Perkasa calls for Petronas’ Shamsul to leave

KUALA LUMPUR: Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali has called for the resignation of Petroliam Nasional Bhd president and group chief executive officer Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar Abbas, over his comments in a recent interview published in The Edge weekly on Monday.

In the interview, Shamsul said that under the Petroleum Development Act, the nation’s oil and gas reserves belong to all Malaysians, and not just bumiputeras. He also asserted that there had been pressure from certain groups over the award of contracts by Petronas.

“He is trying to say in the interview that he is disturbed by certain groups and people — short of saying the Prime Minister — and that he has problems running Petronas as a professional organisation,” said Ibrahim yesterday.

“He [Shamsul] doesn’t have to say this... as if the bumiputera claims that Petronas belongs to bumiputera. We know that Petronas belongs to the country.

“But even if he was right to say that Petronas belongs to all Malaysians under the Petroleum Development Act, he must remember that it was overwritten by the New Economic Policy which was emphasised again by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak last year, in the Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Agenda,” said Ibrahim, who alleged that Shamsul’s behaviour “is very unbecoming” and that he should resign.

Ibrahim has challenged Shamsul to a live debate with Perkasa so that “he can come out in the open to reveal the names of individuals and companies that he has allegedly been forced into backing”.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 27, 2014.