This place in Switzerland called Davos is a breathtakingly beautiful ski resort in winter and is the venue for the annual gathering of the elites of the world in late January of each year. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has held its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland every January since 1971.
For a boy born in the tropical jungles of Borneo, the conditions were simply just too cold and hence rather uncomfortable. Nonetheless, there I was in Davos in the winter of January 2008, attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) not as one of the elites, obviously. But it was a dream come true for me, to be able to attend the esteemed gathering.
Every January, the World Economic Forum is convened in Davos where all the movers and shakers of the world (world leaders, Hollywood stars, billionaires, bankers, CNN and other world news reporters, activists, etc) congregate to discuss and exchange views on the ‘state of the world’ we are in, and ostensibly to reach consensus on what to do for the future. Whether consensus is realised or not is hard to fathom or monitor.
When I attended one of these annual sessions in the past it was Tun Abdullah Badawi, fondly known as “Pak Lah” (Malay diminutive for ‘Uncle Abdullah’) who was the Prime Minister. Pak Lah attended the WEF event that year and that day I was amongst those in the room where he spoke, listening to him delivering his speech.
He spoke, eloquently at a panel alongside the other two speakers, the President of the Philippines, Mario Maria Macapagal Orroyo, and the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Ten Deng. I also remember that Malaysia hosted a soirée one evening where typical Malaysian dishes and delicacies were served, and some cultural performances presented.
The soirée proved to be a huge success with many attendees coming for the event. Pak Lah was the perfect host that night where he sportingly donned a chef’s cap while serving the guests from behind the various stalls set up in the big hall which served as the venue.
The names of all registered delegates to the annual WEF are listed in the WEF participants’ directory together with their position titles as well with their personal photographs being affixed.
The listing protocol was in alphabetical order based on the participants’ surname. Since my ‘surname’ is ‘Abdullah’ my name appeared very early and at the forefront in the list of names arranged sequentially based on alphabetical order. In fact, I recall that I was listed at page six or seven of the directory, just after His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan.
Every participant would have had a copy of the directory given in the conference bag. I think I still have my hard copy of the directory somewhere at home as a keepsake. It’s very thick, like an average size A4 dictionary!
Browsing through the directory, one of my friends commented, “That would have been quite an experience. I bet this is one of your brag moments that you will share with your grandkids.”
Well, it’s not every day that you get your name and particulars printed next to a royalty of the stature like His Majesty King Abdullah.
I came to the WEF as the Petronas representative on the WEF-PACI Initiative, a public-private sector initiative to combat corruption. The acronym “PACI” stands for Partnership Against Corruption Initiative, a joint effort by WEF (the World Economic Forum) and members of the extractive industry.
Petronas played a pivotal role in making the initiative happen.
The World Economic Forum Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) is a global, multi-industry, multi-stakeholder anti-corruption initiative set up to raise business standards and to contribute to a competitive, transparent, accountable, and ethical business society.
The goals are to:
- selectively engage in global policy-shaping activities, leveraging the CEO-level voices of PACI to define a true level playing field;
- engage in a limited number of high-impact collective action activities in partnership with engaged governments and PACI members; and
- ensure that PACI continues to facilitate the development and sharing of best-practice case studies.
The initiative asks business leaders to sign a set of principles, thereby committing to a zero tolerance policy towards bribery and corruption and agreeing to establish an internal anti-corruption programme.
Through the WEF-PACI Initiative, we managed to develop a document entitled the ‘Statement on Zero Tolerance Against Corruption’ which was intended as public commitment to be signed by the chief executives of all major companies operating in the extractive industry and to demonstrate their support and determination in the fight against corruption in general, and especially in the extractive industry in particular.
Of course, Petronas did sign the said document, thereby demonstrating global leadership in this very critical area, long before it became an imperative and fashionable to do so.
Thanks to the strong leadership and guidance by Tan Sri Hassan Marican, who had a no nonsense and exemplary leadership style, Petronas was at the forefront of the global oil and gas industry, not just in terms of oil and gas business dimensions, but also as a leading light in terms of good corporate governance and with an excellent management reputation known for its professionalism.
Through signing onto the PACI principles, companies show their commitment to the design and implementation of anti-corruption policies, benchmarking of best practices in an environment of peer-learning and exchange and levelling the playing field among competitors through entering into collective action with assorted stakeholders.
Petronas, in signing the statement, committed to doing all these as part of the commitment to realising a corruption free environment in its business dealings and operations.
In all the things I have been tasked to deliver when I was in Petronas, I count this experience as being a key participant and lead role in formulating the document on the issue of corruption, as one of the unique and important milestones in my long career in Petronas.
Thanks to Tan Sri Hassan who dared trust the jungle boy from Borneo to be the lead from Petronas’ side on this very important assignment at the global stage.
Today, PACI has become the leading business voice on anti-corruption and transparency.
It is one of the WEF’s strongest cross-industry collaborative efforts and is creating a highly visible, agenda-setting platform by working with business leaders, international organisations and governments to address corruption, transparency and emerging-market risks. I am glad to have been involved in the inception of this initiative.
The venue for the annual WEF event being held in the winter is something surreal and could easily take one’s breath away! The beautiful scenery, with thick and pristinely white snow, was a winter wonderland.
The setting with the cold temperature is almost a perfect getaway to induce the sense of close proximity where participants are metaphorically rubbing shoulders together.
Actually, one could literally bump into some famous individuals as you go around the venue or on your way to attend one of the sessions that you have signed up for.
Indeed, the gathering is an opportunity to rub shoulders with royalty, world leaders, film/pop stars, news readers, religious persons, and so on, since the venue is rather small and compact, and one is easily in close quarters with just about anybody.
Personally, I saw and came up close to many well know personalities whom I saw on the television or the print media.
Well, this was the case then — long before the Covid-19 virus erupted out of Wuhan, China in December 2019.
Whether the WEF will continue to be relevant in the future remains to be seen. Clearly, the new norm that was engendered by the need to respond to the challenges from the pandemic will be a key consideration on how it will be held — from just online and virtually, a hybrid model or back to the old ways where face to face meetings and close interactions were the norm.
Irrespective of the mode of meeting and discussion, the issues that faces the world and our future remains complex and intractable. Thereby, requiring the serious engagement between civil society, leaders, corporate captains, NGOs, communities, peoples and virtually all layers of the global society.
Amongst the key issues going forward are the risks of societal and climate change concerns as highlighted in the latest WEF Global Risk Report 2022, namely:
- a divergent economic recovery that threatens collaboration on global challenges;
- a disorderly climate transition that will exacerbate inequalities;
- growing digital dependency that will intensify cyberthreats;
- barriers to mobility risk compounding global insecurity; and
- opportunities in space could be constrained by frictions.
The clearer we understand the challenges facing us and the faster we get consensus on the way forward, the better the chance we could create a better future for all.
