KUALA LUMPUR: Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd group chief executive officer Datuk Rohana Rozhan’s resignation is not related to allegations of data leak or political reasons.
Astro chairman Tun Zaki Azmi said Rohana’s six-month resignation notice, which will take effect from Jan 31 2019, is the normal process to facilitate succession of its group chief content and consumer officer Henry Tan.
Tan, who will succeed Rohana on February 1 2019, has been with Astro for more than 10 years.
Rohana, when speaking after Astro shareholders’ meeting yesterday, said she wanted "to pursue other goals". There has been rumours that she may be part of the potential restructuring at national TV station RTM.
“We have been planning for Rohana’s succession a few months already and this announcement is the usual practice of six-month notice,” Zaki said when met after the group’s shareholders meeting here yesterday.
“It has nothing to do with the data leak incident or any political reasons,” he said, adding that Rohana would remain on the board as a non-executive director.
He commended Rohana for inspiring the group to achieve many firsts and milestones for the media industry in Malaysia.
“So far, with her strong leadership, Astro’s customer base grew from 2.0 million to 5.5 million, while revenue grew RM1.79 billion to RM5.53 billion for the year ended January 2018,” he said.
Zaki dismissed speculations that the resignation was linked to the recent spate of chiefs of government agencies and government-linked companies tendering their resignations.
Yesterday, Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly resigned as group chief executive officer of Telekom Malaysia Bhd, while Bank Negara Malaysia confirmed Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim had stepped down as governor.
There were also reports speculating that Petroliam Nasional Bhd chairman Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan and Datuk Mohd Omar Mustapha, chairman of the national oil company’s remuneration committee, would resign too.
Tan, who will succeed Rohana on February 1 2019, has been with Astro for more than 10 years.
Meanwhile, Astro lodged a police report following news that its customer data had been leaked online.
The company clarified that the data breach had only affected customers of Astro IPTV, a joint service with a telco partner.
“The management of IPTV customers is a joint responsibility between Astro and its telco partner, Maxis Broadband Sdn Bhd. No other Astro customers are affected,’’ Astro said in a statement.
It was previously reported in January 2017, some 60,000 Astro IPTV customer details had been sold online.
Astro explained in January that it had sought assistance from the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and had the search engine provider remove the link.
In yesterdays’ statement, Astro said the data breach had resurfaced and Maxis was promptly requested to extend its assistance with the investigation.
“We have informed MCMC and will also lodge a report with the Department of Personal Data Protection. We confirm no customer financial data was disclosed. We are also working with Maxis to carry out additional forensic investigations,” it added.