Happy Chinese New year of the TIGER.

I would like to wish all my chinese visitors of this blog HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR OF THE TIGER. May 2010 be a very good year for all of us.

Terima Kasih Hassan Merican.

Yesterday was a sad in the KLCC area as it is the last day in office for Petronas CEO Hassan Merican. Mainstream media reported some of the Petronas staff cried. It is always my belief that CREDIT must be given when it is due especially when a person have done a great service to the country and his services is not appreciated by the PM. After completing my HSC in St.Johns Institution in 1980,I was offer a job as an audit clerk in June 1981 by the accounting firm of Hanafiah,Raslan and Mohamad (HRM). The person who offered me the job is none than Hassan Merican who at that time was the staff partner of the audit firm based at 7th Floor Bangkok Bank Buliding.

I will also express my greatest appreciation to the late Tan Sri Basil Ismail who is the person responsible for recruiting Hassan into Petronas.In 1984, Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad(BBMB)was badly hit by the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal due to corruption by its directors and certain of Malaysia top politicians at that time. In order to keep BBMB afloat,Petronas money was pumped in and Tan Sri Basil who was then the chairman of Petronas was installed as chairman of BBMB. As HRM was the external auditor for BBMB, the partner in charge was Hassan Merican.Both of them was instructed by the then PM Tun Dr Mahathir to clean up the mess in BBMB.After completing the job in BBMB, Hassan took up Basil offered to become Vice President Financial Services of Petronas and the rest as they said is history.

I would like to take this opportuinity to say " TERIMA KASIH " to Hassan Merican for the following reasons:-

Firstly, for giving me a job. I was young and inexperience then but I have learned and gain a lot of experience during my 5 years at HRM.

Secondly,For making Petronas the only FORTUNE 500 COMPANY in Malaysia.

Thirdly,for making Petronas as a company that break record profit year after year. Petronas currently sponsor 45% of Malaysia govt budget and The bonds issued by Petronas is currently rated higher than the bonds issued by the govt of Malaysia in the international financial market.

Lastly, for being a "NO MAN" unlike Amokh in Khazanah who is a "YES MAN" to the PM. Thanks for being brave to say NO to the UMNO politicians.Thus,it make Petronas a great company.

Currently,the only worry is whether Petronas will become another PERTAMINA especially when the new Chairman and CEO is known to BE A YES MAN.I hope that Hassan will DECLINE Najib offer to be the PM oil and gas adviser.

4 MAIN REASONS why HASSAN CONTRACT NOT RENEWED.

As it is widely known,PM Najib did not renewed the contract of Hassan Merican as CEO and Chairman of Petronas. They are 4 main reasons for it and it is as follows:-

Firstly, Hassan is NO "YES MAN". He is very independent in making decisions for the good of Petronas and he does not take any NONSENSE from politicians especially those from UMNO. For this he DOES NOT SEE EYE TO EYE with Najib and he has step on the toes of many Umno politicians. Because of his independence Petronas have become the only Fortune 500 company from Malaysia. The ONLY THING PAK LAH DID CORRECTLY during his time as PM is to leave Hassan and Petronas ALONE.

Secondly,Hassan objected Najib nomination of Omar Ong as a director of Petronas because Omar Ong defaulted on a study loan from Petronas. As Petronas come under the PM Dept,the PM have the final say and Omar Ong was appointed as a director.

Thirdly, Hassan made one of the best commercial decision for Petronas by sponsoring Mercedes F1 team instead of Tony Fernandes Lotus F1 team which have the backing of Najib. This sponsorship into a championship winning team was enhanced when Michael Shumacher signed for Mercedes.Furthermore,Mercedes will use Petronas Syntium lubricants for all mercedes cars in India,Turkey and China.It will not be surprising if Mercedes and Shumacher win the 2010 F1 championship with the racing package it has. It is also not surprising to see Lotus not winning and close shop after the 2010 F1 season due to financial difficulties as Lotus was expecting sponsorship from Petronas of US 85 Million to finance their F1 season.

