The Mara Corp issue - PN's litmus test in championing the socio-economy of the people

THE latest crisis at MARA Corporation has been widely circulating and reported by the media over the past few days.

Although not as sensational as the downfall of PN’s Perak MB, it certainly does not bode well for the Perikatan Nasional government.

It was reported that Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of MARA Corp, Dato Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, a stellar Malay corporate figure who is well-respected both locally and internationally, who also is an alumni of MARA Junior Science College (MRSM) Taiping, has been suspended from office despite having served for just about 3 months.

Now the news that he has been replaced, vis-a-vis a letter from the Minister, by Dato Suhaili Abdul Rahman, a member of the Bersatu Supreme Council, who has no background in developing a conglomerate the likes of MARA Corp, worth around RM400 million, has been confirmed by the new 'Executive Director' himself.

Unfortunately, Dato Suhaili currently has no authority to speak because his position as the Executive Director of MARA Corp is still not validated!

MARA Corp is subject to the Companies Act 2016, therefore, any change of position at the highest level must be approved by the Board of Directors and the MARA Council, even if it is implemented in accordance with the powers of the Minister enshrined under Section 5 of the MARA Act.

Therefore, even if it is true that Dato Suhaili's appointment has been agreed to by the Minister of Rural Development, Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad, he has no authority to act as the Executive Director of MARA Corp as yet, despite giving a press statement as the so, until his appointment is confirmed.

It is also understood that the Board of Directors of MARA Corp and the Council of MARA have not yet convened to confirm the leadership status of MARA Corp.

This is no trivial matter, as even the Minister is obliged to follow the law, what more his appointed Board Member like Dato Suhaili.

If the PN government is sincere in its intention to strengthen the Bumiputera economy, the law must be respected in addition to good governance practices, especially to prevent the event of misappropriation of Bumiputra development funds, as it once involved MARA subsidiaries in the past, again! Adding to the economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MARA Corp's role as MARA's commercial wing becomes critical.

Back to the issue of the suspension of Dato Badlisyah, while the investigation is being carried out on the allegations against him, it is only temporary.

If Dato Badlisyah is found not guilty, then he should return to the position of CEO of MARA Corp.

Internal investigations usually do not take too long.

So, why did Dato Suhaili hastily maneuver himself to the position of the new Executive Director? Should he be appointed as Dato Badlisyah's position is not yet resolved?

It is not only hilarious, but also ludicrous for all parties involved, including the Minister, if Dato Suhaili's seat in the Executive Director's office did not have time to warm up, he had to leave with Dato Badlisyah back on duty!

Apart from that, the question that begs to be answered - was Dato Suhaili himself among those who accused Dato Badlisyah of the allegations against him?

If this is true, it raises questions also in terms of the integrity and motives of Dato Suhaili because he is deemed to benefit from the accusation against Dato Badlisyah.

This question is also not trivial because it raises questions about the integrity of Dato Suhaili, who is better known as a politician, besides having questionable integrity issues in the past.

In fact, can Dato Suhaili take on the task of developing MARA Corp which will receive more MARA company assets to the multi-million ringgit level?

It turns out that Dato Suhaili’s credentials are nowhere near to that of the corporate figure Datuk Badlisyah who is 12 years younger than him.

Worse, it raises the question of the sincerity of the PN government as well, if the chosen one to lead the commercial wing of the sacred agency MARA, a person who is clearly incapable of implementing the agenda of empowering the Bumiputera economy.

Dato Badlisyah is clearly the more capable here.

If it is decided no longer viable for Badlisyah to serve, surely there must be other Malay corporate figures who can step in to lead the management of Mara Corp - based on capability and his suspicious actions, surely Dato Suhaili is not the answer.

This Mara Corp issue has once again set back efforts to develop the socio- economy of the Malays. Prior to Dato Badlisyah's appointment, MARA Corp was without a GCEO for more than a year.

The Pakatan Harapan (PH) MARA Council wanted to shut it, then it was disrupted for another month under the MARA Council appointed by PN.

Almost all political appointments of the MARA Council have been changed except Dato Jamelah Jamaluddin, now the Chairman of the MARA Investment Committee.

Almost all MARA Corp staff have left their positions ahead of Dato Badlisyah's appointment. His success in rebuilding the MARA Corp executive team with exciting Malay talent in such a short time should be commended, but instead, it has been spun up as an excuse to set him aside!

Shall this be yet another showcase of how time, effort and resources to uplift the Malays has been squandered by poor judgement by so called 'Malay Leadership'?

The economic empowerment of the Bumiputera is not the monopoly of any party, the Malays and Bumiputeras will always observe the political leadership in particular to assess the sincerity of leaders.

The people are sick of the jostling of power.. especially among the young, tired of the rhetoric of the struggle of the Malay economy.

They have had enough of political leaders seizing property, capacities, opportunities and space for themselves, family and cronies while spouting the rhetoric of Malay economic struggle. Is this what is currently happening at MARA Corp?

The Malays are for now watching... will the powers that be risk them passing judgement?