So, the die is finally cast. Khazanah Nasional have cracked the whip and removed two head honchos in their stable of companies. One, the flamboyant chief of Proton and the other, the airline chief whose company is in the red even after a massive bailout by the government (read: taxpayers monies) to keep it afloat. The first goes out with his guns blazing while the other goes with a whimper.

Accountability and responsibility have to be the main virtues CEOs of public-listed companies if the companies want to make a decent profit. These CEOs cannot run their companies like private enterprises anymore and economic doldrums can't be a blanket excuse anymore.

Hopefully, the government can identify suitable candidates to run these two big companies and the net should be widen to include foreigners who have the relevant expertise. I am sure minority shareholders and the public at large wouldn't mind if foreigners ran these government-linked companies.

At the end of the day, if government-linked companies falter, taxpayers monies will still be used to bail them out.

One cannot help but feel that there has been a lot of hanky panky and white-collar crime being committed by previous heads of government-linked companies as even with government support, they are still is in the red.

The wheels of justice seem to be slow in nabbing these culprits who let their companies go down the drain. They walk free while minority shareholders suffer and public funds used to bail these crooks out of their predicaments.

One tends to wonder why the securities commissions and the ACA have not gone all out to nab these crooks in government-linked companies or is there more than meet the eye in this matter?

All is not lost yet, for the bad old days of people becoming rich through political connections are numbered as our prime minister has set the ball rolling by going for corrupt officials both in the public and private sectors.

One can only pray that the young and dynamic future CEOs in Khazanah's stables of companies will not make the same mistakes of their predecessors in running public listed companies according to their own whims and fancies.