Thursday 10 May 2007

Malaysia's Corporate Disease: GLCs such as PETRONAS with Racist Policies

From Reader of Malaysiakini: "Seetha"

"...I am sick and tired of this bumiputera policy and when an institution like Maybank decides to apply discriminatory policies based on racial bias then it has no business of having my money.

Having worked in MNCs and GLCs I can confirm that the "support bumi" mentality is so pervasive that the GLC and MNC managers are willing to sacrifice quality, customer service, business growth, productivity and in some cases corporate governance in order to support the bumis.

Each GLC now has to have a Bumiputera Vendor Development programme that must develop businessmen from one race only.

In one instance, one company in Kedah dumped a well-performing supplier of Chinese descent and appointed a Malay supplier who failed to provide the requisite service in time or quality, and then had to do a Ali-Baba joint venture with the Malay supplier seeking rent rather than adding value.

The problem seems to be, knowing that they will get the contract no matter what, the Malay contractors or service providers put their legs up and take it easy, thus destroying the quality of products and services rendered to these GLCs.

However no CEO of any GLC has the guts to do anything as their own term is limited to two to three years and they had better behave or their term would not be renewed.

I will be terminating my Maybank account (current and savings) which I have held for 20 years with effect from July 1, 2007. The bank should be acquiring the services of the best lawyers it can get to serve its customers but instead it has chosen race as the criteria.

Maybank is just the latest of this tragedy.

  • From: Reader of Malaysiakini: Vevelus

    All this hue and cry about discriminatory policies is just a tip of the iceberg.

    It is well known that the policy of the government is to provide contracts to bumiputera companies.

    This practice is on-going in the healthcare industry where we have to deal with the Ministries of Health, Finance and Education.

    Only bumiputera companies are given supply contracts for equipment and consumables.

    Construction contracts for new hospitals are also given to bumiputera-controlled companies.

    The policy of Maybank, which is a GLC company, is basically to continue a policy that has been set by the government.

    There is no denying this, as this was a policy set forth from the time of our former premier.

    PETRONAS - MOST RACIST GLC OF ALL

  • FROM: Reader of Screenshots: "ordinarperson"

    "..What Maybank proposed to do is pale in comparison to Petronas policy.

    Under their vendor developement programs, all those in this program has to be 100% bumi owned & operated.

    This is just the 1st teir vendors. 2nd teir vendors (or other vendors) have to have minimum of 50% bumi equity AND 50% of all level of staff has to be bumis, including management and excutives level.

    All vendors who wants to deal with Petronas has to apply for Petronas License and bumi equity, and percentage of bumi personnel is one of the main criteria.

    The descrimination policy stops NOT only on the vendor level. It extends even to the sub-vendor level.

    When a tender is called, one of the tender requirement is to reveal the sub-vendor's bumi equity & the percentage of bumi personnel within the sub-vendor's organisation.

    I know about this policy because I have personnaly seen similar discriminatory clauses written in Petronas tender document as a requirement.

    Not only Petronas impose such discriminatory on it's vendors, they also dictate all the other oil & gas operators in Malaysia to practise & impose such policy on their respective vendors, as well as on the operators themselves.

    I guess people from the "S" (red & yellow clam shell) and, "E" or "M" (blue & read wording in their logo) operators can tell you more about this....

    These cooked up policy from Maybank is nothing new in the banking industry. It's even worst in the oil & gas industry.

    Why?

    Because PETRONAS dictate all these bumi/non-bumi discriminatory policies in the whole of Malaysia.

    Find me the most recent petrol station owner, and I can tell you, 99% he/she/they are bumi majority. Find me a vendor, any Petronas' vendor, and I will tell you they are majority owned by bumi. "

  • MUST READ !! FROM: Reader of Malaysiakini: C.H. ONG

    "...Maybank's policy that legal firms must have at least 50 percent bumiputera equity in order to qualify for appointment to it's panel of lawyers is similar to that being practised by other GLCs over the years.

    However the other GLCs do not announce their discriminatory policies. They simply implement such policies. I have not come across Petronas service stations being operated by non-bumiputeras.

    I am a non-bumiputera professional in private practice without a bumiputera partner and my professional services are NOT welcomed by Petronas.

    Because of Petronas' discriminatory policies I have stopped patronising Petronas service stations.

    If only all non-bumiputera Malaysians stopped patronising Petronas service stations, then perhaps the Petronas management will rethink their discriminatory policies.

    I used to buy petrol from BP service stations but since BP has been bought over by Boustead, I have stopped patronising them. I don't even know what they are called now. The reason is that I found out Boustead's property division also practised discriminatory policies when appointing consultants.

    In the early eighties, when Sime Darby's property division was headed by a non-bumiputera (an Indian gentleman), I was appointed to provide professional services. As soon as bumiputeras took over, my services were no longer welcomed and required.

