This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on July 31, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has taken charge as chairman of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, after the board of directors of the sovereign wealth fund offered to resign en masse last Thursday.

Khazanah had been without a chairman since May 31 when former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak resigned.

In a brief statement yesterday, the Prime Minister’s Department also named Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali; Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican, formerly chief executive officer and president of Petroliam Nasional Bhd; Dr Sukhdave Singh, a former deputy governor of Bank Negara Malaysia; and Goh Ching Yin, formerly executive director of market development at the Securities Commission Malaysia, as directors of Khazanah.

The appointment of Khazanah’s new managing director will be announced in due course, it added.

Etiqa Insurance and Takaful chief strategy officer Chris Eng Poh Yoon said the appointments of the non-political directors are commendable, noting they are people with a high level of integrity.

“The new government seems to have moved swiftly with these appointments to minimise uncertainty following the voluntary departure of the previous board,” he told The Edge Financial Daily yesterday.

Last Thursday, the nine members of Khazanah board including its managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar offered to resign en masse to Dr Mahathir, saying the move would “facilitate a smooth and orderly transition under the new government”.

The other board members comprised Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, Tan Sri Md Nor Md Yusof, Tan Sri Mohamed Azman Yahya, Datuk Mohammed Azlan Hashim, Tan Sri Andrew Sheng Len Tao, Tan Sri Raja Arshad Raja Uda, Datuk Dr Nirmala Menon and Yeo Kar Peng.

Their move followed Dr Mahathir’s criticisms that the fund had deviated from its original objective of helping the bumiputeras, according to a recent interview with business website Investvine.

In response, Dr Mahathir said last Friday he “welcomed” the offer of resignation from the entire board of Khazanah, adding it would “enable the government to restructure the sovereign wealth fund accordingly”.

The premier also emphasised the government is “not on a witch-hunt”.

Azman was Khazanah managing director since June 1, 2004 after he left the boutique advisory company BinaFikir Sdn Bhd, which he co-founded in 2002. His contract was to expire at end-May 2019.