Corporate Malaysia: Chief Executive Officers, Ethnicity Issues and the Future

Abstract

This study examines Malaysia's Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) in two key areas. First, it analyses the distribution of CEOs among the top 100 publicly listed companies, revealing that Chinese CEOs outnumber Bumiputera CEOs nearly two to one. Further investigation shows that Chinese CEOs are primarily appointed by tycoons and family-owned businesses, while Bumiputera CEOs dominate Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) and Bumiputera enterprises, reflecting a strong communalistic pattern in corporate Malaysia. Second, the study explores future challenges, identifying religious contestation between the country’s two major faiths as a potential impasse. Achieving greater diversity of CEOs remains an uphill task.