Dr Ngau is a board member of the Pengerang Independent Terminals, a Petronas joint venture with the Johor state government, the Netherlands’ Royal Voipak and local oil and gas company Dialog Group. At the same time, Dr Ngau is also the co-founder and major shareholder of Dialog Group.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Dr Ngau Boon Keat sits in the committee that approved the RM25 billion Petronas joint-venture project, the Pengerang Independent Terminals in Johor. Dr Ngau also sits in the board of Pengerang Independent Terminals Sdn Bhd. Dr Ngau is also the co-founder and major shareholder of Dialog Group, a partner in that joint-venture.
Is that not what we call conflict of interest? And would not in some countries Dr Ngau Boon Keat be arrested and charged for corruption and be sent to jail for a long time?
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Malaysian energy giant causes stir over need to move Chinese graves
Celine Fernandez, The Wall Street Journal
State-owned oil and gas giant Petronas is facing an outcry by some southern Malaysians whose ancestors’ graves are being moved from a small cluster of Chinese cemeteries to make way for a $25 billion gas project. One Chinese farmer walked 500 miles to protest.
So far, more than half of the graves have been dug up and moved to a plot of state land, sparking at least nine lawsuits and the walk by farmer Chua Peng San (pic below). Eight of the lawsuits have been successful; one is still pending.
The farmer, from Pengerang, a rural coastal area in the south-western tip of Johor, walked to Parliament and Petronas headquarters, both in Kuala Lumpur.
“Before I left, I prayed at my ancestors’ graves. I told them to give me the strength to complete the walk,” said Mr. Chua, 49, whose feet were swollen and blistered after an 11-day trip that ended June 11.
Mr. Chua says he has three family members buried at one of the 38-acre cemeteries. Some of the graves date back to 1876.
Many Chinese people believe that the way people treat their ancestors will affect their own fortunes in this life. Mr. Chua fears that moving the graves will bring “bad luck” to his family and others as well.
The graves that have already been moved elsewhere were done so with consent of the relatives.
The Petronas project includes a new shipping terminal in Pengerang, which hopes to compete with Singapore, and a 6,000-plus acre crude oil refinery.
The Pengerang Independent Terminals, a joint venture among the Johor state government, the Netherlands’ Royal Voipak and local oil and gas company Dialog Group, will provide storage tanks for shipping companies, which will sell shipped-in natural gas and oil to Asian energy traders. Malaysia will have its own storage tanks as well to use some of the natural gas and oil.
Meanwhile, Petronas’s refinery will have 300,000 barrel-per-day crude oil refining capacity. Its startup date is early 2019.
Petronas declined requests for comment about the graves.
Ahmad Fauzi Toran, head of development for the Johor Petroleum Development Corp., the coordinator of the project, says the local government has no choice but to relocate the graves for Petronas because they are located where crude and LNG storage tanks will be and will need strict security.
“Just imagine the number of pipelines, crisscrossing within the area itself,” Mr. Fauzi said. “It is for the safety of the people as well. … We hope they understand and appreciate why such relocation is necessary.”
All graves are being located to a single cemetery – where – that will also have a place to store cinerary urns and a temple.
The state government turned to a feng shui master to help pick the new cemetery for those bodies being moved. The state government has provided priests for both ends of the journey. And it has paid as well for granite tombstones, coffins, or urns in cases where relatives wanted cremation.
But plenty of people don’t share Mr. Chua’s displeasure with Petronas’ need to relocate the graves. About 1, 526 Muslim graves in five cemeteries were moved last year, apparently without protest. And even Mr. Chua greets the prospect of more jobs and revenue for local businesses related to the project.
When he ended his walk, Mr. Chua handed a plea to several members of Parliament, asking them to bring the relocation of the Chinese graves up for debate.
Teo Nie Ching, an opposition member of Parliament, said she would bring the issue up – but not until October, when the body next meets.
But the remaining graves have to be moved by August, Mr Fauzi says.
Mr. Chua holds out hope that Petronas will figure out a way to save the cemeteries.
“Why must (Petronas) take this plot of land? … Today, in the name of development you want to destroy this heritage. That is not fair.”
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Dr Ngau Boon Keat is the co-founder and major shareholder of DIALOG and has been with the Group since 1984. He was appointed to the DIALOG Board on 2nd January 1990 and is currently the Executive Chairman of DIALOG, Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, ESOS Committee and Risk Management Committee.
He is a board member of Kertih Terminals Sdn Bhd, Centralised Terminals Sdn Bhd, Pengerang Independent Terminals Sdn Bhd and BC Petroleum Sdn Bhd. He is also the founder and trustee of MyKasih Foundation, and director of International Conference and Exhibition Professionals and Johor Petroleum Development Corporation Berhad.
He is a Malaysian, aged 65, and holds a Bachelor Degree (Hons.) in Mechanical Engineering and an Honorary Doctorate in Engineering from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He is a member of the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia and the Institution of Engineers, Singapore. He is also a Registered Professional Engineer with the Board of Engineers, Malaysia.
He began his career in 1972 as a Refinery Engineer with Mobil Singapore Pte Ltd. He worked at PETRONAS from 1975 to 1980 where he held various positions from Production Engineer to Engineering Manager. He has more than 41 years of working experience in both upstream and downstream of the oil, gas and petrochemical industry.
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