PEDA FIRST ENGAGEMENT WITH DRB-HICOM GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR DATO SRI MOHD KHAMIL JAMIL

Barely 2 weeks after DRB-HICOM obtained its shareholders's approval for the mandatory general offer to acquire all of PROTON shares, Dato Sri Mohd Khamil Jamil called to meet PEDA and others from PROTON eco-system. Dato Sri Khamil had also met Proton Vendors Association and is scheduled to meet Proton workers union too. As the President for the PROTON Edar Dealers Association Malaysia, I led my senior executive committee that was comprised of Armin Baniaz Datuk Pahamin (President), Dato Nik Izani Dato Nik Ibrahim (Deputy President), Lee Lick Sai (Vice President), S.B. Siaw (Vice President), Malkeet Singh (Secretary-General), Dato Yahya Jaafar (Hon. Treasurer), Mohd Nor Azam (Asst. Secretary-General) and Tuan Haji Aref Borhan ( Chairman, Service Sub-Committee). Dato Sri Mohd Khamil Jamil was accompanied by DRB-HICOM Group Chief Operation Officer Dato Lukman Ibrahim, Abdul Harith Abdullah (Head, Automotive & Defence); Abdul Rashid Musa (General Manager, Group COO’s Office), Kamarul Zaman (General Manager, Group COO’s Office), Sulaiman Yahya (Head, Corporate Communications) and Balqesh Abdullah (Manager, Corporate Communications).

After Dato Sri Khamil's opening speech, Dato Sri welcome and was all ears for PEDA's view. I presented a 20 slides presentation on PROTON in history, before, now and our wishlist moving forward (the dealer's perspective)

A scheduled 1 hour of meeting that was suppose to end at 4pm ended at 5:30pm. Dato Sri Khamil and the management of DRB-HICOM was sensitive to the needs to make PROTON a success and was enthusiastic with every thing that PEDA presented.

The meeting ended with Dato Sri Khamil assuring this to be the first of many engagement to come. Of course the details of the meeting is kept confidential but for PROTON Edar Authorised Dealers, the minutes of meeting is available (for members only)

SOS


Changing of the guard

RESTRUCTURING: If all goes well, Malaysia may re-join the world automotive industry after taking an almost 30-year time-out to protect Proton

THE changing of the guard in Proton was completed last Thursday when Datuk Syed Zainal Syed Tahir clocked out of the office after a quiet, subdued lunch with a handful of colleagues at the Centre of Excellence (COE) canteen. Proton has also announced the resignation of its chief financial officer, Azhar Othman, effective July 6.

At 3pm, the new management held a town hall meeting where the new boss, Datuk Mohd Khamil Jamil, the incoming executive chairman of Proton, made it clear that he is the owner, personally accountable for the profitability of the company, and that he valued honesty above IQ. The townhall meeting struck a discordant note with some members of the audience who noted that much of the new boss' speech was all about "I" did this and "I" want that. There was not much about "we" and this conflicted with the new boss' call for team work. Yes, there's going to be a world of difference between the consensus-seeking nice-guy Syed Zainal and the no-nonsense tough-guy Khamil.

SOS