Building A False Sense Of Superiority

Here is a shocker. Did you know that Khazanah Nasional Bhd has debts in excess of RM50 BILLION !! And all these RM50 BILLION are government guaranteed. Meaning guaranteed by Mrs You and Mr Me. 

Did you read about Arul Kanda's RM5 million salary?  This is beyond ridiculous. These folks are not even worth RM10,000 a month here. There is no risk in the type of work that they did (or still do.)

Do you recall that Telekom guy who was paid RM300,000  a month? That works out to RM3.6 million a year.  And that was a PR guy. Not even an engineer or with an engineering background.

Their jobs are hardly worth RM10,000 a month. Even the Prime Minister YAB Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed earns only RM22,000 per month.

Yesterday another one of these highly paid duds left the office. Good riddance. I think that guy was also paid millions a year.

These GLC folks do not take risks. They are monopolies. Or at best oligopolies. What is so smart about being the MD of Maybank or CIMB or Affin Bank? 

There are only SIX anchor banks allowed in acountry of 32 million people and a GDP in excess of US$500 billion. 

Even a monkey can run a bank in such a protected environment.

That is why Malaysia has no world class bankers.  To create world class bankers you need to create a whole eco system of competitive banks and financial institutions. You will need tens of thousands of banking professionals, finance savvy lawyers, accountants expert in bank audits etc. Then from this eco system the world class bankers and experts will arise. This is what you have in Singapore and Hong Kong. (But even in Singapore the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew made fun of Singaporean bankers who have almost no presence in New York or London. Mr Lee called them 'local players'.)

But how is Malaysia going to become a banking hub or financial center with only SIX anchor banks (meaning only SIX bank CEOs) ?

The same with the GLCs. Khazanah Nasional has RM50 billion debts, all of which are government guaranteed.  What is so difficult about being the CEO of Khazanah if you can get a Government guarantee for your borrowings? 

When I was in banking I lent money by the billions.  Then I left banking and joined an IPP as a Finance Director.  We had to borrow a BILLION Ringgit from the banks.  Suddenly I was on the other side, trying to convince the banks to hand over a billion Ringgit.  You can lose your hair if the banks are tough. I was paid well but not anywhere near a million ringgit.

This is what the GLCs do not have to do. They are divorced from the real market. To do business they are given monopolies and oligopolies. 

If they want money the government just hands over money in buckets (or provides guarantees).  

This type of mollycoddling makes the dream of creating a BCIC (bumiputera commercial and industrial community) even more remote. 

I am sure the bosses of these GLCs who are paid all these millions cannot pass on any business acumen to their children. Because these CEOs are not part of the real business world. It is a cocooned and environmentally controlled business environment minus any real competition. They would not have learned much to pass on to their kids.

Then the high salaries paid to them (which they do not deserve) gives them a false sense of achievement. 

Now these folks are out of a job. I doubt they can find any other job in the real world which can pay them RM300,000 a month or RM5.0 million a year.  

This disaster is a result of poorly thought policy.  During the time of Slumberjack one mamak thought up this "high income nation" idea. It was camouflage, to lull the Malays into thinking that they were now high income.  Then behind the scenes other dubious things were taking off at high speed.  The Malays were indeed lulled. They were high on the "feel good" policies aka easy money policies.

To my Malay friends, some people had really bad intentions towards all of you. They really used you. This is as clear as day. 

UPDATED :  

Khazanah's knickers went "bust" ??

Khazanah RM80m investment in lingerie retailer written off
also investment via private equity to take over a bank
as a result, investment of RM3b written off
at same time, Khazanah reducing stakes in strategic assets