Fourthly, as long as Hassan is in Petronas,he is an obstacles and a hindrance to Najib when Najib make decisions and policy in Petronas base on political consideration to consolidate his power.

Finally ,it is sad that a CEO who did a fantastic job is given the boot whereas a CEO who lost Billions of public money through Khazanah Nasional was given a new 3 year contract. Currently, the govt is on the verge of Bankrupt and Petronas being the richest malaysian company that contribute BILLIONS ANNUALLY (40 percent of govt revenue) to the govt cannot afford to lose this great CEO. In the end, IT IS MALAYSIA LOST BUT NAJIB GAIN.

Petronas Hassan Contract NOT RENEWED.

The latest new in the market is that Hassan Merican (who did a fantastic job) position as Chairman and CEO of Petronas which expire in February will NOT BE RENEWED. It is well known that Hassan does not see eye to eye with PM Najib who is trying to put his men into the board of directors of Petronas. When Najib nominate his crony Omar Ong as a director of Petronas,he received fierce resistant from Hassan who rejected Omar Ong nomination.This make Najib angry and he forced Hassan and the board of Petronas to accept Omar Ong as a director of Petronas. As Petronas is under the control of the PM dept,Hassan and the board have no choice but to agree to the PM order. As a chartered accountant, Hassan is known to be independent in making decision for the good of Petronas and thus,he have step on the toes of many BN politicians especially those from UMNO. Hassan made a good and brave decision in SPONSORING Mercedes in F1 instead of Lotus F1 and this make Najib good johannian friend Tony Fernandes very angry. As Hassan will be a HINDRANCE to Najib in Petronas,it is not surprising that his contract is not renewed. It is also rumoured that Hassan will join Anandan Krishnan as a director in Maxis and Binariang.

BIG TROUBLE at CALVARY - The RICHEST Church in Malaysia.

Readers of the blog know that I do not blog on matters relating to religion.But today I am going to blog about the GREAT FINANCIAL TROUBLE of CALVARY - The RICHEST Church in Malaysia.

I first came across about Calvary Church in 1985 when I read the financial accounts of the church for 1984. The first item that catches my eye was in the balance sheet and it shows that the church have RM 500K in FIXED DEPOSIT at that time. It does not surprise me in 2004 when a customer of mine who is the church member told me that CALVARY CHURCH bought a piece of land which is beside the Bukit Jalil Golf Club from Berjaya for RM 25 Million.It also does not surprise me that the church will bulit a RM 100 Million convention center as I always believe that the church will be able to honour its obligations. I am a golfer and I always go to Bukit Jalil driving range which is directly beside the land under construction of the Calvary Convention Center.Surprisingly, in April this year construction work at the site stop for the second time as a result of no payment to the main contractor Nam Fatt. I did some checking and found out that the first stoppage is due to technical matters but the second and current stoppage is due to the inability of the church to pay the main contractor Nam Fatt. The church is having financial problems due to mismanagement of funds by the top management of the church.A police report was lodged this year on the mismanagement of funds and the members are demanding for accountability and transparency over the use of church funds from the church Board of Deacons. Unless the church is able to raise funds,it will not be able to complete the construction of the convention center as the cost have escalate by RM 50 Million to RM 150 Million because of increase in material and other construction costs even though this project is schedule to complete in October 2009. Currently, the project is only 55% completed. In this difficult economic environment with a weak stock market and many members quitting the church,it will be a huge task for CALVARY to raise the necessary funds to complete the convention center.It was also alleged by the group of members calling themselves the Truth,Transparency and Good Governance Group that substantial church funds was transferred to the personal accounts of a top church official. A deacon of 11 years Dr Lum was sacked in Nov 2008 for speaking out against the Board of Deacons on how the church funds are managed.

The problems of the Church is small compared to the financial problems of the govt of Malaysia which is on the verge of BANKRUPT as result of massive corruption.