Tuesday, May 26, 2009

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?

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

A Voice,

I've had high hopes on our PM, but somehow I'm feeling rather uneasy about him. In fact, sadly, his performance so far has been terribly disappointing. Surely, he has more than capable advisors to appraise him about Omar Ong (or
has he???). Alternatively, he could easily have sought advice from Tun Mahathir, Tengku Razaleigh, among others. Is there something that is holding him back?

He doesn't seem to be on top of things that are currently plaguing the country (Perak, Chin Peng, the Singapore-Johor bridge, to name a few). It's like reliving the nightmares of Pak Lah's administration. I may be wrong, but I dread a return to Pak Lah's way of governing.

A Very Concerned Malaysian

BuddyT said...

Your 'little bird' wrote:

"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."

1. Why not an exception be exercised on this "bright & learned" Oxfart graduate/scholar?

2. What is RM120k to him? Bisa diatur if Petronas insists on the "pay as you enter (the Board)....

3. When the boss ( the Finance Minister) asks for some actions to be taken, Petronas just takelah. Why got itself into the so-called "catch 22" situation?

When Pak Lah was in PMO, we noticed that Datuk Kamarulzaman/Datuk kamal were sent to Utusan Board [ now replaced ] ; Kamarulzaman & Razali Merican were sent to ex-Wing Tiek Bhd (now JAKS RESOURCES BHD)as Non-ED:

http://www.jaks.com.my/about_jaks/board.html

4. In the past, there were so many such cases where the authorities "closed one eye" and let the defaulters off the ( legal) hook! Why Omar Ong cannot be excepted?

5. Also, Mara loan scholars who had "jalan" and "cable" managed to transfer their loans into "scholarships" and so no need to repay....

6. I don't know this Omar Ong. DSN must know that Omar is 'bright'. Otherwise he won't send a nut to Petronas!

7. We also need not worry about the backlash blah2 that may cause DSN's downfall on this 100th daylah....

8. He is such a seasoned player in the game. Even if he falls by the next GE, that's "TAKDIR"lah.

9. Rakyat had changed. Political awareness had also changed....If Umno/BN leaderships fail to change, or change too little, too late...TIADA ESOK BAGIMULAH....

10. What about us? Life must go on--as usual. Don't cry for them--i.e. those who dig their own graves!

satD said...

ouch!!!!

Anonymous said...

Najib, you are slowly destroying what your father has built, i.e. Petronas. You yourself as an ex-employee of Petronas should know how the company works. Just because you are the PM it does not mean you can break the convention of not putting any political element in Petronas (although Tan Sri Zaki of UMNO was once a Board member too).

Najib, 30000 Petronas employees will vote against BN in the next election if you put Omar Ong in Petronas, that's for real.

amoker said...

Good stuff...
Such a young guy and earns so much money... even if the advice tak boleh pakai

kariayam said...

Well, the records should be available. Do a search at the courts. Try names like Petronas v. Omar Ong, or Petronas v. Mohd Omar bin Mustapha, or Petronas v. Omar Mustapha Ong etc.

Anonymous said...

May Allah SWT prevents all these dirty politicians to be in PETRONAS. I love my company very much...

straycat's strut said...

What is wrong with DSN, Voice? Did he make a pact with the devils? Why lately I have this feeling that Pak Lah is still here with a gun on DSN's head? Why it has to be Omar Ong? WHy it has to be Syed Hamid? WHo is that sleepy guy in MAS again? Why Fox Com? WHy he has to merafak sembah LKY last week? Why are those hindraf guy asking for my arms and my legs now? Voice, you must be feeling a bit tired of defending him and starts to wonder why you have to. Is he a free man?

Anonymous said...

If the BOD approves this guy's appointment,I will launch a campaign for all Petronas Scholars to default too!

Anonymous said...

This is the problem when companies cannot function as independently but always as an extension of the executive. I do hope Petronas will have the guts and courage to do the RIGHT thing.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

With the storm brewing over Omar Ong and the PETRONAS Board of Directors, people may have overlooked another problem at the Media Prima Board.

The new Executive Chairman, Johan Jaafar, was appointed in April this year with Najib's blessing. (Media companies are normally the first to be co-opted by a new administration.)

However, apparently Najib did not approve of Johan becoming EXECUTIVE Chairman - and he's furious about it.

Now, the Board is in the interesting position of having to downgrade Johan to non-executive chairman. In order to save face, the official line used by Johan is that Najib "changed his mind" regarding the appointment!

All this due to one man's overweening greed and ambition! And our PM's inability to control his people properly!

Barbarians at the Gate

Anonymous said...

Bloggers are great people...

Anonymous said...

So this guy got the right qualification after all!

nightcaller said...

How naive of me...got to bang my head against the wall!

All this while, I thought that Petronas offers scholarships to top flight students to take up engineering and legal courses. Never know that Petronas send students to do Bachelor degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

1M PM6 should be informed of this and Omar Ong should explain his "default" situation. Or is he excluded from all the T & C that he has previously agreed upon.

Keep up the good work...let's see how Petronas BOD and government acts on his exposure...

Anonymous said...

