00:00And now this belongs to all of you.
00:03It doesn't belong to any government, doesn't belong to the federal government.
00:08It belongs to all the rakyat of Malaysia.
00:12More than a century ago, oil was discovered on Canada Hill in Miri Sarawak,
00:17and Britain's Royal Dutch Shell became the first oil company to begin exploration and exploitation of the resource.
00:25In the late 60s, less than a decade after Malaysia won its independence,
00:29it became clear that these important resources had to come under Malaysian control.
00:35The outbreak of war in the Middle East and the subsequent oil embargo reinforced the view
00:40that the nation's oil wealth could not remain in foreign hands.
00:45Tg. Razali Hamzah, who was given the task of setting up the National Oil Corporation,
00:50Petroleum Nasional Berhad, or PETRNAS, and appointed its first chairman, had one priority.
00:56He wanted to ensure that as a custodian of a resource that belonged to the nation,
01:01PETRNAS must be led by the right people.
01:04I need people who are incorruptible, people who can become competent,
01:12people who will not be greedy, people who are not egoistic,
01:18people who are not going to make a show of themselves.
01:22They're just going to be working for all of us, for the people, as trustees.
01:30An uncompromising faithfulness to this principle and strict corporate governance requirements
01:36have made PETRNAS what it is today, Malaysia's only Fortune 500 company.
01:41It is the country's leading income earner, way ahead of even the biggest corporations on Bursa Malaysia.
01:49As Tg. Razali points out, the start is very important.
01:53You start with a bad habit, you end up with a bad habit.
01:57We've heard of national oil companies going down the tube because of incompetency,
02:04because of ignorance of market forces, because of greed, corruption, and all that.
02:14Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim agreed that these qualities were instrumental
02:18in making PETRNAS a major contributor to Malaysia's growth and development.
02:23It's impossible for us to achieve this level of efficiency
02:27if we don't manage our dollars properly.
02:32PETRNAS has recorded not only progress and returns to companies and countries,
02:40but also the return of funds from PETRNAS to the country,
02:45not only in terms of money, but also in terms of money,
02:47has reached hundreds of billions of ringgit.
02:52Recounting its half-century of growth, Tg. Razali noted that PETRNAS has recorded extensive progress
02:59and brought huge returns to the country.
03:01Thousands of people were involved in directly related and indirectly related oil and gas projects.
03:11With a footprint in over 100 countries today,
03:14PETRNAS is poised to build on the momentum and strength of the past 50 years
03:19while pivoting strategically to embrace sustainability.
03:23Natasha Bewst, FMT News.
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