Patriotic Lankans and investment trail blazers
Dialog's 'zero to hero' story - through Malaysian eyes

By Feizal Samath

Kuala Lumpur – If there is one Sri Lankan who has made a name for himself and the country – at least amongst Asia’s top telecos (telecommunication companies) – its Hans Wijayasuriya. Not only has he taken Dialog Telekom to great heights to become Sri Lanka’s biggest mobile operator – in just 10 years – from fourth place when it started, but impressed the parent company TM (Telekom Malaysia Berhad) so much that Dr Wijayasuriya is now part of the main TM team and his skills and expertise used in other markets.

TM officials go into raptures when describing Wijayasuriya. Here are some of the adjectives used to describe Sri Lanka’s ‘telecom’ man: “brilliant”, “patriotic”, “ambassador”, “lucky”, “driving force”. During a recent media tour to Kuala Lumpur organised by TM to provide an insight into its local and international operations in more than 10 countries, Yusof Annaur Yaacob, CEO TM International singled out Dialog’s Chief Executive cum Executive Director as the reason for TM’s “zero to hero” success story in Sri Lanka.

He also explained, to Sri Lankan journalists on the sidelines of a briefing for journalists from eight countries where TM has operations, why TM continues to invest in Sri Lanka despite the ongoing conflict. “First we have a lot of faith in Sri Lanka. We are not an investor who would go in; go out. Secondly – you have a Sri Lankan who is extremely patriotic about his country, who works for us. Hans is one of the best investment ambassadors for Sri Lanka. We are lucky to have him.”

“He is very committed to see the telecom sector there grow and over the years despite the conflict he has been the driver of our growth, raising opportunities, seeing and sensing opportunities. He is the only non-Malaysian director at TM.” Asked whether his expertise was being used beyond the shores of Sri Lanka, Yaacob said Dr Wijayasuriya was on the boards of TM companies in India and Indonesia and the young efficient team he has groomed in Sri Lanka is often used for work in the region.

A new government building – The Ministry of Finance.

“If we do due diligence in the region, I always make sure there is Sri Lanka representation on that team looking at any acquisition. We use resources from Dialog a lot,” he noted. TM also has Sri Lankans from Dialog working on secondment at TM headquarters. Malaysia emerged as Sri Lanka’s biggest investor last year and much of it was thanks to Dialog and its CEO appropriately at a time when the two countries mark 50 years of relations.

This year Malaysia celebrates 50 years of independence from British rule, a landmark that Sri Lanka (then Ceylon under the British) crossed in 1998! But when you look at the vast differences between the political and economic landscape of the two countries, it’s a case of Sri Lanka missing the bus in the development cycle.

While Sri Lanka’s social infrastructure in health care and education has been considered the best in the region in colonial times and soon after, economic growth, per capita incomes and quality of life of the people have lagged far behind. Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand … you name it – were far behind Sri Lanka in social development in the 1950s but miles ahead now in the new millennium.

The TM tour of its facilities in KL like the Multimedia University which has students from 66 countries and is located at Cyberjaya (the media and high tech investment zone outside KL) or the KL Towers provided an insight into the vast strides that Malaysia has made in recent years under the driving economic reforms initiated by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed.

The KL Towers, the 4th tallest communication tower in the world which also has a revolving restaurant, is a showpiece of Malaysian wisdom and the march to progress. The TM telecom museum, another wise investment illustrates the history of telecommunicaton and its development and the items on display is very much in line with the times in Ceylon under British rule – the telephone instruments, the railway ‘tablet’ (which is handed over by guards on trains as they pass stations). It was like walking into a local (Colombo) museum.
But while politicians and their parties fought for power in the name of democracy in Sri Lanka, the country didn’t progress as fast as other Asian countries. For example – two years ago a venerated Buddhist monk in Kuala Lumpur told a group of visiting public servants on a study and training tour of Malaysia: “Many decades back, Malaysia sent its public servants to learn from Sri Lanka’s public service. Now it’s in reverse gear – we are learning from them – shows how much behind we are in development.”

