All the Buzz about PETRONAS appointments – initial thoughts
I am very sure the reading public must have read some stiff opposition over some possible appointments of high office with PETRONAS.
PETRONAS of course as everyone knows and will come to know, came into being sometime in 1974. The principal protagonists of the creation were the PM then, Tun Abdul Razak, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who went on to become the 1st Chairman, Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan who was then active as an oil trader. Tun Salleh Abbas was responsible for drafting the PDA – Petroleum Development Act – which ushered the creation of PETRONAS and the various regulations that control the oil and gas industry in Malaysia.
It confers, by LAW, sole monopoly to the government through PETRONAS, over the oil and gas business in Malaysia. So before we go on singing over-exuberant praises to PETRONAS, let us take stock of the fact that it is a near monopoly. Unless you are an imbecile and flounders at the management of this august institution – the mother lode of Malaysia's revenue source, PETRONAS remains a sustainable entity.
