Laura and Ainum

Ainum Mohd Said resigned as co-chief executive of Laura Ashley effective from 1 February 2005. She will be replaced by Lillian Tan, former CEO of Metrojaya Berhad. Laura Ashley has been struggling for quite some time. Since the early 90s, if I remember correctly. They withdrew from the USA and Europe at a staggering cost. Ainum was heavily criticised by some analysts. They pointed to her lack of significant retailing experience. Thus, it was unsurprising that Laura Ashley did not recover under her leadership. Why is this of interest? Well, Ainum was the former attorney general of Malaysia. She replaced Mokhtar Abdullah in 2001 and was replaced by Gani Patail also in 2001. Malaysians put high hopes on her when she was first appointed as AG. But she resigned unceremoniously less than a year after taking up the post. The reason for her departure as AG remains a mystery. And how a former Malaysian AG who has no significant retailing experience got to become a co-CEO of a problematic British-based retailer is also puzzling.