Omar Ong a scholarship defaulter? Catch 22 for Petronas BoD

A commentator calling him or herself Petronas Scholar left a message here.

It was revealed that Omar Ong is a repeated scholarship defaulter. His constant job changing has resulted in him defaulting on his loan agreement. He did not serve the required compulsory service time expected of scholars.

The comment revealed that legal proceeding has been undertaken and judgement was obtained in February 2003. A settlement was reached in May 2005 during his tenure at the DPM's office.

He rejoined Ethos in February 2006 resulting in him defaulting the deed of sttlement and is supposed to pay about RM120,000 to Petronas.

If there is any truth in the revelation, it certainly put the Petronas Board of Director in a difficult situation whether to approve or reject Omar's appointment.

Read further the comment reproduced below:

Mohd Omar Ong bin Mustapha Ong was a scholar of Petronas. He was offered scholarship in May 1989 to do A-level in the UK and to study in Oxford University. He has repeatedly defaulted from his obligation in the scholarship agreement with Petronas.

The revelation of Omar Ong’s appointment as a member of the Board of Director of Petronas will mean that the Board of Direcor have honoured a scholarship defaulter with this appointment.

Omar completed his study and graduated from Oxford with a Bachelor’s degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. On February 16th, 1995 he joined Petronas as Executive. He later resigned and join Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC) on February 1st, 1997.

Omar was employed for nearly 2 years and at the time of resignation, had not fulfill his compulsory service. Petronas agreed to transfer the compulsory service to MDC being another Government Company..

His stinct with MDC lasted few months more than 3 years for he resigned on March 31, 2000. This is in breach of the scholarship agreement and he was informed by the Education Services Unit on June 2000.

Consequently, he was issued a Letter of Demand in January 2001 from the Legal Service Unit of Petronas. By September 2001, Lee, Hishamuddin & Co. was appointed to start proceeding against Omar. Judgement was obtained against Omar in February 2003.

After MDC, Omar joined McKinsey & Co, London, and operated in Kuala Lumpur. He later co-founded Ethos & Co. in February 2002.

In February 2004, he was appointed Special Officer 1 to the Deputy Prime Minister. A deed of settlement was signed in May 2005 and he was to serve the Government of Malaysia for an assigned period of 4 years 10 months. In the event of another breach of contract, he will be required to pay a settlement of RM120,000.

Omar resigned and rejoined Ethos & Co. in February 2006.

Appreciate you could publish this comment in your blog in order to get reactions from Omar Ong or Petronas to this revealed details.

This should serve to alert Najib that the man he agreed to be appointed as Director for Petronas is a Petronas Scholar who defaulted on his loan.

Najib's insistance on the Board of Director of Petronas to appoint Omar Ong will put them in a difficult position to breach their own internally long practised policies and will be expected to be given exception.

As another Petronas Scholar, I ask why should defaulter Omar be an exception?

Certainly, Omar's appointment will place the Board of Director in a Catch 22 situation.

If they reject his appointment, they will be deemed as opposing the PM's instruction. But if the approve his appointment, it will not be consistent with their policy not to retake former staff. They will confirm the appointment of a Petronas scholarship defaulter to the top management of Petronas i.e. Board of Director.

This will be a blemish on the reputation of Petronas Board of Director and the Company's policies. Will this be an example for other Petronas Scholars to emulate? All this for Omar. Is it worthy?