Tan Sri Hassan Marican Gets Singapore Job

Dear Reader,

Until 2010, Petronas, Malaysia's state-owned petrol company, was helmed by Tan Sri Hassan Marican. After having left Petronas, Tan Sri Hassan was appointed to Singapore's Sembcorp Industries on that same year. Recently, The Malaysian Insider reported that Tan Sri Hassan Marican has been appointed to the board of several Singapore government-linked companies and will be appointed to head Singapore Power Limited (SP) in June this year.

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 — Ex-Petronas CEO Tan Sri Hassan Marican is set to become chairman of Singapore Power Limited (SP) in June succeeding Ng Kee Choe who will retire on June 12, according to Energy Asia. The news portal that focuses on the energy industry reported this yesterday, citing the island republic’s utility giant.

Marican, who left the national oil company at the beginning of 2010 allegedly due to friction with the Najib administration, has been accepting directorships with several foreign firms in the energy sector.

Among them are Singapore government-linked companies including SembCorp Industries Limited, SembCorp Marine Limited and Singapore Power, which he joined on February 15, 2011. He is also a director at Sarawak Energy Berhad and US oil and gas giant ConocoPhillips

(Source: The Malaysian Insider, Ex-Petronas Chief to Helm Singapore Power Giant. 15th February 2012. URL: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/print/business/ex-petronas-chief-to-helm-singapore-power-giant/)


In response, the opposition Member of Parliament and Chief Minister of Penang, Mr Lim Guan Eng, has called upon the government to take proactive measures to prevent future loss of talent. "Talent such as Tan Sri Hassan Marican does not come by every day, and our government must take immediate measures to plug this leak in order to retain such talent or risk losing him and many more like him to overseas countries," said Mr Lim. "Clearly, so long as political know-who supersedes technical know-how, negotiated deals are preferred to open tenders and there is neither full accountability nor transparency, Malaysia is fighting a losing battle to stem the brain drain." (Source: The Malaysian Insider, Guan Eng: Hassan Marican’s Singapore jobs ‘sad day for Malaysia’. 16th February 2012. URL: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/guan-eng-hassan-maricans-singapore-jobs-sad-day-for-malaysia)

I have never met Tan Sri Hassan myself, but from what I have heard, he is quite good at his job. People who are good talents need never worry about getting a job. Tan Sri Hassan Marican is a living proof of that.