Thursday, April 09, 2015

Malay massacre at Maybank (Part 1)


The Maybank building was designed by the architect Hijas Kasturi to emulate the kris, a weapon and more a symbol of power in Malay culture. It was symbolic for Maybank as the leading Bank of Malaysia and owned by Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB).

In a complex organsation structure, PNB is owned by Yayasan Bumiputera Berhad in which the Chairman is the President of UMNO and members of  the Board of Trustees are UMNO leaders too. Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad (ASN) is a subsidiary of PNB which managed the Sekim ASN and ASB initiated by PNB.

This was all established under the NEP era to increase Malay and Bumiputera equity and assist the government in their role to increase Malay and Bumiputera particpation in the economy; employment, corporate ownership and entrepreneurship (via PUNB).

Maybank is one of the major flagship investment of PNB-ASN-ASB. It is expected that it continues their NEP role into the environment of open competition and merit. But, it would be most appalling should Maybank end up practising discrimination on Bumiputera.

There is a fine line between merit and discrimination. At the employment place, employees are seldom handicapped in their appreciation and understanding of employee rights and labour law.

If an employer or management above decide to discriminate, it would see to be done legally and according to proper procedure and due process. Racial discrimination by employers can happen but it would look legally right.

For employees to challenge in court, it would take years and the legal cost is burdensome. It is too risky to take on and more so when the employer could spend millions on legal fee to win at all cost.

Maybank has an IT Department which was established in 1975. Our memory of Maybank is in the 80s. It was a time Maybank openned its door for Bumiputera to enter banking.

Initially, the once called coffee shop bank was mostly filled by Chinese. It was owned by Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat but a run on the bank saw government had to step in to revive confidence in the banking industry. Subsequently, Maybank was transfered to PNB as part of the ASN program.

Under PNB, the special path for Bumiputera was successfully done. However, the race composition remained reflective of Malaysian racial composition.

Since the new corporate culture with the emergence of Khazanah and the concept of GLC came into picture with emphasis on performance over social obligations, the NEP policy to create more Bumi in banking was put aside.

In Maybank, the increase in number of Chinese at top and middle management begin under the CEO-ship of Tan Sri Amir Sham Aziz. Come Dato Abdul Wahid Omar and Dato Farid Alias, the Chinese number grew to the point that they became the majority.

For now, the focus will be on the Malay massacre in the IT Department.  

In IT companies like Oracle, IBM, HP etc, 80-90% of management is dominated by non Malays/Bumiputera. Even in GLCs like Petronas, CIMB, Bank Islam etc, Malays still did not get a place and 70-80% are still non Malays/Bumiputera.

In Maybank, that is the same trend and according to sources, Malay staff perceived that the Chinese dominated management of the IT Department had resorted to indiscriminately apply pressure, oppress, slander, sabotage, and not withstanding, threat of 24 hours dismissal to make the targetted staff resign or abusively justify non-renewal of contracts.

The Malays staff perceived the reasons or justification to do is no more than an excuse to rehire a non Malay.

This had started way back during the entry of foreigner Geoff Stecyk as exco member in Maybank top management in 2008. It has become more intensive under Christina Low Poei Mei in 2012.

Ever since more than 20 IT experts at levels of EVP, VP, AVP, and so on had to quit, transfered or "fired". The remaining Malay executives are under constant pressure and discriminatory practices. Ethnic cleansing is happening in a GLC established for NEP and under Malay CEO and Malay majority members of the Board of Directors.

The oppressed and dismissed Malay IT management and staff are the one that built Maybank IT Department to win many awards in the past. So was it a case of incompetents or orchestrated to look incompetent and failed to deliver?

To be continued.

34 comments:

Labu8455 said...

"The Maybank building was designed by the late Hijas Kasturi to emulate the kris" - Since when Hijas already dead ? Please get your facts right before publishing some utter rubbish when Mr Hijas is still well and alive !You can be sued for defamation.

Anonymous said...

Sir,
the same thing is happening at MRCB (since Gapurna took over), CELCOM and TIME DOT COM.

The number of non bumi holding the key position has increased tremendously.

It seems most of the GLCs is more profit oriented under the pretext of outsourcing.

Thanks for highlighting this issue.

Jabalnur said...

Alhamdulillah... someone finally noticed...GREAT!!!
UMNO oh UMNO where are you?????

When I joined the banking industry as Bumiputra pioneers in 1972, and until about 15 years thereafter, The Labour Ministry, perhaps Kementerian Sumber Manusia in today's language, almost consistently made sure the quota of Bumiputra Excutives from junior executives to the highest echelon, were being filled by QUALIFIED Bumis.

