Monday, July 15, 2013

So, who's Felda Global Ventures boss from tomorrow?




Sabri


Tan Sri Sabri Ahmad's contract as the Group CEO of FGV ends officially at midnight tonight but for all intents and purposes, it came to an abrupt and premature end in January 2013, just months after its world-class listing, when someone announced the appointment of a CEO-designate by the Middle Eastern-sounding name of Emir Mavani.
 Emir
We still don't know who wanted Sabry out in such haste - Isa Samad the chairman, Najib Razak the Prime Minister, or some unseen hands pulling strings from behind both men - but the Emir emerged from virtually nowhere (ie Pemandu) to become the CEO-in-waiting of the world's third largest plantation giant.  
It hasn't exactly been a harvest yet for Emir, though, and things are threatenening to get worse before they get any better. If they get better at all, that is. The blogger Big Dog, long a defender of the largely Malay-Muslim Felda settlers, has been leading the charge on an Emir-picking mission ever since the very shocking announcement of Sabri's forced departure, culminating in the story about how Mr Emir purportedly brought Mrs Emir to recent top-level FGV meetings. Clearly, Mavani is not the most popular outsider in FGV, where at least two generations of settlers reckon it's time a Group CEO is chosen from among them. 
Now a strong rumor has it that the powers that be are listening to the settlers. Tomorrow, I was told, Emir may not clock in as CEO after all and that a genuine Anak Felda (son of Felda), who is currently one of the top executives of the company, will be named as Sabri's replacement. 
Wallahualam bisawab. It could be wishful thinking in this holy month of Ramadan, we'll see in a few hours time. 
In the meantime, here's wishing that Sabri gets well soon to pass the baton to the new FGV boss. And, oh yes, thanks for the RM16 million payout!

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:04 am

    Boikot Plaza Low Yatt di Bukit Bintang KL.

    Kalau peniaga Melayu mohon kedai di situ, management cinapek Low Yatt akan bakul sampahkan.

    Saya sendiri pernah jadi mangsa. Mereka akan beri ruang2 rata2 kepada bangsa cina.

    Buy minyak masak Saji Felda, buy chinese last!

    kiasu

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  2. Isa is an underdog with blemished record. Hence, an underdog will take an underdog not one smarter or of better record. The psychology is perhaps such people having a weakness is hardpressed to prove otherwise apart from easy tutelage.

    This is also akin to Najib's style. The wife being aggressive may partake and shine. He is also an underdog who takes in an underdog who takes in an underdog!

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  3. Anonymous11:08 pm

    At the end of the day, "Dr" Mavani triumphs! I guess our Malaysian Prime Minister feels that the best person to run FGV is someone who misleads people about his PHD, without any corporate experience and no background in Plantations at all.... Mostly he makes dubious deals. Thank you Mr Najib for giving us employees of FGV the best that Malaysia has to offer.

    To paraphrase your slogan... 1 Malaysia, Rakyat dihulukan, Pencurian Diutamakan

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  4. People have been complaining that the Govt always put in politician to ran the GLCs instead of Corporate people. Now that the govt has put in a corp guy, they’re still complaining. Give Dr Amir a chance, give FGV a chance, give the Govt a chance. Dr Amir has his track record. You don’t need an inside person (who is only familiar with local matters) to ran a global giant like FGV, you need a corp guy who has global business knowledge to ran FGV. Let Dr Amir delegate to his subordinates who are familiar with local matters to ran local operational matters.

    ReplyDelete