MISC to be delisted soon?

I am sad to learn that the company I had worked for almost 30 years, Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Berhad (MISC) may soon be taken private by its holding company, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas). The local shipping giant has, since its listing in 1987, been one of the biggest public companies on Bursa Malaysia in terms of market capitalisation.

 

MISC was incorporated in November 1968 with the late Tun Dr. Ismail as its first chairman. He was later replaced by a prominent businessman, Mr. Robert Kuok, who is now having the distinction of being listed as the richest Malaysian. Sometimes, Malaysian as well as foreign newspapers mistakenly refer to him as Tan Sri Robert Kuok, perhaps they get mixed up with his brother Tan Sri Philip Kuok. Some quarters claimed that Robert declined to accept any title and preferred to remain as a plain Mr. Robert Kuok. After Robert's departure, the chairmanship passed on to Tan Sri Tengku Ngah, Tan Sri Raja Muhd Alias (who preferred to be adresssed to as RM Alias), Tan Sri Hassan Marican, Dato' Shamsul Azhar Abbas and now Datuk Manharlal Ratilal. The last three are Petronas nominees.

 

MISC started shipping operations in 1970 with two ships bareboat-chartered from the Government of Malaysia, who in turn received them from the Government of Japan as "blood debt" payment arising from atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army in Malaya during World War II.   

 

MISC acquired the specialised and highly expensive LNG vessels in 1981/82 but could not trade them immediately because the Petronas LNG plant in Bintulu, Sarawak could not be completed on time. The French-built ships had to be mothballed in Sweden until the plant was commissioned in 1983. The laid-up vessels cost lots of money and MISC incurred quite heavy losses. Many politicians from both sides of the political divides jumped on the bandwagon to criticise MISC's management for being "over-ambitious", "wasteful" and "imprudent". Needless to say these very same politicians were deafeningly silent when things later turned around and MISC's LNG shipping business became a saviour when some of its other business lines (particularly liner) were bleeding.       

 

It became Petronas' subsidiary in 1998 following a corporate exercise that saw the national oil company injecting its wholly owned subsidiary, Petronas Tankers Sdn Bhd (PTSB) into MISC at the cost of almost RM6 billion, which was satisfied through the issuance of 859.9 million ordinary shares at RM6.96 per share. With this injection, MISC became the world largest owner/operator of LNG ships as ownership of these vessels has since been parked under one entity as opposed to two previously

Election Date Guessing Game

While waiting for our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib to announce the very much anticipated date for the dissolution of parliament, suddenly his Australian counterpart Julia Gillard sprang a surprise not only to her fellow Australians but also the world by announcing that the general election will be held in September, an unusually lenghty notice of eight months. There have been various comments, both pros and cons, on her decision, but the Australians will surely have more than ample time to plan their affairs, a luxury not available to us in Malaysia.

Compare this with the US. Its presidential election must be held on the first Tuesday of November in the leap year, while the inauguration of the President elected in that November election will take place on 20 January of the following year. This year it fell on a Sunday but the business went on as usual as if it had fallen on a weekday. During the oath-taking, the newly elected President took the oath while holding the bible. What happens to “render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s”. Also held on the same day as the presidential election are elections for the entire seats in the lower house (House of Representatives) and for one third of the seats in the upper house (Senate). The US Senate really lives up to its status as the upper house of the Legislature as it is vested with enormous powers to act as check and balances against Executive actions. A good case in point is the current confirmation hearing of Cabinet nominees proposed by President Obama. While John Kerry was easily confirmed (perhaps due to his "good" records) as Secretary of State, Obama's nominee for Secretary of Defence, Chuck Hagel is still under severe examination by a Senate Committee. A point worth mentioning: Hagel, a Republican is being nominated by a Democrat President.  

Back to the local scene. I think PM Najib might as well let parliament run its full term in April. There is no difference between dissolving now and letting it to expire in April, a mere two months. There is no need to move the Agong to sign the dissolution order, record it in the gazette and attend to other administrative procedures. It could save stationery costs as well!! The various state legislative assemblies should follow suit.