Content area
Full text
Minister of Finance Incorporated: Ownership and Control of Corporate Malaysia. By Edmund Terence Gomez, Thirshalar Padmanabhan, Norfaryanti Kamaruddin, Sunil Bhalla and Fikri Fisal. Petaling Jaya: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre, 2017, pp. 288. ISBN 978-967-0960-80-7.
The aim of this book is to map out the degree of ownership and control which the Ministry of Finance (MoF) of Malaysia holds - directly and indirectly - over some of the largest private and publicly listed companies in Malaysia. The focus of the book is on the Government Linked Investment Companies, or GLIC. According to the authors, there are seven such GLICs in Malaysia, three being holding or investment companies directly controlled by the MoF, and the remaining four are pension or special purpose funds that are under indirect control through boards and senior management appointed by the ministry. The titled Minister of Finance Incorporated is one of the three holding companies, which offers a slightly misleading slant as the book goes on to provide equal focus on all seven GLICs. The rationale given by the authors for this focus is that the Malaysian public is not suffi ciently enlightened about the level of control that these GLICs exert over private and publicly listed companies in Malaysia.
The book is divided into five chapters, with the first chapter providing an introduction to the topic, including an overview and definitions of GLICs, corporate ownership and control, and an outline of the methodology used. Chapter 2 contains an overview of the historical developments of GLICs in Malaysia from pre-independence until today. Chapters 3 and 4 are the backbone of the book, where the bulk of the actual mapping of the GLIC corporate ownership is presented. Chapter 3 breaks down the GLIC ownership links to large parts of the corporate sector in Malaysia, while Chapter 4 details specific control mechanism that the MoF uses to retain control of the GLICs and how these...