Govt will name and shame PLCs with no women on their boards in 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will name and shame public listed companies (PLCs) with no women participation on their boards from next year, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
Speaking at Invest Malaysia Kuala Lumpur 2017 yesterday, he said the female labour force participation rate increased from 46% in 2009 to 54.3% last year, with over 700,000 more women in the workforce.
“Unfortunately, we still have 17 ‘top 100’ PLCs that have no women at all on their board. This is just not good enough and I call on these companies to immediately address this lack of diversity,” he said in his keynote address.
Although Malaysia has reached its target of women making up 30% of top management, Najib said the government wants to go further and set another target of all PLCs having at least 30% women at board level by 2020.
As of December 2016, women made up 30% of top management with 1,446 women out of a total 4,960 in top management excluding CEOs.
According to Najib, gross national income (GNI) has increased by nearly 50% between 2009 and 2016 with GNI per capita at US$9,850, narrowing the gap towards high income target from 33% to 19%.
He said inflation and unemployment have been kept low, with 2.26 million jobs created representing 69% of the 3.3 million target to be achieved by 2020.
“Other sets of figures support confidence in Malaysia. In the first quarter of 2017 our trade, for instance, recorded an increase of 24.3% – up to RM430.5 billion – compared with the same period last year,” he added.
While acknowledging the challenges ahead for Malaysia, Najib said the country needs to improve productivity, raise the levels of education and skills, and place innovation and creativity at the heart of the economy of the future.
“As the Prime Minister of Malaysia, I want to lay out the foundations needed for our nation to be counted among the very top countries in the world.
“We want that competitive edge, and to be a knowledge-based society – but we must always work towards those goals in ways that are sustainable, inclusive and equitable. No Malaysian must ever be left behind,” he said.
Bursa Malaysia Bhd chairman Tan Sri Amirsham Abdul Aziz said 2017 is the 13th year that the exchange has organised the Invest Malaysia Kuala Lumpur conference, which showcases the best of what Malaysia’s capital market has to offer.
“It is a platform for fund managers, capital market drivers and captains of industry to gather and network, and most importantly, engage directly with Malaysia’s policy makers and regulators,” he said.
More than 1,500 participants attended the conference yesterday, of which over 900 are fund managers with a total assets under management of US$19.9 trillion, compared with only US$11 trillion last year.