JULY 6 — Nearly two weeks ago, Datuk Ibrahim Ali of Perkasa lashed out at outgoing Malaysia Airlines Berhad chief executive officer Christoph Mueller for being "rude and insolent” over a remark Mueller made that he caught many staff who had nothing to do or were sleeping on the job.

Ibrahim was probably correct to assume Malay Malaysians were the culprits when Mueller cited his walkabout observations as from the hangar area. But to conclude that Malays were being maligned — isn’t that classic Ibrahim? He also insisted on Mueller’s replacement be Malay.

When Peter Bellew’s name surfaced as the next CEO, Ibrahim stepped up his indulgent nationalism zeal, this time even generously citing "other Malaysians” being eligible.

Let me share the stuff folklore are made of.

Carlos Ghosn (born 1954), a French-Lebanese-Brazilian, after a very successful career with Michelin in their South American operations was appointed president & COO of Michelin North America in 1990. In 1996, he was recruited as executive vice-president of ailing French auto manufacturer Renault. His radical restructuring returned the company to profitability the following year.

In 1999, the Renault-Nissan alliance was formed after Renault purchased a 36.8 per cent stake in Nissan. Ghosn also became Nissan’s COO in 1999, president in 2000, and CEO in 2001.

When he joined Nissan, they had an interest-bearing net automotive debt of US$20 billion (RM80 billion) and only three of its 46 models sold in Japan were profitable.

Ghosn’s Nissan Revival Plan (NRP) launched in1999 promised profitability in 2000, a profit margin in excess of 4.5 per cent of sales and 50 per cent reduction in debt level by 2002. To achieve NRP, 21,000 jobs (14 per cent of total workforce), mostly in Japan, became redundant, five Japanese plants were closed, with drastic cut in suppliers, and even their aerospace unit — the prized asset, was shut down.

He went against Japanese corporate culture, including eliminating seniority-based and age-based promotion, lifetime employment guarantee to high performance based. Ghosn went for the jugular when he dismantled keiretsu, an intertwined web of parts suppliers with cross-holdings in Nissan. The official company language was changed to English and top western executives were hired.

Naturally, there was public outrage from the widest cross-sections!

In 2000, the NRP brought in US$2.7 billion (RM10.8 billion) after tax, from a consolidated net loss of US$6.46 billion (RM25.8 billion) the previous year. Within three years, it was one of the most profitable automakers with margins of nine per cent, twice the target.

Next was the Nissan 180, based on a three-year plan (2002-05) for growth, i.e. one million vehicle sales, with eight per cent margins and net automotive debt to zero. Vehicle sales hit 3.67 million, operating profits was at 11.1 per cent and their net automotive debt was eliminated.

Today, Ghosn remains chairman, CEO and president of Nissan, and chairman and CEO of Renault. Mazda too had hired foreigners earlier.

Nissan is now one of the world’s top four automotive brands. It is still a wholly Japanese car.

Nationalism cannot be about Malays helming national brands. National pride must be centred on Malaysian brands being highly respected (and profitable) worldwide! The NEP is all about attaining equilibrium and certainly not racial superiority. The former will gain universal respect and the latter will result in a false sense of security consequently dashed dreams.

It is bordering on idiotic not to look for the best hires in the world when the competition is worldwide. Granted Ghosn is a super brilliant manager, but he wouldn’t have pulled it off if he were ethnic Japanese, or pandered to the "Japanese psyche and their thousand-year old culture”. If so, he could have planted a whole forest of impediments by himself! He understood that Nissan’s problem was precisely in spite of the legendary Japanese efficiency.

The Japanese are renowned for their inbred nationalism but isn’t this Nissan story — nationalism defined?

And on Ibrahim Ali’s noises, doesn’t katak di bawah tempurung (frog living under a coconut shell thinking that’s the whole world) come to mind?

That Pahang cleric

First, Pahang mufti Datuk Seri Dr Abdul Rahman Osman labelled DAP as "kafir harbi.” Then he recounted and said it refers to any non-Muslim who waged war on Islam but insisted he wouldn’t retract his accusation against DAP. Next, he stressed it was not a fatwa but a personal opinion. Later, he said it also refers to Muslims. And in the last one, he explained he didn’t mean that those he "condemned” ought to be slain.

The police interviewed him a few days ago. His subsequent "clarifications” seem like preparing for the authorities to stamp NFA (no further action). Do we need these types of utterances, more so from a person who is supposed to spread peace and understanding?

He did expand that his gripe was with non-Muslims interfering with Islamic matters, i.e. "Hadi’s bill”. This cleric does not inspire confidence in that; first it was a parliamentary bill, which means it involves every rakyat. Secondly, it can lead to changing the Malaysian landscape substantially — the constitution’s intent realigned. But, he is still entitled to holding steadfast to his ideals — then he should argue as passionately as he must. He must know that even non-Muslims are his stakeholders, albeit not directly, as no public office exists in a vacuum.

Society expects that people appointed to authority must be reasonably intelligent, composed, and even-handed. When non-Muslims think well of Muslim leaders, it rubs off on other Muslims, or conversely ...

Postscript

Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin (Dr MAZA), the Perlis mufti, is one cleric who enjoys high regard by all except those who revel in "warp” interpretations. He speaks out constantly against all forms of extremism.

And to Bellew, the job is only as political as one allows it, as the onus is on Khazanah Malaysia to ignore nincompoops passing off as nationalists, and to stand by their choice CEO.

Selamat Hari Raya to all celebrants!

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.