Hiring Freeze?

Wah, I just read something very interesting recently. Goodness knows if they’re true or not but it is quite likely. Here is an email that I took verbatim from another random blog:

Do what you like.

The price of gasoline at the petrol station is set by the Government, not PETRONAS. PETRONAS has done its patriotic duty by paying the dividends, royalties, corporate tax, petroleum tax etc to the Government for YOUR benefit (rakyat lah).

And bear in mind that 30% of its revenue comes from overseas operations, thus bringing in foreign exchange to the country.

OK. Assuming that you buy this idea proposed by whomever it was.

So PETRONAS will have reduced revenues. Bear in mind that the costs of operations are also increasing. So the profits are reduced. Then PETRONAS and other oil companies pay less tax.

Then the Government will have less revenue. (Note: at least 40% of Government revenue for 2007 came from the oil industry). With less revenue, there will be less Government projects (you can then forget about bridges and highways, and rail tracks, and smart schools and not-so-smart universities, and hospitals, etc). So contractors and consultants, and con-sultans and con-cronies will cry and scream. Makan batu lah..

The Government has already announced freezing of recruitment. So, many new graduates will be unemployed. Makan batu lagi. Maggi mee pun tak mampu dah. Later, all sorts of allowances for civil servants will have to be withdrawn. Treasury tak cukup duit.

On top of that the oil industry may have to scale back many of its new investments, totaling about 45 billion ringgit over the next few years. Contractors, service providers, steel fabricators, maritime service providers etc will join the ratapan tangisan – no jobs.

Don’t forget that PETRONAS is sponsoring thousands of students in universities and even high schools – at any one time there are more than 4,500 university students being sponsored by PETRONAS in Malaysian universities and overseas. Also more than 2,000 high school children receive minor scholarships – children of poor families.

Kalau PERTRONAS tak ada duit, kesian lah mereka di atas tu. Shall I ask them to see the proposer of this idea (to boycott PETRONAS) and seek help from them instead?

So, it is to YOUR benefit that you make sure PETRONAS keeps making enough money to support YOUR Government so that your children can continue to go to school without paying for fees and books, and to go to universities at peanuts rates.

CONCLUSION: Help yourself and your family and your country by making sure that PETRONAS keeps making profits. Go to the nearest PETRONAS station and fill up now!! Don’t forget that if you go to non-Petronas station, the profits that these companies get will go their shareholders OVERSEAS.

So, be patriotic. Do your duty. Go to PETRONAS!!

(I hope you guys will help to send this response to as many contacts as possible to counter this subversive proposal).

Rosti B Saruwono – Datuk Dr (VP_Edu/PETH)

Personally, I have no knowledge on the authenticity of this email. I do know Dr Rosti, though not on a personal level. I have no reason to suspect that this email is a fake. As PETRONAS’s VP of Education, he is in charge of the ESU as well as the various PETRONAS owned educational institutions, including a full fledge university. So, he definitely knows PETRONAS hiring policies and has his finger on the wider job market pulse.

If what he says about the government freezing hiring is true, then it will have effect on the overall economy and well being of the country. Our civil service has generally been a sort of last minute employer, putting a large number of people on payroll, in order to help reduce the unemployment rate in Malaysia. Through GLCs like PETRONAS, a similar policy is also practised to an extent.

If the freeze on hiring is because the government wishes to remove the crutches and encourage people to be independent and increase competition, then I think that it is a good move. However, if the hiring freeze is due to a monetary problem, as suggested by the text, then I’m a little worried. This taken with the idea of paying civil servants twice a month, makes the latter more plausible.

This has me very worried.

A government that is behaving as if it’s running out of cash, can be a little worrying. Our government has always been flush with oil money. So, I’m not sure if they would be able to handle the job if the fiscal conditions were tighter than before. If the situation does not improve quickly, I wonder if the government will actually do something unprecedented and start VSS-ing the civil servants.

Scary times indeed, but it’s all starting to make a lot more sense to me.