Wahid is still a good guy (updated)

(Note: Updates at the end of the original post)

ORIGINAL POST

Cooped up in my room since morning.

Just resting.

These days I hardly go out during the weekends as I'm still not completely well.

Surfed around for something to write but can't find anything really interesting except maybe this post by Datuk Kadir Jasin,

PNB Beli PNB1 Dengan Harga RM173,800

Kadir even published several What'sApp exchanges between him and PNB chairman TS Abdul Wahid Omar.

excerpts;

Saya menghantar pesanan WhatsApp berikut kepada Abdul Wahid: “Assalamualaikum. Maaf mengganggu. Saya cuba beberapa kali hubungi Jabatan Perhubungan Awam PNB (Encik Khamis Omar) tetapi tidak ada respons. Boleh bercakap dengan kerani saja. Saya hendak pengesahan mengenai dokumen yang tular di media sosial, termasuk hasil posting (mengenai) Rumah Terbuka PNB beberapa hari lalu, iaitu kononnya PNB membelanjakan wang yang banyak membida nombor plat khas Pulau Pinang PNB. Pengesahan ini untuk tulisan saya. Terima kasih.”.

Dalam responsnya Abdul Wahid berkata: “Penempahan nombor pendaftaran kenderaan siri PNB adakah untuk kegunaan kenderaan-kenderaan PBN. Ini termasuk cawangan ASB bergerak, MPV Hotel PNB Perdana, dll dalam usaha mempertingkatkan penjenamaan PNB.”

Saya membalas: “Terima kasih. I’ll duly reflect your argument in my writing. But you may want to search your conscience whether spending RM173,800 for PNB1 is worth the publicty drive and the penjenamaan.”

I'm not sure whether buying the plate number was worth its branding purposes, but I believe it was a corporate decision by the PNB's management.

Maybe they had done their calculations well and decided it's worth spending.

It's a bit like Petronas spending hundreds of million ringgit in sponsorships for its F1 branding exposure. Some people said it's good, others said it's wasteful.

Lay person like me can't really tell, isn't it.

This also reminds me of back then when Sultan of Johor bought a special plate number at a considerable price. Many Johoreans came out in support of the Sultan when others said it was wasteful.

Anyway, I was actually more interested in what Kadir wrote about Wahid in that post.

I may got this wrong, but reading through it, I felt that Kadir was actually questioning Wahid's credibility.

excerpts ;

Dalam dialog WhatsApp yang lebih awal dengan saya, Abdul Wahid berhujah: “....I have been entrusted to lead PNB, this very important national institution. Brought in Rahman as CEO in October 2016. Unveiled our PNB Strategic Plan 2017-2022. Now focussed on execution. Alhamdulillah initial outcome has been encouraging with market capitalisation of our strategic companies increasing by RM25 billion in the first 5 months of 2017. Indeed RM226b of our RM266b funds under management come from 13 million unitholders. Will do my best for PNB & the country.”

Jawapan saya: “Thank you. Your reputation has been tainted by your membership of the cabinet. So it’s hard for me to accept at face value that you’ll go back to become a fine manager thay you once were. I hope and pray that you can. Wallahuaklam.”

Abdul Wahid membalas: “Aamin. As a beneficiary of the DEB, I accepted (the) invite to do true national service. I believe I have done my utmost for the country within the one senatorship term with full integrity and to the best of my ability. I believe I am more optimal in the corporate sector. Will do my best as the third Chairman of PNB.”

Kadir added,

excerpts;

Boleh jadi ada orang tidak setuju atau curiga kalau saya kata, saya melihat Abdul Wahid sebagai seorang pengurus perniagaan yang pintar, tekun dan boleh dipercayai.

Tetapi itu adalah sebelum dia digoda oleh kuasa dan kedudukan dengan menerima jemputan Perdana Menteri, (Datuk Seri I Mappadulung Daeng Mattimung Karaeng Sandrobone Sultan Abdul Jalil) Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, untuk menjadi anggota kabinet pada tahun 2013.

Well, with all due respect to Kadir, I think Wahid has not turned bad or is going to turn bad anytime soon.

The fact that he took the initiative to reply to Kadir's Whatsapp messages and was very transparent over the plate number matter shows that he is still his good self as he has always been.

If he had turned bad, I don't think he would be bothered to reply to Kadir, who is now a prominent anti-Najib blogger.

As pointed out by Kadir, Wahid was appointed to the Cabinet in 2013. I believe that's after the last general election.

Do note that everyone who was pro-BN or pro-Umno was supporting Najib at that time.

That's before the start of the war with Dr Mahathir two years ago.

I highly doubted that Wahid had in 2013 agreed to join the Cabinet because he felt that he could become rich by doing bad things with the power of a minister and such.

The guy doesn't seems to change at all from back then till now.

Simple and unassuming. At least that's how I see him.

I actually met Wahid recently and he told me that he has no political ambition whatsoever.

He said his stint in the Cabinet was purely for fulfilling his national duty.

He told me all that because I have been suggesting for him to contest the parliamentary seat of his hometown, Johor Baru. Current MP TS Shahrir Samad is past 70 and he doesn't seem to have a successor.

Wahid was actually horrified by my suggestion.

"That's exactly why I'm no longer in the Cabinet," he said with a little laugh.

Well, I thought having someone like Wahid as a candidate in JB was the best chance for BN to replace Shahrir there. BN still have over 10,000 majority there in the last election but in 2008, it had double of that.

Whatever it is, I still think Wahid is a good guy and PNB is safe with him at the top.

The guy doesn't seems to have an ounce of evil in himself.

I believe that he's one of those Johoreans who strictly follow the book and not stray from the right path.