While many were critical about Mahathir Mohamed’s dictatorial-like rule of Malaysia (at the same time however complimenting him on his distain for western imposed rules), the question remains as to what Sri Lanka and its 5-star democracy has achieved. Like one journalist colleague from Pakistan commented during our walk-thro-see-through the enormous development in Malaysia through the eyes of TM: “Maybe we need a group of ‘benevolent’ dictators in our countries to progress to these levels.”

Take privatisation of state firms and the infusion of young and skilled professionals to run these organisations. TM for example is more than 60 percent owned by the government but its reputation here and abroad belies the fact that it’s a partly state-owned company. If the companies don’t deliver results to its stakeholders including the public, changes are made.

For example, TM is driven by a fairly young team since 2004 – some 10 years after privatisation – and old civil service mentalities which may have impeded its progress removed. The top management is mostly in the early or mid-forties. “You look very young?” a Sri Lankan journalist asked Yaacob, impressed by his detailed, off-the-cuff presentation and vibrant approach. “I am not … I am older than Hans,” he laughed. Yaacob is 41; Wijayasuriya is 38. Abdul Wahid Omar, the CEO/Executive Director of the entire TM group is 43 while Bazlan Osman, the group’s chief financial officer is 43.

All are eminently qualified – Yaacob is a chartered accountant with wide investment banking experience; Wijayasuriya has a Masters in Electronic Engineering and a doctorate in digital mobile communications while Osman is a chartered accountant with experience in public accounts auditing. “I don’t spend much time in KL … only once a week. I have no social life. I spent most of the time overseas in other markets,” Yaacob said, explaining how he had acquired a lot of knowledge of other markets. He said in the last 12-18 month, the Malaysian government has infused new thinking in companies it owns.

“It is not new blood – but the way of doing things. In order to achieve this, the government felt the old civil service mentality should be moved out (by bringing in new faces,” he said adding that he and Osman joined the company in May/June 2005. He said similar changes were made in other state firms like Malaysian Airlines for example. TM’s consistent investment in Sri Lanka is explained by a simple philosophy: Once the company decides on the macro economic issues of a country, there is no reversal in investment strategies. In the Sri Lankan context, TM’s team in Colombo viz Dialog and its ‘excellent’ team manager has influenced all its investment decisions.

Last year (2005-06) TM – through Dialog – invested US$150 million despite the conflict in the north and the east while in the current year they plan to spend nearly $400 million. “We believe in the country, we believe in the guys running our business,” says Yaacob. Asked whether the company is at risk and worried in investing in a country where the violence has escalated and the war (in the east) intensifying, he said: “There are issues. In any situation where there is a conflict we need to look at options. Whenever we evaluate new investments the risk screen goes up but it is well within our risks.”

By being a proactive investor in Sri Lanka, the Malaysian company has also become one of its best ambassadors for investment.
“A lot of people ask us – how are we successful and should we invest in Sri Lanka? The answer is YES all the time,” Yaacob said adding that during Board of Investment (Sri Lanka) missions in KL, TM helps to bring businesses together at a luncheon sponsored by the Malaysian company. Some months back TM addressed a “Invest Sri Lanka” conference in Singapore touting the positive side of investing in Sri Lanka. “I reckon we sell the Sri Lankan Inc,” Yaacob said.

Why not the Middle East?
Telekom Malaysia (TM) is one of Asia’s hugely successful telecom firms and after a successful ride in some Asian markets one would expect it to take a shot at the wealthy Middle East region. So why not the Middle East where there is a massive concentration of expatriates, many of them from Asia with disposable incomes?

“Its question of priority,” says Yusof Annaur Yaacob, CEO TM international explaining why TM is not in those markets. He said it’s too expensive to just enter countries like for example Saudi Arabia or Egypt where licences are linked to ‘petro’ dollars. “In Egypt they auction off the licenses and one has to pay some US$2.5 billion purely for the license without start-up costs,” he said reasoning out why the company prefers to concentrate closer to home like Laos, Thailand or new markets like Myanmar.

“Recognising our size and constraints, we are not going into the Middle East. We have many offers from there for joint bids/ventures but we have our financial limitations and also human capital is an issue,” he said. The company is learning from its first foray internationally when it invested in Africa, which turned out to be a disaster! TM is now pulling out of Africa and reallocating its resources to areas where it feels the investment more viable.