Friday, June 02, 2006

LAST SHIV

Dismal share prices won't dominate NST's annual general meeting on June 27.

The group will announce the departure of veteran journalist P.C. Shivadas from the Board of the New Straits Times Press Bhd. Shiv has been a director for 8 years.

At the AGM, the group will get a new Chairman, too. Yes, the good General's term will not be renewed.

Shivadas' departure is not unexpected. For a while now, his frequent incursions into the editorial floor, spent talking and listening to editors' views and grouses, have not endeared him to some of the more influential members of the Board.

Will Kalimullah Hassan, the Deputy Chairman, take over the helm from the General at the AGM?

It is a chance to accomplish what was previously unthinkable. No Group Editor-in-Chief of the NSTP had gone on to become Editorial Advisor and Chairman of the Board.

It's also a chance to finally restore the "martabat and maruah" of the NSTP. Or, at the very least, bring back the shine to the share prices.

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:41 pm

    Bru, shiv is the last link in the chain. he's the last of the old, original nst's true blue journalish to hold on hold. he preceded kadir as ge of nstsb. he was "victim" of the 1987 purge. he paid the price for publishing an editorial condemning operasi lalang penned by rehman rashid.

    kadir kept shiv on his editorial team until kadir himself was shown the door in 2000. when kadir became geic in 1998, he recommended shiv for NSTP board and Lam Thye for TV3 board.

    with the kadir era long gone and the nstp had seen three GEIC, the fact that shiv survived thus far speaks volume of the man's acceptance to all and sundy EXCEPT the Kaliyuga era.

    Bru, let's all attend the NSTP AGM. Remind others of the date. Who knows, there's good door gift and food. That's all we can expect from the company in the Kaliyuga age. Let's ask some pertinent questions.

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  2. Anonymous12:09 am

    its time the management did something to bring back the shine into the nst, the share prices especially. its time to clear the nst of the old guard and bring more dynamic people into the company. but bringing in new blood doesn't mean bringing in idiots. they should have cleared out the general a long time ago. nst doesnt need a general, nst needs a doer.

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  3. Anonymous11:31 am

    TumpangSekaki


    NSTP can do what ever they like. We are still giving attention to NSTP because its still belongs to Malays and Umno, it closes to our heart and soul, unless we agree NSTP has no value to us anymore. The moment the Malays make decision to ignore NSTP, then they will have a big headache.
    Rock, I think its time to change almost everyone in the group. Those who think you are not performing up to the mark, please give up your post. Firstly, CEO kena bagi saham naik balik sampai sekurang-kurang RM4 dan pastikan bisness naik macam dulu. Moral staff jatuh teruk sebab Company selalu buat wrong priority. Buat VSS lepas tu ambil orang baru. Apa ni? Buat apa renovate opis kalau kita rugi. Now orang kata ada pihak yang ada interest dari supply perabot hinggalah kontraktor. Semua ni kena jelaskan kalau tidak staff hilang hormat pada U semua. Kami mahu gaji, bukan opis macam istana. GEIC orang tak kenal sebab tak ada credential, jauh tinggal di belakang dari semua sudut such as thinking, ideas, judgement, understanding issues, critical thinking, handling crisis, berbanding group editor lain like Dato A Kadir Jasin, Dato Ahmad Sibi, Dato' A Nazri Abdullah, PC Shivadas, the late Dato' Nordin Sopiee, Dato' Munir Majid, Dato' Ahmad A Talib, even Hardev Kaur and Sallehuddin Othman. Di Utusan macam Dato' Zainuddin Mydin, Dato' Johan Jaafar dan Dato' Khalid Mohamad, tak boleh nak bersaing. Bila bergambar dengan Mawi, kita nampak Aura Mawi lagi hebat.

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  4. Anonymous12:48 pm

    Shiv had it good till the last. I will remember Shiv as the gentleman who was also responsible for recruiting me as a reported and encouraged me to write as good as I can back in the 1980s. He was too good in the end and that was his downfall. There wasn't enough ruthlessness in his gentle streak but he was a sharp analyst of good reporting and sensible writing. As for Kali, well, all you guys might be wary of his motives and agenda but if he can bolster the share prices to beyond RM5 a piece, I won't care if he converts NST into Disneyland!

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  5. Anonymous5:26 pm

    NST's share....kah kah kah....ha....ha...ha...wah...wah...wah...
    what? Up. Don't pull my leg lah...ha..ha..ha...
    Yes lah....Up 1 sen lah...just now..now go down again lah...keep...keep...no lah...I want to sell lah....no...no...don't sell..yoy keep...and buy somemore and keep...don't buy now...buy when the price go lower than now..I don't wanty to tell you how much...we wait and see lah.

