Syed Zainal Abidin to take over as PetDag MD & CEO

KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas Dagangan Bhd (PetDag) has appointed Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, 55, as its new managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), effective June 1, 2018.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, PetDag said Syed Zainal, who was former Proton Holdings Bhd Group MD, would be replacing Datuk Mohd Ibrahimnuddin Mohd Yunus, 54, whose resignation due to “staff mobility within Petronas Group”, would take effect on the same day.

Currently, Syed Zainal holds the positions of Petronas Vice-President for Marketing (Downstream Business), as well as Chairman and Director of various subsidiaries within Petronas Group.

He first joined Petronas Gas Sdn Bhd as a project engineer in 1987 prior to serving Petronas as the senior executive of the group’s Corporate Planning and International Business Development unit in 1992, before being appointed as Proton Group MD from 2006 until 2012.

Syed Zainal has been with the board of PetDag since July 31, 2017. — Bernama

Malaysian labour force up two per cent to nearly 15 million in 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian labour force rose two per cent to nearly 15 million in 2017 compared with 14.7 million recorded in 2016, according to the findings of the Labour Force Survey Report 2017 released by the Department of Statistics.

Commenting on the report, Chief Statistician Malaysia Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the labour force participation rate (LFPR) increased to 68 per cent in 2017, up 0.3 per cent, versus 67.7 per cent in 2016.

“The female LFPR rose 0.4 per cent, year-on-year (y-o-y), to 54.7 per cent in 2017 while the male LFPR stood at 80.1 per cent, dropping 0.1 per cent y-o-y.

“Overall, the male LFPR was still higher than female labour force participation rate for all age groups,” he said. — Bernama