This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on October 17, 2018 - October 23, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Sidek Hassan (pic) has resigned as chairman of Malaysia Digital Economy Corp Sdn Bhd (MDEC).

It is learnt that Sidek’s resignation took effect from Oct 11 and that an acting chairman will be appointed from the corporation’s existing independent directors until the finance ministry identifies a replacement for Sidek.

MDEC confirmed Sidek’s resignation when contacted.

“MDEC would like to thank Tan Sri Sidek for his commitment, contributions in providing guidance and stewardship since May 2016 to the MDEC board. We wish him all the best in his future undertakings,” said MDEC in a statement to The Edge Financial Daily.

Sidek was part of the government-linked companies’ leadership shake-up that started after Pakatan Harapan took control of Putrajaya on May 9, 2018.

This is not the first chairmanship post that Sidek has vacated this year.

On June 30, his contract as chairman of Petroliam Nasional Bhd was not renewed after a three-year extension in 2015.

Subsequently, he resigned as chairman of KLCC Property Holdings Bhd and KLCC Real Estate Investment Trust.

Sidek’s career in the civil service spanned over 38 years, having served in the administrative and diplomatic service, with his last position as chief secretary to the government.

During the tenure of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Sidek had chaired the Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate Bank Negara Malaysia’s foreign currency transaction losses in the early 1990s, which cast the spotlight on Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who was also the prime minister then.