Copyright Notice

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author, at the address below.

Sakmongkol ak 47

ariff.sabri@gmail.com

Tuesday 15 June 2010

New man at Sime Darby


Tun Musa Hitam, chairman of beleaguered Sime Darby, has announced that Mohd Bakke has replaced Zubir Murshid. Who is Mohd Bakke? He is hailed by the papers as:-
"Mohd Bakke is highly regarded in the corporate sector. Prior to his appointment at Felda Global, Mohd Bakke served in various capacities within Government-Linked Companies and Government-Linked Investment Companies.
We hope Mohd Bakke is what he is. He is a graduate of LSE. He has all the marbles. That should put him in good stead.
It was also reported that his appointment has raised serious misgivings among the rank. This is a recurring problem with many of the government GLCs. The conventional wisdom is to bring in outside talent without thinking of the demoralising effects in that organisation. What about the in house talent?
This means that years of training, years of cultivation with the Sime Darby ethos bear no effects on in house talent.
This usually leads to the new broom sweeps fast syndrome. The quickest way to clean the books will be carried out through the Chainsaw Al Dunlap way. Or nearer to home, the head-hunter Jala Way. Sack staff, sell off assets, sell noncore businesses to cronies of course, do so some creative accounting.
The other way of course is to sack the entire dissident forces which dare to raise misgivings. Then the new man can craft a new way of working for Sime Darby.
Experience with GLCs mean nothing to public spirited members of the public. We have seen many of these much touted blazing guns creating nothing but destructive impacts.
Mohd Bakke's experience with Felda Global ventures or whatever does not erase the fact that Felda hasn't got its cash reserves. I mentioned in a short essay, that from 4.3 billion cash reserves, Felda has RM200 million cash reserves. Even that I hear is no more. Felda is borrowing from EPF.
If Bakke has been that good, those things would not have happen would they. So don't BS us with this talk about who he is. We are interested in what he can do now at Sime Darby. While at Tabung Haji I hear what Bakke was fantastically fast at was to secure placements for VIPS to perform the Haj pilgrimage.
Since he has plantations experience, we urge him to remove the false information that the problem with SD is confined only to energy and utilities division. Its plantation businesses are severely affected by labour shortages and un-harvested fruits. Money doesn't grow on trees in SD's case. The money need to be plucked and transported to the mills.
While we wish Mohd Bakke Godspeed and best wishes, we caution the public into believing the hype with these guys with GLC training. Remember what Chief Zed said to all the candidates who failed to become MIB agents:-
Zed: Gentlemen, congratulations. You're everything we've come to expect from years of government training. Now please step this way, as we provide you with our final test: an eye exam...

15 comments:

Anonymous,  15 June 2010 at 10:03  

Dato',
Do you know where we can get access to Felda's accounts? Try and try but cannot find

Anonymous,  15 June 2010 at 10:43  

Dato'
Hahahahaha.... from RM 4.5 billion to RM 200 million and yet being selected to be head of SD.
Bolih masuk akal ke? Macam mana tak kena kutuk?
Please don't crack your head or Brahim Ali will say that he is a "true Malay"!!!!!
Hidup hidup cari makan Dato' orang Felda mana tahu!!!

Anonymous,  15 June 2010 at 11:34  

A must read article on Malaysia. The writer has praised Sakmongkol here.

http://kenyannomad.blogspot.com/2010/06/building-society-through-defeatism.html

Anonymous,  15 June 2010 at 12:22  

Rotating old chairs, Why can't they get someone outside these stupid GLCs

Quantum Metal Consultant 15 June 2010 at 12:24  

Bukan salah ibu mengandung, yang kena pergi dan yang baru datang bukan calang2 orang. Semakin tinggi calang2nya semakin hebat 'jalangnya' di hujung nanti.

Kertas Siasatan dari segala bapak audit sekalipun hanyalah 'buying time' dan pertukaran 'orang baru' sekadar tukar tali kasut.

Jom kita ramai ramai kena tipu.

Anonymous,  15 June 2010 at 12:52  

Congratulations to Mr Bakke for his appointment as the Sime Darby CEO.His appointment should be welcomed;not because of his own capability but because it will preclude the appointment of others such as Khalib,Wahid,Yusli,Izaddin,Shahril,Rahman,Zaki,Ismee and many others.

