QUESTION TIME | Petronas, the national oil corporation owned by all Malaysians, is perhaps justifiably proud of its track record - through them we became masters of our own destiny when it came to ownership and control of our key resources - oil and gas.

They waged a long, hard war to gain control of concessions and get the oil majors to become their contractors rather than concessionaires whereby the remaining oil was shared in a fixed proportion after allocating some for the costs of extraction.

And then they stipulated that companies that service the oil and gas fields operated by these companies must be local ones. Even most of the staff at the foreign-owned oil majors such as Shell and Exxon are local, with probably only a handful of them are expatriates.

More recently, Petronas has become an explorer and extractor of oil and gas in its own right with operations around the globe but the discussion of whether that is the right move has to be matter of discussion in a future article.

Despite all those great achievements, there is one area where Petronas has been terribly remiss in terms of getting more Malaysians involved. In this area of endeavour by Petronas, which is more cultural and leisure-related in nature, Malaysian representation is a mere 10 percent! It’s true - let me explain.

I am a great fan of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) and the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (DFP), the home to the orchestra for many years now. I have enjoyed watching some wonderful concerts there, some backed or performed by the MPO itself.

There was Count Basie’s and Charles Mingus’ big bands but of course without those great jazz maestros who have long gone into the netherworld, just their bands who would not perhaps have come here otherwise.

New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band - a living legend in one of the birthplaces of jazz which used to play for audiences on a first-come first-served basis for just US$1 - had a memorable performance some years back. Contemporary jazz great Branford Marsalis played here too.

On top of this, the MPO had numerous performances highlighting all the classical big names with guest conductors and performers from all over the world. It continues to have an active programme schedule, which gets more hectic in the weekends.

More recently, it had a “Fiesta Espanol” featuring a Spanish conductor and a Spanish clarinet soloist. Not only were the tunes all Spanish, it included a great solo dance performance to the accompaniment of music - I believe it was flamenco but I am not well-tutored in these matters and could be mistaken.

It was some time since I visited the venue and saw the MPO playing but when I scanned the members of the MPO from left to right earlier this year, I saw a sea of white faces peering down at me. I am not racist, I think, but after nearly 20 years, where are the Malaysians in the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra?

I looked up the website - the MPO has seven Malaysian musicians - seven out of some 70 musicians in total that I counted - a mere 10 percent! Why? Do we lack our own musicians? Surely that can’t be when we had a number of orchestras in the past, including the RTM Orchestra and the Selangor Philharmonic Orchestra.

The older ones among us might remember names such as Jimmy Boyle, Alfonso Soliano and Johari Salleh who were early conductors for the RTM Orchestra and its predecessors and who were household names back then.

22 years in making

When the Petronas Twin Towers were planned in the 90s, an area that was included was the DFP - the hall for the MPO, whose main sponsor was and is Petronas. This was a rather elaborate hall - world class, of course, and the money spent would have been world class too.

It was specifically designed for symphonic performances of the highest quality, its website says. “Famed architectural firm Cesar Pelli & Associates and acoustics expert Kirkegaard & Associates collaborated to create this world-class venue. From the auditorium to the practice rooms, every detail has been thoughtfully planned to provide artists with the best performing environment and music lovers, the ultimate concert experience.”

But what about the Malaysians who would play at this venue? Should not planning for them have started at the time of the building of the Twin Towers or even before. Let’s say mid-1995 - that would mean some 22 years.

Surely in that time Petronas could have trained enough Malaysians to substantially take over. They did that for the oil industry - far more complex and involved - in less time than that and starting at zero base in terms of knowledge.

More on the DFP: “Unique devices have been incorporated into the shoe box-shaped auditorium to enhance its natural acoustic qualities. The gently arched perforated metal ceiling allows sound to travel to an upper ceiling… The hall sits on resilient pads and is surrounded by two concrete walls separated by an isolation joint to eliminate external noise. The air-conditioning is virtually silent.” 

And then there’s the pipe organ: “From whisper to thunder, the DFP Klais Pipe Organ produces a multitude of musical sounds with its 2,977 pipes that range in height from just over an inch to a towering 32 ft. Designed and built by eminent organ builders Johannes Klais of Bonn, Germany, the Pipe Organ was inaugurated on Aug 17, 1998 with a breathtaking performance by Simon Preston (photo). Providing a magnificent backdrop to the stage, the organ’s facade is inspired by the angklung, a traditional Malay musical instrument.

“The design of the pipe organ has evolved over 2,300 years to become an instrument capable of producing the highest pitches at the threshold of human hearing, as well as the deepest tones that cannot be replicated by any other instrument. The pipe organ is truly the ‘King of Instruments’.”

Great! No effort was spared for the hardware, so to speak. But what about the software, only seven Malaysian musicians out of 70 after nearly 19 years from its inaugural performance on Aug 17, 1998.

Here’s what the MPO website says: “The MPO today comprises musicians from 24 countries, including 7 from Malaysia, a remarkable example of harmony among different cultures and nationalities.”

Really? Does not national pride and developing our own capabilities mean that we have to develop our own musicians too, in the same way that we develop our own expertise in various economic and technical spheres?

And we could have done that by drawing upon our own vast cultural pool so that our very own orchestra represents the diversity of our country, our various communities and our varied backgrounds.

More on MPO: “A host of internationally-acclaimed musicians has worked with the MPO, including Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Yehudi Menuhin, Joshua Bell, Harry Connick Jr., José Carreras, Andrea Bocelli and Branford Marsalis (photo), many of whom have praised the MPO for its fine musical qualities and vitality.”

How nice if the praise had been for an orchestra that was 90 percent Malaysian and 10 percent foreign and not the other way around. It would not have been difficult to do. With Petronas’ vast resources, people could have been sent to the best music schools worldwide for training after a careful selection process which could incorporate talent shows. There were 22 years to do it.

Make no mistake, the MPO and the DFP are great and expand our realm of musical appreciation tremendously. The trouble is the “Malaysian” in MPO is just not there yet - a long way to go at just 10 percent.

It’s still not too late, if we can do it for oil and gas, we can so much more easily do it for music.

P GUNASEGARAM is an independent consultant, trainer and writer. E-mail: t.p.guna@gmail.com.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.