I love the new advertising campaign by Telekom Malaysia to reflect her new identity. Neither are they paying me to write this piece.
The News Straits Times (NST) reported that they are spending RM9million on this re-branding exercise through their advertising campaign. On the inside of the first pull-out cover page of their advert was the picture of many Malaysians, each with their uniqueness recognised individually, personally and some professionally and the words of the advert read, \’ You are anything but a number \’ in answer to their ad\’s own question \’ Are you treated like a number? \’
The final promise to all the readers is … \’ Time for a change \’. Their promise to the nation, of change and for change, I suppose. If not to the nation, then at least to the readers of such an advertisement.
Like all other reading Malaysians, I wait to see the change they promise; of themselves and to us, their unique customers. I hope they realise the promise of mass customisation they are making. Don Tapscott has personalised bread delivered to his house of the \’Don Tapscott\’ brand. Further inside the NST pages is another advert of CEO Malaysia standing proudly with the TM Team of Board Members, managers and workers.
The NST in its news text also quoted the PM as saying that GLCs (government linked companies) have to perform even better in the future by becoming more competitive and trimming excess staff. TM included, I suppose. It was another prod for performance from the Owner of the Khanzanah Group of Companies, as finance minister. My question to TM is: are you truly the Corporate Malaysian Citizen that you propound to be, which will qualify you to ask of me such a question? I mean, do you have a sufficiently Malaysian identity, or in your own language, \’Are you more than an MNC or Multinational Corporation number to me?\’ Or, are you really already a Malaysian yet? What then is the quality of our relationship – as a Malaysian supplier and another citizen customer, given that you are a GLC?
Having asked the question, allow me to proffer one plausible answer to my question? Not necessarily the right answer, but at least one such answer.
Dr M\’s Vision 2020
Framed in yet another way, my question to TM really is, \”Are you helping fully to realize Dr Mahathir Mohamad\’s Corporate Vision of a Bangsa Malaysia by 2020?\’ The vision is that by 2020 Malaysia should be a fully developed nation in our own mould. TM: Is it your promise to become a fully developed Corporate Malaysian by 2020? Indeed, how can we achieve the national vision if Malaysian companies (and especially multinational ones) do not fulfill this vision in their own corporate lives? What then is this Vision 2020 for Corporate Malaysia?
Although already visualised and conceptualised since 1991, most Malaysian organisational and corporate actors have shied away from directly claiming or asserting this vision realisation, of becoming a Bangsa Malaysian by 2020. Understandably, this is a hot potato many dare not handle. And maybe, as always, Mahathir was well ahead of his time in seeking to shape such an agenda of Malaysian nationhood. Regardless, since the last elections, there has begun, I believe, a period of healing, self-reflection and reassurance consequential to the most exclusive election victory for the government of the day. Now, there appears to be some more democratic political space for dialogue and discourse regarding some of the so-called, \’hot potato issues\’.
My real question then to TM is: Are you for example, emulating the good example of Petronas, who through their own advert campaigns seek to evolve the good and traditional universal values of Bangsa Malaysia? Coupled with their high quality management and stewardship of our natural resources, they have in fact achieved the Global 100 and are slowly but surely to become a national treasure of great value with a truly national identity.
If the answer is an affirmative yes, then the advertisements are a very good starting point. Becoming a Bangsa Malaysian is both a journey and a destination. You will never really arrive, as long as Malaysia lives and breathes, but the journey is as important as arriving there. Or, as Abraham Lincoln put it, you never cross the same river twice. This river \”of becoming Malaysian\” will have to be crossed with every new generation of Malaysians. TM appears to have started on such a journey herself. Congratulations.
Now, let me also take the readers on a journey back in time to relate an incident that my father once told me about. Not sure that he remembers it, but I do. My father, Datuk K John Kuruvilla, a migrant from Kerala, India is a good friend and was a business associate of Mahathir. This memory lane story is what my father told me about the former PM. My father once asked Mahathir why he had named his then new pharmacy, MICO? To which, the good doctor and then owner of Maha Clinic replied, \”Malays, Indians, Chinese, and Others.\” So, there we go. As a very young doctor, journalist and Malayan, the good doctor already had a vision of and for a Bangsa Malaysia – even well before Malaysia. Within the name MICO, the foundations of a Bangsa Malaysia of Vision 2020 were already laid many moons ago. Only operationalised in 1991 but still had not realised.