    Also in the early eighties my company was a customer to bumiputera company. This company was an associate company of Island and Peninsula. However when I approached Island and Peninsula with the intention of getting my company registered as a provider of professional services, I was told clearly that my services were not welcome because my company did not have any bumiputera partners.

    I then did some research and discovered that generally the so-called GLC property companies being run by bumiputeras practise discriminatory policies. Since then I have never considered buying any property from such companies.

    All the above are facts which I am aware of. All these GLCs may well be practising other discriminatory policies which I am not aware of and which I shall not speculate on.

    I have been a customer of Maybank, for both banking and credit card services, for more than 25 years. Since Maybank has decided to openly practise discriminatory policies, I have also decided to take steps to terminate my accounts with Maybank, and I shall definitely let them know my reason for terminating my accounts.

    I believe that if all non-bumiputeras let all these GLCs know how they feel about their discriminatory policies, by way of action and not just words, then perhaps they will not be so arrogant. ..."

  • FROM: Racial Discrimination in Malaysia: Read here for more on WorldPress.org (posted: March 29, 2006)

    "...There is a list of statistical data detailing racial discrimination in Malaysia, practiced by the government and its agencies. This list is an open secret. Its existence is best verified by government itself since it keeps the statistics.

    Figures in this list(see below) are merely estimates, so please take it as a guide only.

    The government of Malaysia has the most correct figures. Is government of Malaysia too ashamed to publish their racist acts by publishing racial statistics?

    This list covers a period of about 48 years since independence (1957).

    List of racial discriminations (Malaysia):
    (1) Of the five major banks, only one is multi-racial, the rest are controlled by Malays.

    (2) 99% of PETRONAS directors are Malays.

    (3) 3% of PETRONAS employees are Chinese.

    (4) 99% of 2000 PETRONAS gasoline stations are owned by Malays.

    (5) 100% all contractors working under PETRONAS projects must be of Bumis status.

    (6) 0% of non-Malay staff are legally required in Malay companies. But there must be 30% Malay staffs in Chinese companies.

    (7) 5% of all new intake for government police, nurses, army, are non-Malays.

    (8) 2% is the present Chinese staff in Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), a drop from 40% in 1960.

    (9) 2% is the percentage of non-Malay government servants in Putrajaya, but Malays make up 98%.

    (10) 7% is the percentage of Chinese government servants in the entire government (in 2004); a drop from 30% in 1960.

    (11) 95% of government contracts are given to Malays.

    (12) 100% all business licensees are controlled by the government, e.g. Taxi permits, Approved permits, etc.

    (13) 80% of the Chinese rice millers in Kedah had to be sold to Malay controlled Bernas in 1980s. Otherwise, life is made difficult for Chinese rice millers.

    (14) 100 big companies set up, owned and managed by Chinese Malaysians were taken over by government, and later managed by Malays since 1970s, e.g. UTC, UMBC, MISC, etc.

    (15) At least 10 Chinese owned bus companies (throughout Malaysia in the past 40 years) had to be sold to MARA or other Malay transport companies due to rejection by Malay authorities to Chinese applications for bus routes and rejection for their applications for new buses.

    (16) Two Chinese taxi drivers were barred from driving in Johor Larkin bus station. There are about 30 taxi drivers and three were Chinese in Oct. 2004. Spoiling taxi club properties was the reason given.

    (17) 0 non-Malays are allowed to get shop lots in the new Muar bus station (Nov. 2004).

    (18) 8000 billion ringgit is the total amount the government channeled to Malay pockets through ASB, ASN, MARA, privatization of government agencies, Tabung Haji etc, through NEP over a 34 years period.

    (19) 48 Chinese primary schools closed down from 1968 - 2000.

    (20) 144 Indian primary schools closed down from 1968 - 2000.

    (21) 2637 Malay primary schools built from 1968 - 2000.

    (22) 2.5% is government budget for Chinese primary schools. Indian schools got only 1%, Malay schools got 96.5%.

    (23) While a Chinese parent with RM1000 salary (monthly) cannot get school textbook loan, a Malay parent with RM2000 salary is eligible.

    (24) All 10 public university vice chancellors are Malays.

    (25) 5% of the government universities' lecturers are of non-Malay origins. This percentage has been reduced from about 70% in 1965 to only 5% in 2004.

    (26) Only 5% has been given to non-Malays for government scholarships in over 40
    years.

    (27) 0 Chinese or Indians were sent to Japan and Korea under the "Look East Policy."

    (28) 128 STPM Chinese top students could not get into the course to which they aspired, i.e. Medicine (in 2004).

    (29) 10% quotas are in place for non-Bumi students for MARA science schools beginning in 2003, but only 7% are filled. Before that it was 100% Malays.

    (30) 50 cases in which Chinese and Indian Malaysians are beaten up in the National Service program in 2003.