A bit like former Johor MB TS Abdul Ghani Othman who is now heading Sime Darby, if I may add.

UPDATES

Apparently, Wahid took the trouble to send a reply to Kadir'.

I cut and paste this from Kadir's comment section as he had only put it there instead of making it as a proper update of his posting,

“Assalamualaikum wbt & salam sejahtera,

Saya dengan segala hormatnya merujuk kepada tampalan blog YBhg Datuk A Kadir Jasin 8 Julai 2017 berkenaan pembidaan nombor pendaftaran kenderaan siri PNB. Izinkan saya memberikan pencerahan berkenaan isu yang disebutkan.

1. Sebagai seorang ahli korporat, saya percaya bahawa penjenamaan korporat itu adalah penting untuk memperkukuhkan penambahbaikan secara fundamental sesebuah organisasi. Ini berdasarkan prinsip atau falsafah "Form without substance will not get you anywhere. But when you combine form with substance, you will go a long way". Falsafah korporat ini telah saya laksanakan dengan jayanya semasa menerajui Kumpulan UEM-Renong (2001-2004), Telekom Malaysia (2004-2008) dan Maybank (2008-2013).

2. Saya berbesar hati kerana telah diberi kepercayaan untuk menerajui Kumpulan PNB sebagai Pengerusi Kumpulan pada 1 Ogos 2016. Saya dan Dato' Abdul Rahman Ahmad yang telah dilantik sebagai Presiden & Ketua Eksekutif Kumpulan telah membentangkan Pelan Strategik PNB 2017-2022 pada 26 November 2016. Pelan ini mensasarkan PNB menjadi sebuah firma pelaburan distinktif bertaraf dunia dengan 3 teras strategi utama iaitu i. Meningkatkan Pulangan Secara Mapan; ii. Memacu Kecemerlangan Operasi dan iii. Pengurusan Pelaburan Berkesan . Pasukan PNB sedang giat melaksanakan Pelan Strategik ini dan Alhamdulillah, reaksi awal pasaran amat memberangsangkan dimana nilai pasaran 6 syarikat-syarikat strategik PNB telah meningkat sebanyak RM31 bilion untuk 6 bulan pertama 2017. Pasukan PNB juga telah berjaya melaksanakan migrasi sistem teknologi maklumat (IT) semasa cuti Hari Raya Aidilfitri baru-baru ini yang membolehkan transaksi unit saham amanah ASB/ASN, dll dilakukan tanpa menggunakan buku simpanan lagi. Ini telah memudahkan lagi pelabur untuk berurusan dengan ASNB.

3. PNB telah ditubuhkan pada tahun 1978 dan bakal menyambut ulangtahun ke 40 pada tahun hadapan 2018. Kami sedang dalam perancangan untuk memperkukuhkan jenama PNB. Kebetulan siri nombor kenderaan "PNB" ditawarkan oleh JPJ untuk bidaan pada bulan April 2017. Kami telah memohon daripada Menteri Pengangkutan supaya 25 siri nombor PNB (1,2,3,8,10,11,18,20,30,50,60,70,80,90,100,111,118,200,300,400,500,600,700, 800 & 900) dikhususkan kepada PNB tanpa pembidaan. Walaubagaimanapun kami telah diminta oleh JPJ untuk membida nombor-nombor tersebut seperti umum. Jumlah bidaan adalah RM336,059 berdasarkan purata bidaan nombor siri PMY,PMX dan PMW. Ia telah ditingkatkan kepada RM419,006 untuk memastikan PNB mendapat kesemua 25 siri nombor tersebut (purata RM16,760 untuk satu nombor). Nombor-nombor tersebut adalah untuk kegunaan kenderaan-kenderaan rasmi Kumpulan PNB termasuk cawangan ASNB bergerak, kenderaan Hotel-hotel PNB Perdana, PNB Merdeka 118, dll.

“4. Kami membuat keputusan berdasarkan apa yang kami fikir terbaik untuk PNB dalam jangkamasa panjang. Nombor-nombor tersebut bakal menjadi aset jenama PNB dan pembayarannya dibuat secara langsung kepada JPJ tanpa melalui mana-mana agen atau pihak ketiga. Untuk makluman, dana RM419,006 datangnya dari dana milik PNB yang berjumlah RM40 bilion bukan dari dana milik pelabur-pelabur ASNB yang berjumlah RM226 bilion. Jadi, pembelian nombor-nombor tersebut tidak akan menjejaskan pulangan kepada pelabur-pelabur sama sekali.

5. Untuk pengetahuan, Alhamdulillah saya selesa menggunakan kereta nasional Proton Perdana sebagai kereta rasmi dengan nombor pendaftaran W8D. Nombor tersebut adalah satu manfaat yang saya perolehi semasa berkhidmat sebagai Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri (2013-2016). Sebagai seorang daripada keluarga miskin yang telah diberikan pendidikan dan biasiswa di bawah Dasar Ekonomi Baru, saya amat terhutang budi kepada Kerajaan dan Negara Malaysia. Sebab itulah saya bersedia berkhidmat selama satu penggal dan membuat yang terbaik mengikut kemampuan saya.

6. Saya bersama-sama Ahli-ahli Lembaga Pengarah PNB, Dato' Rahman dan barisan pengurusan PNB akan terus menjalankan amanah yang telah diberikan kepada kami demi kepentingan PNB, 13 juta pelabur-pelabur ASNB dan negara kita Malaysia. Sokongan berterusan rakan-rakan semua amat kami hargai.

Terima kasih & salam hormat.

AWO. 08.07.17.”


See, the guy is very pro-active and transparent.

Berbudi bahasa some more.

Wahid is cool, okay.