Salam,

Written - Omar completed his study and graduated from Oxford with a Bachelor’s degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

A friend told me, he was surprise that the Petronas would issue scholarship to read Bachelor’s degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics which is not related to Petronas.

He said once he applied to change course from Civil Engineering to Computer Science but was rejected cos 'too many students already'. That was in 1978 !!!

Pity him.

Nani Cheras.

Anonymous said...

What a whopper. This is make him a cheat. It shows clearly the lack of honesty and integrity in his character to be a member of the BOD of Petronas.

eddy said...

The PETRONAS BoD should reject Omar Ong based on principle, accepting Omar Ong sends a clear message that immorality is accepted.

If they cannot reject Omar Ong as it is purportedly the PM's instruction then they should all go see the PM and resign on the spot as a matter of principle. This is Petronas we are talking about, it is a National Institution which should not be fixed as it is doing well on its own without Omar Ong.

Anonymous said...

Omar dikatakan telah menasihatkan Najib supaya menutup MECD.

Omar juga yang mahukan Najib melonggarkan pelbagai peruntukkan dan bantuan Bumiputera, khususnya melonggarkan DEB.

Dia juga dikatakan menuntut Najib menghentikan AP dan melonggarkan 25 sub sektor kepada pelabur luar negara.

Dia juga menentang Dr Mahathir dari dilantik Pengerusi NEAC baru.

Cina muallaf ini nak jahanamkan ekonomi orang Islam denagn membuka gate untuk Yakjuj Makjuj masuk ke dalam negara.

Dia ni betulkah Islam?

BuddyT said...

Sdra Anony jam 1:27 PM menulis bahawa:

"Cina muallaf ini nak jahanamkan ekonomi orang Islam denagn membuka gate untuk Yakjuj Makjuj masuk ke dalam negara.Dia ni betulkah Islam?
1:27 PM...."
1. Nama 'tokoh' kita, Mohd Omar Ong bin Mustapha Ong. Bukankah namanya memberitahu kita yang dia dilahirkan di dalam keluarga Muslim?

http://www.ethos.com.my/index2.php?p=about_ethos&s=people&cid=99

2. Kenapa dia dicap sebagai muallaf? Atau, maafkan kejahilan saya, semua Cina yang Muslim tak kira sdra/i baru @ 'lama' memang dikelaskan sebagai muallaf?

3.Menurut kamus: ..."Dalam agama Islam, Mu'allaf adalah panggilan bagi individu yang bukan muslim atau bukan islam yang mempunyai harapan masuk agama Islam atau orang yang baru masuk Islam yang imannya masih lemah. Pada Surah At-Taubah Ayat 60 disebutkan bahawa para mu'allaf termasuk orang-orang yang berhak menerima zakat...."

4. Nampaknya ada di antara penulis yang masih menggunakan teropong bewarna sewaktu mengupas isu2 yang dibangkitkan...sampai yang Muslim pun masih diragui ....

5. Saya 'agak' Omar Ong tu "Melayu" menurut definisi Perkara 160 Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Itu pun belum cukup?

Haru.Haru.Haru.

Anonymous said...

This Petronas Scholar is surely a disappointed one. Being stuck in Petronas all this while makes him a closed minded monger.

Am not with Mr Omar Ong, but surely I am against Petronas policy of not recruiting ex-staff back regardless of how good they were while in service.

MNCs and Nation Owned Oil Companies across the world recruits on quality. Not 'emotional' driven factors like labelling a staff who quits before as 'traitors'. How professional that is and dont mind missing the talents of good potential recruits but keeping staunch loyal Deadwoods inside.

Ask for Mr Omar, start the extreme change and revolution it needs. Petronas can be better than now. Slash the cronyism that corrupts the company. You are now serving the company that you owe the scholarship, that by right it should be national service to the people and not claiming back as study loans for a Fortune 500 company.

I remembered, even TS Hassan Marican was appointed to Petronas BOD at the age of 36!!!

So people, what is really wrong here? I wonder.

ANOTHER MALAYSIAN & ANOTHER EX-PETRONAS SCHOLAR

Anonymous said...

Sorry bro, off topic. Good old Tun wrote this "Today we are grappling with the problem of education. We have three streams and woe betide anyone who suggests that we should not have them. We talk of liberal society, of free speech, but if you express some commonsensical views you would be labelled racist." I think he is hinting to you guys about the one school campaign.

-TDM Fan

Anonymous said...

Hi..Another Brick....
Great posting....this is the wonder of Internet...digging up the shits of those people of high society but never bother to pay back on loans..
Bravo!!!!

Sachin said...

Boddhi, saya kira penulis menggelarkan Omar Ong sebagai muallaf sungguhpun namanya Mohd Omar Ong bin Mustapha Ong kerana beliau sekeluarga lahir sebagai bukan Muslim. Selepas kelahiran Omar, mereka sekeluarga memeluk Islam, maka beliau berbinkan ayahnya dan bukan berbinkan Abdullah.

Anonymous said...

Have you considered the fact that this might work another way? I am wondering if anyone else has come across something
similar in the past? Let me know your thoughts...

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