But, back to TM\’s promise to the people of Malaysia. To the Board of Directors of TM, my question is \”are you today a Corporate Malaysian entity of equal value to your advertising campaign?\” In the book, Practicing Servant Leadership , John Carver, one of the most published authors in the US on the role of the Governing Board writes that boards control most group undertakings in the world -whether governmental, nonprofit or business. \”They are the most ubiquitous, visible and powerful instance of group servant-leadership – or lack of it. With respect to legal and moral ownership, the board is a kind of group servant leader. The chair, therefore, holds a \”double servant-leader role.\”
The proper exercise of this two-fold servant-leader function is crucial to resolving the problem of agency, particularly as embodied in honoring owner prerogatives and achieving organisational effectiveness. And because of that unique double leverage, the role of the board chairperson properly construed is the most pervasive instance of institutional servant-leadership in our culture.\”
As a student of \”government\” in my form six days for the Higher School Certificate then (or STPM today), we always heard and studied the nature of good governance and the British System of Parliamentary Democracy with its Cabinet System of Ministers. We were told that the prime minister in the Cabinet System of Governance was not the Chief Executive of the Cabinet but rather the \”Primus Inter Pares,\” or prime among equals. That means, he is the balancing act between all discussions and debates about issues and finally the buck stops when the Cabinet as a collective makes the decision. Once a decision is so made, it becomes a fully collective decision. If any minister disagrees, he or she should resign. This is also true with the Boards, within the Servant Leadership framework. The chairman is only servant of the Board, and never the boss of the Board. He is after all, the prime among equals.
Minority shareholders
To the Board of TM: Do you represent the interests of all Malaysians on the Board of a GLC? How are the interests of the minority shareholders protected, in this public-listed company? Why is the last-mile solution still a national problem eight years after the MSC, after all these years of monopoly? Why is there no Iban, also a bumiputra on your Board, although he appears good enough for an advert? Who is the independent non-executive director representing the public, professional and transparency interests?
I could ask a lot more questions but my real concern is to ensure that the promise of change by TM is not only left to the re-branding exercise. My advertising professor used to say, \”the real proof of good advertising is in the eating of the promised product!\” When the rubber meets the road all over Malaysia, is TM going to live up to the expectation they are creating real value for every unique, responsible, creative person who does not want to be reduced to a number? It is a big and very grand promise, but I for one am willing to believe and wait to taste the output.
In my first article I argued that CEO Malaysia practices a servant-leader style of leadership. Therefore, it is incumbent on all those in positions of agency leadership to appreciate, understand and follow this servant leadership by way of the example of the leader. Excuses are not relevant; as followership must also define leadership. Otherwise, political talk remains rhetoric without execution. The executives are the agency leaders! All others, like the civil service signature imprint says, \”they are only followers who are only following orders or instructions!\” And, back to the Board of Directors of TM – pursue the changes you promise, but please ensure that the proof of the pie can be experienced in the eating. You must pursue the promise you have made – and become a truly Bangsa Malaysian corporate entity who does not treat citizens, who are your customers, as mere numbers but rather treat them with dignity and respect!
As a former Mimos employee and Jaring user, I will evaluate your promises and decide by end of this month, whether your promise is worth believing. If there is integrity and coherence between your espoused theory and your theory-in-use, you may get one more streamyx user. Otherwise, I will wait to be convinced. But, your advert campaign was brilliant. Now, you only need to deliver!
An apology to Lim Kit Siang
I owe Lim Kit Siang an apology. My last piece of In Another Tongue appeared to discredit him for work he had already done both responsibly and ably. The error may be both mine and that of malaysiakini. I regret the mistake and apologise to him for an inadvertent technical glitch of wrong timing although the facts remain, with my views as already expressed. Allow me an explanation.
I filed the story on April 21 at 1.26pm to malaysiakini . Lim had addressed Parliament on April 20 on the same subject and content, but unbeknown to me. Rather unfortunately, as a result of some technical glitches, malaysiakini only published my story on April 29. And the rest is history, as Lim said I did sound like an empty vessel! My sincere apologies.