAS on a course of sustained profitability. If it is a Malaysian, good. If it is a foreigner, so be it".

"The UMNO youth proposal for the NEP revival is short-sighted for it can only drive the potential Cheong Choong Kongs from our shores." - Lim Kit Siang

"In a way, we are a good neighbour to many countries because we diligently practise ‘prosper thy neighbour’ policy by directly or indirectly encouraging many of our talented citizens to leave the country to serve other nations. Besides palm oil, petroleum, and other products, Malaysia generously exports trained citizens - citizens prized by other nations but intentionally discarded by its own motherland." - Malaysiakini