People say Tan Sri Hassan Marican's appointment at Singapore Power is classic Malaysia brain drain problem. I say, "Tan Sri, spread your wings and go make Malaysia proud!"

Many of my friends say that Tan Sri Hassan Merican appointment’s as chairman of Singapore Power is an epitome of Malaysia’s brain drain problem especially in the back of World Bank warning of the increasingly severe brain drain problem in the country. I say, check carefully the World Bank’s definition and compare it with Tan Sri Hassan’s CVs. 


Brain drain is about migration (hints; permanent employment. emigration). In the good Tan Sri’s case, chairmanship is not exactly permanent employment especially that it is not an executive position (SP has a CEO position). I would argue that Tan Sri Hassan 's appointment it’s not an example of brain drain but a rare case of a global, towering Malaysian–Muslim–Malay. It should not be lamented but celebrated. He never actually left Malaysia. The last time I check, he is still involved with Sarawak’s SEB and SCORE, ECER, IMT-GT and god knows how many more local companies, charities and foundations that he’s in. Technically, his knowledge, competencies and know-who never really left the country. In the past, they were solely for Malaysia. Now he is sharing them with the world – with ConocoPhillips, with SembCorp etc. etc. etc. Please don’t bring Tan Sri Hassan’s name into this whole brain drain issue. I feel that when people (especially politicians) comment his SP appointment, it brought Tan Sri’s name into a disrepute. I think it just inappropriate to say that Tan Sri Hassan ply his trade in Singapore because Malaysia can't offer better opportunity or that he is sulking from his Petronas "ouster" that would probably put him in the mould of Mitt Romney or Nicholas Anelka. People who migrate has been/can be labelled as unpatriotic and Tan Sri Hassan is definitely not one! I say it is a crime to humanity to let talent like his remain stuck in this country.  Did you see the list of SP’s BoD and management team?; All are (probably) Chinese and his Muslim-Malay name stuck like a sore thumb! (sorry…playing the racial card a bit here).   

He left Petronas in a much-publicized spat with PM Najib. I am sure there were some truths in it though I feel in 20 years of service with Petronas, surely he had an even more serious spats with the PM institution. I feel that there is a combination of factors him leaving Petronas. And a big one would be the death of Tan Sri Azizan. The duo was perhaps THE best tag team in our corporate world (the honours now fell to Tony-Kamarudin) His untimely death must have made an impact to Tan Sri Hassan. Wallahualam.

Still, I think the World Bank report is another slap on the face to Talent Corp specifically. Stories from overseas describe their arrogance, incompetence and plain apathy to the needs of overseas Malaysian. (Who's advising them anyway? McKinsey, Hewitt?) But most importantly, I think Talent Corp’s business model itself is flawed. Instead of focusing to bringing back our talents, Talent Corp should focus on globalizing them. Instead of asking them to leave Sillicon Valley, the greatest IT hub in the world for MSC(!?), assist them to start projects in India, Singapore, London and Malaysia. In this case, we are bridging them to their roots but at the same time expanding their horizon. The game is no longer about Made in Malaysia. The world is flat….it should be about cloning more Tan Sri Hassans.

Tan Sri Hassan appointment though is interesting. Come to think about it, his board seat in SEB is perhaps part of his learning curve on the utilities sector to tackle the energy industry on the whole. Last year Petronas bought a 30% stake in GMR that hold retail electricity license in Singapore, their first dabbling into utilities. TNB 4^th Quarter loss RM493 million and the impending CEO Che Khalib retirement means that TNB is ripe for a major restructuring. Khazanah (fire)sale of its non-strategic investments and its under weight holdings in energy sector despite the immense potential means it is readying its coffers. Now that Tan Sri Hassan is chairing the corporate board of SP, he is now in the direct position to influence the company’s direction. And YTL is awfully quiet. Don’t forget San Miguel too with its Phillipines, Mahathir-clanship connection. So this is my bet; Khazanah (and Petronas), using its newfound friendship with the all-powerful Temasek will maneuver an ambitious plan to create Asean’s and most probably the world’s biggest utility company (TNB is already connecting power cables between Sumatera and Peninsular Malaysia). I am sure someone would have read the always brilliant Friedman’s piece predicting the coming of an energy crisis. So I am sure green technology will be the focus (a role for Lynas?). A cross merger of TNB-SP will of course create more polemic but the cards are in place. If you play the stock market, you should be closely watching all the utility players.