Bakke will do the least harm whilst we pray that PM Najib will see through Khazanah's PR based consultant intensive management and restructure Khazanah's leadership into one that can really bring in genuine business leaders into their fold.

If PM Najib does not take action accordingly , there will be changes anyway post PRU 13

Anonymous,  15 June 2010 at 13:13  

I am quite happy to note that Msia is being proactive in "saving money".For instance,we now have an "Energy RoadMap" and LEO.We also have PTM BEI which is really fantastic.For all the less acronymistic challenged pls read>
http://www.pmo.gov.my/?menu=speech&news_id=153&page=1676&speech_cat=2
These people are wonderful..they just keep saving tons and tons of money whilst creating fantastic acronyms..

A bit about BEI...before BEI we are using 150 KWh per m2 per year.With the introduction of BEI it goes down to 65KWh/m2/annum i.e a savings of 85 KWh/m2/annum.

Applying the BEI savings to our new "Istana Negara" (the one that cost only 670 per ft2 even tho the cost of RM 650 million seems quite big).

Based on the numbers the floor area of the Istana is almost one million sq feet.The savings achieved by the launching of BEI is RM 3 million per annum i.e 100 lowcost house per annum just on the savings of electricity.Applause...

By the way the cost savings on construction compared to 1600 per ft2 for other istanas is almost 1 billion i.e 30,000 low cost house for 150,000 rakyat to stay in.

Kudos to Govt for introducing BEI and saving 3 million in electricity bills per annum.This is indeed a forward thinking progressive government.

Anonymous,  15 June 2010 at 13:57  

Dato Minister Nazri has said there is no more money for PSD students because we are broke. Yet we have RM800m for a new palace, money for a new parliment, running F1 etc etc etc..where are our priorities as a country? God help us. Pls say something!!

Anonymous,  15 June 2010 at 14:30  

Dato,
No disrespect to Mohd. Bakke. But, anyone appointed by the current board of Sime Darby simply has no credibility to begin with?

Donplaypuks® 15 June 2010 at 14:34  

What's really pathetic is that Bakke appears to have been nominated and championed by Musa Hitam, having rejected promotion candidates from within SD!!

And therein lies the danger. What's MH's motive? Another cover up?

MH and the rest of the Board of Directors involved in the $1.7 billion Bakun loss as well as hundreds of millions in Qatar etc., should all be cleared out lock, stock and barrel and be replaced with truly independent and professional qualified directors!

dpp
we are all of 1 race, the Human Race

JohorMali,  15 June 2010 at 15:31  

Dear Dato'

Bodoh! Kayu! ! Stupid!
Fire him!What a f*#&!
Not a team player!
My pregnant grandmother can do better!
Any kampung or estate boys can outshine them!....

No, Datuk...I'm not talking about the politicians or the GLC's.. its about the World Cup!

Quiet Despair,  15 June 2010 at 16:38  

Good choice. A fresh face to turn around Sime.
It should not be Azhar or any other SD top-guns since they may be implicated in the SD fiasco.
Bakke has the right credentials, being a LSE grad and Fellow of the Institue of Chartered accountant of England and Wales.
He is said to be a hands-on man, very result-oriented and not publicity seeking.
He has managed to turn around Tabung Haji and has positioned Felda into a formidable world's largest fully integrated palm oil group.
Let's wish him all the best. Pray that he will reinforce Sime as one of Malaysia's cash-cow venture.

P.S. Who is Chief Zed?

Quiet Despair,  15 June 2010 at 16:42  

JohorMali

I Pahang Mali.

How did your grandma get pregnant? Please tell us.

Anonymous,  15 June 2010 at 21:22  

Anyone care to choose.....

1. do the job well and end the contract earning basic salary --- meaning retired a pauper. Children have to start all over again to look for jobs.

or

2. Be negligent cause lots of billions loses and maybe pick up a couple of that and forced to take leave .....nothing more to enjoy the fruits for generations.

Which is better?

which would you choose?

That is Malaysian system and Malaysian way of punishment... take leave.

Anonymous,  17 June 2010 at 00:49  

Quiet despair, Chief Zed is the boss in the movie Men In Black. You are a Bakke fan?? Let see SD on self destruct mode when he takes over...

TH - Tabung Hancur

  © Blogger templates Newspaper III by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP