This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on March 20, 2023 - March 26, 2023

The top post at PLUS Malaysia Bhd, a government-linked company (GLC) co-owned by UEM Group Bhd (51%) and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) (49%), has been vacant for some three months.

Its managing director (MD) and CEO seat was left vacant after the departure of Datuk Azman Ismail at end-December last year when his term expired. Azman had been at the helm of PLUS for six years following his appointment on Jan 1, 2017, replacing Datuk Noorizah Abdul Hamid who had opted to retire.

The Edge is given to understand that the company has formed an interim executive committee (exco) to assume the responsibilities and perform the functions of the MD/CEO. The exco members comprise UEM Group executive director Datuk Mohd Izani Ghani, EPF chief financial officer Mohamad Hafiz Kassim, as well as PLUS’ chief operating officer Datuk Zakaria Ahmad Zabidi, CFO Ahmad Rizal Omar and chief people officer Shazalina Ahmad.

While delays in the appointment of a new CEO at GLCs can happen (we saw this at Axiata Group Bhd, which has yet to appoint a new CEO following the departure of its president and group CEO Datuk Izzaddin Idris in May last year), questions have also been raised around how responsibilities are distributed. How will the exco respond to a disaster, crisis or other business emergencies, and will it be ready to commit and make major corporate decisions quickly?

A delay also goes to show that the company does not have a succession plan in place. It can also signal that the firm is struggling to attract a new CEO or there is a shortage of homegrown talent or that the board of directors is not prepared for a leadership transition.

In many cases, the CEO serves as the public face of the company and thus, not having a CEO available to lead an organisation like PLUS that requires interaction with employees and customers on a daily basis can be confusing and disruptive. That’s especially so at a time when the rollout of the highway operator’s second public pilot radio-frequency identification toll payment system along the North-South Expressway has yet to stabilise, and as it struggles to turn around its business after slipping into the red in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2021 (FY2021). PLUS posted a net loss of RM494.97 million that year compared to a net profit of RM145.72 million a year earlier. It has yet to file its financial accounts for FY2022 with the Companies Commission of Malaysia.

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