Musa Hitam: Pretender to the throne

By Matthias Chang Future Fastforward

15
th
March, 2013

It was reported in the Malaysia Insider on March 13, 2013 that Musa Hitam
opined that Malaysia will not become bankrupt if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) trumps the
Barisan Nasional (BN) to take Putrajaya. The rationale for making such a
statement was that,

If the opposition were to rule, they would not make foreign investors run away.
They will not do so and bankrupt the economy.

Obviously, Musa Hitams statement was an indirect swipe at Tun Mahathir for
warning Malaysians that a Pakatan Government would ruin the Malaysian
economy.

There are many ways a country and or a company can be bankrupted.

Musa Hitam should know better as he had personal experience in this area of
financial fiasco. He was appointed in 2007 the chairman of Synergy Drive
Berhad, the entity which arose out of the newly formed merger between Sime
Darby, Guthrie, and Golden Hope Plantations. But, the company subsequently
reverted to its original name, Sime Darby Bhd.

It was under his watch as chairman of Sime Darby Bhd that the company
suffered massive losses amounting to billions of ringgit. Following the financial
fiasco in Sime Darby, most of the directors resigned to take collective
responsibility even though the CEO was singled out for the mess and was
charged in court. But, the Board of Directors was there to guide and monitor the
company led by Musa Hitam himself.

But, he did not resign to assume a share of the responsibility. He only resigned
much later. One would have thought that he should be the first to resign.

It is precisely that when wrong persons are at the helm that financial fiasco
occurs. And when they continue to lead, more fiasco would result.

Now, Musa Hitam is not without experience. He was a former deputy Prime
Minister and since his resignation has other experiences in the corporate field.

It is common knowledge that the Chairmanship of major GLCs are political
appointments and given mainly to former senior civil servants and politicians.
Such appointments are usually made with the blessings of the prime minister. If
during his watch at Sime Darby, there was a major blunder resulting in multi-
billion ringgit losses, what more at the national level if the wrong person is at the
helm. I am sure Musa Hitam would agree that Anwar Ibrahim is a lesser leader
when compared to him. And this proved to be true in the late 1990s.

Musa Hitam is not suffering from dementia so he should be able to recall that in
the 1997/1998 Asian Financial Crisis, Anwar was the Finance Minister and had
the country adopted his policies, which were essentially that of IMF and World
Bank, Malaysia would have suffered irreparable harm to its economy and a
whole generation of Bumiputera entrepreneurs would have been financially
liquidated together with businessmen of other races. Tun Mahathir, the then
Prime Minister had to contend with the systematic global campaign to malign our
countrys efforts to plot our own path of recovery and not to follow the
prescription offered by the IMF and World Bank. And as they say, the rest is
history. With hindsight, the same critics that lambasted Tun Mahathir had to eat
humble pie and admitted what Malaysia did was correct under the leadership of
Tun Mahathir. Even Harvard University acknowledged the contribution of Tun
Mahathir.

Musa Hitam tried helming Sime Darby but failed miserably. He could not emulate
the successes of Tun Mahathir, the right man at the helm of the economy in
1997/1998. And, as a result we were spared a major financial debacle!!!!!! In 22
years of his premiership, Tun Mahathir transformed Malaysia and this has been
acknowledged by world leaders. But, the same cannot be said of Musa Hitam.

I am sure Musa Hitam has not forgotten this important lesson in financial
management. But, his misplaced ego is such that he cannot admit to the fact as
he has a chip on his shoulder perceiving himself to be intellectually far superior
to his peers. This, in essence is the reason for his political demise. He is a sore
loser and cannot accept till today that he is far inferior in all aspects to Tun
Mahathir.

In saying that a Pakatan government would not bankrupt the country, Musa
Hitam is making a belated attempt to get into the good books of Anwar Ibrahim
with a view that he may be given a role in such a government.

God forbid. Musa Hitam cannot even manage a company, but he wants a second
chance to steer the direction of our country by pinning his hopes on a Pakatan
victory. Such is his ambition and duplicity.

Dream on!