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  6. Anonymous5:41 pm

    TumpangSekaki said...
    Bru, sedih bila share jatuh...CEO and GEIC kena bantulah naikkan semula. Inilah peluang terakhir awak berdua untuk buktikan awak berkemampuan untuk memulihkan syarikat. Macam mana kami nak jual, kalau harga lebih rendah dari harga beli. Dah lah gaji naik seciput...apa guna contact yang banyak tu...gunakan lah. Gambar selalu keluar surat khabar tentulah semua big companies dah kenal siapa you all. I rasa U berdua mampu naikkan semula imej syarikat sebab U berdualah yang ada executive power. Datuk Kali tak ada apa...dia menempel je....tak ada executive power pun. Don't listen to him pun tak apa. Make your own decision.

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  7. Anonymous12:23 am

    Myfriend, the unthinkable is also the untouchable.Kalimullah anak Hassan. Had always wanted the NSTP for himself.After kicking out Shiv and the good General, the way is clear for the dep chairman to take control of the board. We saw that months ago.NSTP share price has never reached this low before, according to old timers who's been there since Jalan Pudu days.The new board is an extension of ECM Libra, which in turn is an extension of some people's personal agenda. Shiv wouldn't be able to do anything at the board, but at least he cares. The sabotaging of the Malay agenda is now complete.The new board will help to promote the Spore agenda. Share price will go down further. The CEO is a puppet, with no guts or creativity to turn the company around. What Tun Razak did by way of giving birth to the New Straits Times, is now destroyed.And UMNO leaders watch in collective silence. My friend, what is your ESOS worth now? Kesian..

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  8. Anonymous1:31 pm

    start your own newspaper bro..gua support u 101%

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  9. Anonymous7:30 am

    shiv is but one of the many fine gentleman editors of the nstp. bandit is right. shiv does not have the killing instinct. he's too nice, too gentle and to accommodating for the ruthless journalism world. we are lucky to have some of the finest and most committed editors, the likes of late tan sri lee siew yee, tan sri samad Ismail, late tan sri nordin sophie, datuk samad said, datuk ahmad sebi, datuk a kadir jasin and datuk ahmad talib. even the idiosyncratic tan sri abdullah kok lanas was tolerable. for most of them, journalism was their life and death, bread and butter. i don't think the nstp is in that ere and league anymore. today, i hardly read newspapers. i want to spend my twilight years seeking wisdom. there's not much of it in today's commercialised and sensationalised media environment, when ceo doubles as editor. that is the case with my old paper, the old malay mail. good luck shiv and good fortune to all ex-nstp colleagues out there.

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  10. Anonymous1:08 pm

    Bru, did you read the star report today? uncoordinated transfer of domestic routes from luckless and fatherless, mas to the darling of putrajaya, airasia may lead to massive tourist cancellation. this is the price of manipulation or, more appropriately, menipu-lation, by the people around the PM. the ecm libra crowd and the menteris who received millions airasia ipo shares.

    Jala of mas wrote to PM to warn that mas is not ready for the transfer. PM ignored it. Fernandez wrote to PM to say airasia is ready. PM okeyed it. Jala and fernandez sent their letters on the very same day. the letters are widely circulated.

    if you're money making machines like ecm libra and the corrupt officials, why bother about mas. it's an old chow kit prostitute. airasia is a new gro in town. there's capital gain to be made in airasia shares. mas shares is junk.

    i think PM should have the courage to close down mas and give everthing to airasia and maybe some to asmara air. bru who owns asmara air? cronism, keluargaism, kawan-kawanism. No wonder anwar ibrahim, pas and dap are having a field day.

    sarawak people may enjoy lower electricity tariff (now they pay moe than us in peninsular) had the adbullah government not cancelled the bakun project. sime darby stands to lose more than RM100 million as a result of the cancellation.

    no wonder sarawak voters rejected bn on so many places.

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  11. Anonymous6:59 pm

    well, well. It was a matter of time before shivadas goes... i mean, logically, do u think kalimulah wants him to remain. shiv is very much the "old NST" element on the board. kalimulah wants full control. Yah yah.... he told the whole world when he was stepping down as GEIC. Some people believed. Some, who knew Kalimulah sowell, did not. But, he did..only to get himself made deputy chairman. do you think kalimulah wants out of NST? NST is POWER to him.
    Shiv. all the best. Remember, you are leaving with your reputation intact... more than I can say for some "pretenders" in the NST.

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