Since the days of mergers, many able and intelligent Bumiputra Executives were made redundant. My observation was that these redundancies were mostly darker skinned types...

And sadly, even Bank Negara was rather lackadiasical in maintaining the Bumiputra Executive Quota.

Even, Bahasa Malaysia is not the priority language of communication even by BNM itself.

This subtle discrimination has the effect of the decrease in the middle class Bumis and entrepreneurs.

How can SMEs ownned by BUMIS face the challenges of business, when they are short on everything including Working Capital which the major source of funding would be the banks?

Try calling the banks call centers and you would think that you are either in Singapore..The response form the answering machine would mostly be...English then Bahasa and then Chinese or English, Chinese or Bahasa.

While may be trivial but it just shows that when you are weak as a race you will be trampled.

Ex-Banker

Anonymous said...

GLC lain pun sama.... Lihat apa yang berlaku di MRCB sekarang.

A Voice said...

Labu8455

Thank you for pointing that out. Duly corrected.

Anonymous said...

It's happening in Khazanah's subsidiary as well. I left as a VP due to the same issue.

Anonymous said...

Amokh presented a promise to nature and nuture bumis. Akhirnya nothing.

In his quest to meet his kpi he foresaken his alif ba ta to only show token tax deductable csr.

Najib repeatedly lied on his promised programs and agenda for bumis!!!!

Anonymous said...

7 melayu plus 1 indon on the board of directors of maybank.

Wat the duck are they doing?

Board of trustee of ypb are all melayu w pm as chairman.

All six member of the board of pnb are melayus w tun ahmad sarji as chairman

Are they duckheads melayu????? Tthey pass control of maybank mgmt to cina

Anonymous said...

Terjadi bahawa rangkaian Ipoh White Kopitiam yang menghidangkan sajian non-halal. Banyak yang tuduh ia dimiliki oleh Ngeh brothers but finally discovered that Felda Venture was it major share-holders!

Melayu pukul Melayu!

Anonymous said...

1. Maybank ada sebuah unit khas untuk SME Bumiputra. Kajian yang menyeluruh perlu dilakukan untuk mengetahui mengapa bisnis Bumiputra kurang mendapat perhatian Bank.

2. Adakah kerana peniaga bumiputra lebih mengutamakan 'image over substance'? CCRIS teruk. Hutang keliling pinggang. Pinjam duit, bayaran tidak jitu pada masa repayment? Dapat duit pinjaman, terus tempah kereta mewah, shopping sakan, ala Jho Low. Okay mungkin bukan macam Jho Low sebab memamg muflis la Malaysia jika seperti itu. Kekawan di Bank Rakyat pernah berkongsi kes beri pinjaman kepada peniaga bumiputra, sesetengah pergi pula mendapatkan surat sokongan dari pak menteri untuk menukarkan pinjaman jadi grant.

3. Adalah tidak tepat anda sebagai ex-banker mengatakan bahawa perniagaan bumiputra dilalaikan pihak Bank kerana terlalu banyak account officernye Cina atau India. Bisnis untung tetap bisnis untung. Jika perniagaan itu profitable, bank mana-mana pun tiada masalah mendapat loan. Malahan si Cina account officer akan mengetuk di pintu untuk meminta bisnis. KPI loan growth dan asset quality penentu bonus.

4. Bayangkan credit paper ditulis dalam bahasa kebangsaan, lebih-lebih lagi bila ia melibatkan perniagaan antarabangsa seperti corporate banking. Saya amat sokong tetapi berpangkal balik kepada kos. At what cost? MEAA dlm BM tiada masalah. Tambah je duit. Beli apa-apa sistem pun tidak bermasalah jika perlu versi BM. Asalkan ada $$$. Siapa yang akan serap kos tu? Pengguna juga.

5. BNM mengenakan saman kepada Bank jika gagal memperolehi kuota 30 peratus bumiputra. Masalahnya bila NPL tinggi siapa pula nak bertanggungjawab? Hampir semua boss Melayu suka pula ambil staff Cina. Pernah saya tanya mengapa berlaku demikian. Jawapan yang diberi sangat praktikal. Cina tak perform tu senang je nak diuruskan. Bagi NI, jangan bagi bonus banyak, buatlah sesuatu yang jatuhkan air muka dia, dia akan letak jawatan. Yang Melayu belum tentu akan ke mana-mana. Sebab mereka berpendapat we owe them a living. They will stick around. And they expect promotion based on their so called loyalty to the bank. Not their productivity

6. Jadi siapa yang sabotaj siapa? Entahlah

Ex bank officer.

