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I refer to the letter Open letter to PM on Scomi .

Recently, there were letters, such as the one above, and comments published in malaysiakini questioning Scomi Group's success. Several allegations were made solely based on hearsay and half-truths questioning and doubting Scomi's activities and achievements. The underlying theme to these allegations is Scomi's association with Kamaludin Abdullah, who is the son of the current prime minister.

I am a person who has been watching the rise of this company, in the capacity of an investor, from its humble beginnings to become a major player in corporate Malaysia. I am also acquainted with some of the professionals running the entity. As such, I became very curious whether these allegations are true. This prompted me to conduct my own investigations by browsing thorough Scomi's annual reports, financial reports, press releases, and coverage by the media.

All of these are freely available on the Internet and hence are public record. After much reading, I come to a conclusion that Scomi's growth and success are obtained through the sheer determination, hard work and commitment of the individuals running the company. In my humble opinion, this success should be celebrated and not censured.

The letters seem to say that being associated with Kamaludin is bad business. It seems that this association changes the yardstick for gauging a company's performance. It is further suggested that the fact that Kamaludin is the PM's son alone has made Scomi what it is today and not the hard work, sacrifice, commitment, focus and professionalism of all the individuals running Scomi.

This is the same story all over again only that they have new actors involved while the underlying theme remains the same. The theme is that a Malaysian company cannot possibly compete globally and it is only because of it's 'know who' and not it's 'know how' that it becomes successful.

Coming back to my point and glancing through the latest annual reports and financial statements of Scomi and its related companies, Kamaludin effectively holds 17.21% of the shares in Scomi and has been a shareholder since 1999. The remaining shares are held by various individuals and institutional investors both local and foreign.

To name a few, they are the Employees Provident Fund Board, Amanah Raya Berhad, British Telecom Pension Fund, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, AXA World Funds, Fortis Obam, Credit Suisse and UBS. Scomi and its subsidiaries operate in 35 countries and 60 locations worldwide. It has operations in all of the major oilfields in the world.

It can be seen from the reports, statements and news articles that Scomi engages professionals to run its operations and contrary to the accusations made, Scomi bids for each and every contract it secures based on merit and capability. It is a well-known fact that the oil and gas industry is a capital intensive and a high-stakes business. The industry demands high standards of service and therefore the selection process for contractors is stringent.

There are normally two stages in any bidding process which are technical and commercial. A contractor would have to satisfy the technical requirements before being considered to undertake a contract commercially. Therefore, Scomi has to be both technically competent and commercially viable. These technical assessments are conducted by professional third parties.

The thirty-nine million dollar question remains - whether these contracts were secured solely based on Kamaludin's push-factor. The answer to that I leave to the speculators as the answer will always depend on each speculator's socio-political world view. In reality, however, these contracts were secured based on Scomi's merit, competitiveness and capability both domestic and internationally.

It is clear that by possessing these qualities, Scomi's range of customers include the big boys of the oil industry including Nippon Oil, Chevron, Texaco, BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Amareda Hess, Aramco, Pemex, National Iranian Oil Company, Qatar Petroleum Company, etc. Through my interaction with some officers at Scomi, I was told that Scomi also lost several significant contracts in Malaysia to foreign competitors including to Murphy Oil and Carigali Triton Operating Co.

A big chunk of Scomi's business is conducted outside Malaysia. For example, it has been doing business in the US for over 10 years. Based on Scomi's latest financial statement, the group's foreign revenue contribution is 80% compared to its Malaysian operations. This, however, is a conservative figure not taking into account of the acquisition of Scomi Marine, its energy logistics arm.

Can any reasonable person conclude that Scomi obtained all these contracts, which contributed o 80% of its revenue from its international operations, solely based on Kamaludin's 'push factor' and nothing more? Wouldn't an educated person be saying that based on the industry norms, Scomi obtained these contracts (and became what it is today) though the professionalism of the individuals running it?

Another point raised is in relation to the contract secured by Scomi in Turkmenistan. From my reading, there was a tripartite bid for the contract involving Scomi and two American service companies. The result is that Scomi was awarded the contract based on its technical know-how and competitive pricing.

Most importantly, it is only Scomi who is capable of offering an end-to-end solution. Hence again a contract was awarded to Scomi based on its merit and capability. Petronas, the operator for the Turkmenistan operations, is a professional organisation which understands its business risks and high investments thus is very stringent in its selection process without fear or favour.

Scomi's subsidiary MTrans has been manufacturing buses not only for the local market but also for the export market and has operations in Kuala Lumpur, Manchester, Hong Kong, Macau and China. With regard to the RM120 million bus contract that Scomi secured by tender from Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad, MTrans was awarded 20% of the project whilst the remaining 80% was awarded to other local companies.

The transportation of coal for TNB Fuel Sdn. Bhd of the total tender to transport 3,000,000 metric tonnes of coal for TNBF, Scomi was awarded only 16% of the job, i.e. to carry 500,000 metric tonnes of coal. Based on Scomi's 2005 annual report, it carried approximately 29,000,000 metric tonnes of coal for foreign companies, including for the Surabaya and Jakarta listed PT Rig Tenders TBK and PT Adaro. The contract for TNBF, which is forecasted to commence in September 2006, is expected to account for only 1.8% of the total lifting capacity that Scomi carries annually.

Having acquired MTrans as a subsidiary it is good business sense that Scomi tenders for the Penang monorail project. It is documented that Scomi shall bid for the project with MRCB. MTrans is also planning an improved version of its trains (under development) compared to the ones currently in operation in Kuala Lumpur. This 'Generation II' trains coupled with MTrans' proven track record and Scomi's financial backing, should make it a good reason for them to be successful.

One cannot deny that Malaysians from all walks of life simply cannot resist a scandal. If, however, allegations are made against an individual or a group of individuals based on damaging half-truths, this clearly borders on defamation. Shooting down a group of individuals with a proven track record of success when such success was obtained by sheer determination, hard work and commitment cannot be acceptable.

Brushing aside this success simply by associating them to the higher echelons of power is just outright envy. One should look at this group of individuals and their achievements and be proud of them as Malaysians competing in the global market.

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