Serious roles demand professional processes and respect to the Chairmen/CEOs

• Government needs to be transparent & professional in how technology agency CEOs chosen
• Respect the process, respect the individuals picked to lead to raise the bar on performance

Being CEO/Chairman of leading government agencies in the technology sector have always been hot button seats that demand confident and experienced leaders at the helm.

But the always quiet, some would say, secretive way of picking these leaders leaves plenty of room for rumor mongering, back biting, maneuvering and lobbying. Unsurprisingly, this then leaves a question mark over the appointed candidates. Was the best person chosen for the job?

It has also caused the jobs of at least two leaders, who were identified by media as incoming CEOs to Digital Nasional Bhd (in 2023) and Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd (2022), before their official announcements were made. Both offers were quietly withdrawn by an irate government. The respective ministries – Ministry of Finance for Digital Nasional and Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation for Cradle - did not have to make any announcements as nothing was official in the first place. But one can imagine the frustration and pain felt by the affected parties.

News of Dr Rais Hussin’s appointment as MRANTI (now called TiPM or Technology innovation Park Malaysia) CEO was also broken by the media one week before the official announcement on 8 Oct. Fortunately that did not affect his appointment.

Nonetheless, the current manner of making these appointments is frankly unbecoming of such serious roles which demand serious and transparent processes.

And then there is the lack of professional courtesy shown to some agency leaders when their contracts are up. In this case, the telco industry will tell you that the Communication Ministry since end 2002 has been particularly guilty of. Nuraizah Abdul Halim had served as chairman since 1998 and was keen to have her contract extended but only found out after 5pm of her last day in early 2004, via fax (Gen Z readers, Bing it please) that she would not be renewed.

It happened again in Dec 2014 when then chairman and CEO of MCMC, Sharil Tarmizi was informed by letter, on his last day that he would not be renewed. He was appointed in Oct 2011.

As a former MCMC chairman explained to me, “All appointments as Chairman have a two year period. The law allows for a maximum of five renewals.”

All chairmen go in knowing when the last day of their tenure is. “Until you get a new watikah (as each appointment is referred to in the national language of Bahasa Melayu) then your tenure ends naturally on the given date.”

As this chairman was not informed of any new watikah, he left on his last day after 6pm. He did not receive a letter thanking him for his service – “truly a national service,” he quips.

Hopefully, Fahmi Fadzil the Minister of Communications will raise the bar and make the process transparent and professional.

And there is at least one precedent for such levels of professionalism in 2015 when the chairman of MaGIC (Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre), Irwan Serigar, who was also secretary-general of the Ministry of Finance, set up a committee of four – two MaGIC board members and two members of industry, and publicly announced they would be selecting a new MaGIC CEO to replace Cheryl Yeoh who resigned before her contract was up. Ashran Ghazi was the eventual unanimous first choice of the selection panel, which submitted two names to the government.

MDEC on tenterhooks over its CEO

And now I get to the main point of my commentary. (And yes, it has taken me a full 12 paras to do so.)

At least Mahadhir Aziz, CEO of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation got treated better. He was officially informed last month by the Ministry of Finance Inc (MDEC is a company under MOF Inc) via a letter to the MDEC chairman that his contract, which ends Aug 31, would not be renewed. According to an MDEC executive, Mahadhir or Madeq as he prefers, will be having an unscheduled town hall on Tues to announce the decision and thank MDEC staff for their support.

Many of these staff have been on tenterhooks for the past few months with speculation swirling internally on whether Madeq will get a contract extension or who will replace him; of the MDEC Board pleased with his performance, of the Board not pleased and then of the Board telling Digital Minister, Gobind Singh Deo, under whose ministry MDEC reports to, and MOF Inc, that it supports a contract extension for Madeq.

This has inevitably led to rumors of some internal and external candidates being considered, of Madeq being predictably upset with those apparent internal candidates, and of opinions internally about how he has performed as CEO during his three year tenure.

I’m not going to go there but I know such rumors swirling, as early as six months before a CEO’s contract is up, is not healthy for an organization nor speaks well of its culture. Especially, a key agency such as MDEC with a headcount of around 750 (mostly full time with around 300 being contract staff hired to execute specific projects) that is spearheading an accelerated push by the government for the country to be a digital economy leader with even Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim frequently speaking about the need to power ahead in the digital economy as a key pillar of the country’s economic strength.

Let Gobind have a strong say in next CEO

While it is MOF Inc and by extension, the Minister of Finance who have the final say in who is appointed to replace Madeq, as the new CEO will be working very closely with Gobind and the Digital Ministry, I hope that Gobind, who is a very serious man and is scoring high marks from industry in his work as Digital Minister, gets a strong say in who should lead MDEC next. Not the final say, as I understand that with how MDEC is incorporated, MOF Inc has that final say.

As for the current three names being mentioned, there is familiar face Dzuleira Abu Bakar, the former MRANTI CEO who is highly regarded by the startup ecosystem; Azizah Aziz, who is that rare breed of executive who has spent their entire corporate career in one organization, in her case, almost 27 years at Microsoft Malaysia where she is now COO, and then Shah Sidek, who is a bit of a mystery as to why he is said to be in the running as well. His LinkedIN profile shows him to be Regional Director, ASEAN, International Data Centre Authority and also recently appointed Board member of Dataprep Holdings Bhd. It could be his strong international experience that saw his name suggested.

I’m told two of the three had an interview with MOF, while one had a conversation with Gobind. One of them is also weighed down by negative comments their spouse has made on social media against the government and Prime Minister Anwar.

Finally, I am told that a decision should come in the following week and that it may not even be one of the three currently in the spotlight. So, your guess is as good as mine. And for such an important role, we should not be having to waste time guessing and engaging in rumor. Make the process transparent and clear. Enough of the rumors and undermining. Let’s get serious and professional.