PS. I am old school. In my opinion only senior mgmt/owner of the bank have the right to use the title 'Banker'.

Anonymous said...

I don't quite get your article this time around. Is someone not happy he didn't get the top job for IT. Geoff left for Middle East and his replacement is Mohd Suhail Amar Suresh. Suhail is a good guy and is an asset to the Bank.

If Maybank is 'infested' with Chinese and announcing record profits year in year out, doubt any of the so called bumiputra champion will make much noise esp if they have vested interest in MBB. Money speaks louder. Different story if the Chinese make losses for the entity. But then again even that too bumiputra champions are strangely quiet. Guess as long as there are money to be made, nobody care if your skin is yellow or brown, you are Muslim or not.

By the way no offense to Tan Sri Amirsham. But the Tiger woke up during AWO time. So kudos to AWO for elevating Tiger to be a regional powerhouse bank.

Anonymous said...

Please also check on the investment arm.....

Anonymous said...

Memang betul staff bukan melayu telah menguasai banyak tempat di Maybank terutama sekali di P.Pinang.
Jawatan kanan mereka kuasai dan peluang untuk melayu untuk maju agak sukar.Mereka lebih memberi peluang kepada staff cina/india.Ketua jabatan di ibu pejabat tidak melakukan tindakan dan sentiasa menerima cadangan dari mereka.

Anonymous said...

Nonsense, in UEM Group the non-Malay top management have almost all been eased out and replaced by Malay personnel. These Malay personnel are good qualified personnel. So probably the Malays in MBB were not up to the mark?

Jabalnur said...

Well, if you insist, I will call myself ex-banker, despite my owing relatively large number of shares through esos and from the market.. Maybank used to be less than RM5.00 in good old days.
As I own some shares I thought using the term ex-banker should be a non-issue as a generaĺ rule is not some one who owns shares in a bank a banker?...

But the issue is what the owner of this blog titled his post- The massacre of Bumiputra executives. You either are sleeping or you may have suscribed to the superiority of certain races..If so, then carry on sleeping my friend for soon the Malays will be wiped off from the employment scene of the GLCs. Have you deen a non bumi privately owned enterprise employe a bumi? And us that not prejudice?

Anonymous said...

Mr Jabalnur@ex-Banker....

Based in my observation, Anonymous 4. 03 @ ex-Bank Officer is a non-Malay and he is still serving with the Bank....not to forget, he is even close to top management. ..

His writing is so familiar...

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:21

If he is a member of the Senior Management, then its not surpirising for what he wrote.

Someone posted that the are many Bumiputra Directors in Maybank..I can imagine this Ex-Bank Officer going like this..."Yes Sir Tan Sri, can I carry your bag?...and thus more Bumi Officers got massacred...."

Anonymous said...

Now that govt is giving more scholarship to Chinese, their control of the country will be complete. Even rich chinese kids got scholarships from govt. I shudder to think what will happen to Malays in the future. Will Malays become mere slaves?

Anonymous said...

habistu, melayu pemalas, suka mengular, ponteng kerja

macamana tak kena buang? ada hati nak salahkan orang pula. pui

Anonymous said...

In Maybank there's this BSC embedded in Band D level and above that bumi staff being promoted has to be 80% among all those being promoted. So you'll see a lot of useless fellas being promoted just to meet those BSC /KPI....

Anonymous said...

" Even in GLCs like Petronas, CIMB, Bank Islam etc, Malays still did not get a place and 70-80% are still non Malays/Bumiputera "

what the hack you talking about, Malaysia all O&G business are only can be run by Bumiputera and foreign company who need to run a factory in
Malaysia must fulfill 80% Bumiputra staff policies, what the crap article you writing.

Anonymous said...

Mind your language pls...we have a solid background doing hands on operations pertaining to IT Matters. We have been doing a regional setting up across the Asean countries..and we are not lazy. We are smatters and honest Persons. We are not creating a lies reports to the top management. Been working with few MNC's before and have a good track recods.... if you do not know anything please don't said that words..you are the one so call like that maybe...NOT US....

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...
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Anonymous said...

