Two young corporate leaders have been named to head the country's two largest utility companies, Telekom Malaysia and power firm Tenaga Nasional, as part of a revamp in the management of government-linked companies (GLCs).

In separate statements late Tuesday, Telekom and Tenaga announced the appointment of Abdul Wahid Omar, 40, and Che Khalib Mohamad Noh, 38, as their respective chief executive officers for a three-year term effective July 1.

Wahid is currently managing director and chief executive of infrastructure group United Engineers (Malaysia) Bhd while Khalib is managing director and chief executive of KUB Malaysia.

The Star newspaper said more top appointments of young professionals at GLCs can be expected in the coming weeks with the restructuring of these firms.

Policy change

Their appointments followed Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's announcement last week of a major policy change in the way GLCs would be managed to ensure high performance.

Business leaders have hailed Abdullah's plan, saying it was a bold and progressive move that would further boost Malaysia's capital market.

As a first step, the government recently appointed 43-year-old Azman Mokhtar to head its top investment arm Khazanah Nasional from June 1 as part of the revamp.

It has said it would transfer shares worth billions of dollars in some 30 publicly listed companies held by the Ministry of Finance to Khazanah to make it one of the biggest investment houses in the region.

There are 40 listed government companies which make up 34 percent of the total market capitalization of the local bourse or a total RM232 billion, equivalent to more than half of Malaysia's gross domestic product. - AFP