    (31) 25% of the Malaysian population was Chinese in 2004, a drop from 45% in 1957.

    (32) 7% of the Malaysian population is Indian (2004), a drop from 12% in 1957.

    (33) 2 million Chinese Malaysians have emigrated in the past 40 years.

    (34) 0.5 million Indian Malaysians have emigrated overseas.

    (35) 3 millions Indonesians have migrated to Malaysia and become Malaysian citizens with Bumis status.

    (36) 600,000 Chinese and Indian Malaysians with red IC were rejected repeatedly when applying for citizenship in the past 40 years. Perhaps 60% of them had already passed away due to old age. This shows racism, based on how easily Indonesians got their citizenships compared with the Chinese and Indians.

    (37) 5% - 15% discount for a Malay to buy a house, regardless whether the Malay is rich or poor.

    (38) 2% is what new Chinese villages get, compared with 98% - what Malay villages got for rural development budget.

    (39) 50 road names (at least) had been changed from Chinese names to other names.

    (40) 1 Dewan Gan Boon Leong (in Malacca) was altered to another name (e.g. Dewan Serbaguna or something like that) when it was only officially used for a few days. The government tries to shun Chinese names. This example of racism occurred around 2000.

    (41) 0 temples/churches were built for each housing estate. But every housing estate got at least one mosque/surau built.

    (42) 3000 mosques/surau were built in all housing estates throughout Malaysia since 1970. No temples or churches are required to be built in housing estates.

    (43) 1 Catholic church in Shah Alam took 20 years to apply to have a building constructed. But they were told by Malay authority that it must look like a factory
    and not like a church. As of 2004 the application still have not been approved.

    (44) 1 publishing of Bible in Iban language banned (in 2002).

    (45) 0 of the government TV stations (RTM1, RTM2, TV3) are directors of non-Malay origin.

    (46) 30 government produced TV dramas and films always showed that the bad guys had Chinese faces, and the good guys had Malay faces. You can check
    it out since 1970s. Recent years, this has become less of a tendency.

    (47) 10 times, at least, Malays (especially Umno) had threatened to massacre the Chinese Malaysians using May 13, since 1969.

    (48) 20 constituencies won by DAP would not get funds from the government to develop. These Chinese majority constituencies would be the last to be
    developed.

    (49) 100 constituencies (parliaments and states) had been racially re-delineated so Chinese votes were diluted for Chinese candidates. This is one of the main reasons why DAP candidates have consistently lost in elections since the 1970s.

    (50) Only 3 out of 12 human rights items are ratified by the Malaysian government since 1960.

    (51) 0 - elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (UN Human Rights) has not been ratified by Malaysian government since 1960s.

    (52) 20 reported cases whereby Malay ambulance attendances treated Chinese patients inhumanely, and Malay government hospital staffs purposely delayed attending to Chinese patients in 2003. Unreported cases may be 200.

    (53) 50 cases each year whereby Chinese, especially Chinese youths, are being beaten up by Malay youths in public places. Police reports may be checked to verify this, provided the police took the report, otherwise there will be no record.

    (54) 20 cases every year whereby Chinese drivers who accidentally knocked down Malays were seriously assaulted or killed by Malays.

    (55) 12% is what ASB/ASN got per annum while banks fixed deposits are only about 3.5% per annum.
    There are hundreds more examples of racial discrimination in Malaysia to add to this list of "colossal" racism.

    The Malaysian government should publish statistics showing how much Malays had benefited from the "special rights" of Malays and at the same time release the statistics which show how minority races are being discriminated against.

    Hence, the responsibility lies in the Malaysia government itself to publish unadulterated statistics of racial discrimination.

    If the Malaysia government hides the statistics above, then there must be some evil doings, immoral doings, shameful doings and sinful doings, like the Nazis, going on with the non-Malays of Malaysia.

    Civilized nations, unlike the evil Nazis, must publish statistics to show its treatment of its minority races.

    This is what Malaysia must publish.

    We are asking for the publication of the statistics showing how "implementation of special rights of Malays" had inflicted colossal racial discrimination onto non-Malays. ..."
  • 1 comment:

    muststopthis said...

    Au contraire, I would like to support the Maybank policy.
    You see, since my wife and I went through some really tough times, (I was retrenched by IBM and she was terminated from MAS due to her third pregnancy), we have had some legal issues to settle with the banks.

    If Mybank insist on their bumiputra policy, when we well know that this may affect their performance, so be it. This way, my legal cases with the banks may also be prolonged due to their inept!

    Ok, now this is joke, and not like the ones the monkeys said in parliament.

    Personally, I know of two Malay Lawyers, who gained my respect.
    They both have their values right, and they are extremely helpful!

    Syabas, Malik & Harris!
    Take a bow! And I know you would't like to be associated with this kind of policy!