Is it true? What have been said was so melodramatic and emotionally attached the way it carried out. Is this really an authentically endorsed statement or just another revengeful act of desperados from a group of unsatisfied people towards the bank the used to work for? I really can’t understand why the monopolism of certain races were brought up despite the other “ races “ mentioned are really qualified for the post they are holding currently in IR. Being a senior citizen and a Malay, I did not feel this is the right way in addressing the matter. My son is working in Maybank and I really proud of him being and working under the supervision of non-malay repected leaders. I really think race is not an issue here. The top leaders prominently known in Maybank were malays such as the chairman Tan Sri Megat, Pceo Dato Farid Alias and the head of human capital Puan Nora Manaf. These are the guys who were really work hard self-driven individuals and you know what! they are all Malay and they are also the person who were giving instruction to their non-malay subordinate respective heads. Yes sometimes there are hick ups here and there but the exaggeration pieces of untrue story definitely will prejudicing global market investor and public anticipation on the race issue will reflect chaos and uncertainty in the economic growth of Malaysia…realizing MAYBANK is the no 1 bank in Malaysia..

Anonymous said...

Ini kerja jahat ni….aku staff dari pantai timur yg majoritinya org melayu ,aku berterima kasih diatas kebajikan yg diberikan oleh maybank dlm membantu org melayu pantai timur dalam musibah banjir besar yg berlaku, mcm2 faedah pertolongan yg diberikan oleh pihak majikan kepada aku bagi mengurangkan beban aku ….terima kasih maybank…. pantai timur with luv….

Anonymous said...

Card IT/ATM org melayu kena tebas mcm lalang je dgn peter/cristina, Ade sesiapa boleh tlg report Kat HR tak? , siap ugut ramai lagi Chinese scope yg boleh masuk

Anonymous said...

Org melayu jgn nak salahkan sesiapa, tepuk dada tanya selera. Org melayu ni bukan tak pandai kerja tapi mudah terpengaruh dgn hasutan. Bila kerja lama sikit mula nak melawan tauke. Dia org lupa siapa yg bayar gaji dia orang. Dia org anggap boleh buat apa saja kesalahan sebab kesatuan pekerja boleh backing. Banyak yg nak jadi samseng di tempat kerja. Bukan semua tp majoriti, pandai curi tulang & sgt culculative. Yg ada jawatan dlm kesatuan pekerja mcm ketua gangster, tak mau buat kerja & asyik cari pasal dgn majikan. Mereka ugut pekerja & rakan utk turut arahan dia orang. Banyak pekerja melayu yg pada mula nya perkerja yg berdedikasi & cemerlang jadi malas dan bermaasalah akhirnya. Yang berpolitik pun ramai, cenderung sokong parti2 tertentu. Bila prestasi tak memuaskan & kurang dpt ganjaran mereka salahkan majikan. Harus ubah sikap jika mahu maju. Kerja lah dengan sungguh2 dan ikhlas kerana rezeki Allah yg bagi.

Anonymous said...

Klu chinese scope masuk mmg boleh delivered rasanya tak da sape nak marah tapi bawa masuk yg pandai ckp org putih berabuk tapi kosong macam tin kosong...nampak cantik tapi isinya hampas.....bukan yg penting execution ke?..ni lah Malaysia initiation sgt bagis dan cantik tapi perlaksanaan memang hampasssd....merugikan aje..setelah investment berbilion2 habis masuk gaung...kebodohan terserlah......

Anonymous said...

Rasanya awak tu yg kerja bukan kerana Allah dan pemimpin yg zalim takkan terkecuali drpd balasan Allah..INGAT SEKARANG ALLAH BALAS KAT DUNIA LAGI.....DAH BYK YG KITA LIHAT DAN DGR.......

Anonymous said...

Aku rasa kau ni mmg duk dlm gua tempurung kot..tak tahu apa jd kat hq....hemm kesian...cuma fikir nasib diri sendiri tak fikir langsung pasal org lain...mmg dasar pentingkan diri asal aku okey aku tak kisal hal org lain..asal aku kenyang yg lain kebuluran pun tak pe....

OHMAMA said...

The problem is about good performing Malays are denied promotion opportunies and are frustrated into leaving ...so that non Malay bosses can bring in more nonMalays ! ...for the nonperforming ..boot them out whatever their race !!

Anonymous said...

Suhail "good guy"? Baru baru ni the people he hire are from certain bangsa - bukan Melayu, bukan Cina ...

Anonymous said...

Ya, Suhail sekarang ni sibuk "Exco this, Exco that". More like trying to keep his job, personal ego. A big bully. In front of Dafa, he is a yes-man. Kecut aja. In front of own staf, he is a tyrant. HR should investigate.

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