YOURSAY ‘SIA has been making profits, while MAS was bailed out three times.’

                       

Stop flying in denial mode, Dr M tells MAS

Onyourtoes: Former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, I think it is time for you to stop being in denial that Malaysia is a complete failure when it comes to management of GLCs, government enterprises and other assets. 

 

Why privatise Malaysia Airlines (MAS) again? Wasn’t MAS privatised during your administration? But what happened? The government had to spend billions to “renationalise” so that the man who ran MAS to the ground was protected from losses and responsibility.

 

What about national carmaker Proton? Does it matter it was state owned or privatised? After 30 years, what have you got to show other than a rebadged Proton Perdana?

 

I have said a thousand times - in Malaysia, it is not whether it is state owned, privatised, or somewhere in between. It is the moral hazard, incompetence, crony capitalism and corruption.

Progressive: Mahathir "privatised" MAS to the inept tycoon Tajudin Ramli. That was the beginning of the rot.

 

Mahathir is to be blamed for the ails and ills of MAS. It's not privatisation, but the right kind management with the right people, irrespective of race. Take Emirates Airlines, which is helmed by Tim Clark - if you need a foreigner to take charge, so be it.

 

Dr Suresh Kumar: It's not only MAS but just about every other institution has been ripped apart by Mahathir and his cronies.

 

Mahathir may take credit for turning Malaysia from an agro-based to industrial-based economy, but what use of it when he allowed unqualified people to squander billions just to placate his cronies.

 

How many of our overstaffed GLCs (government-linked companies) are actually making money today? The duty of a responsible government is to govern the country responsibly and transparently and not meddle with business institutions.

 

MAS is a living proof that Mahathir's former administration has failed the nation miserably. Now he is trying to pin the blame on others. Indeed, he is always right and others are always wrong - that's Mahathir for you.

 

I feel pity for Malaysians who have to fork out so much to purchase a poor quality car like Proton whereas the same car is sold so much cheaper in Australia. It just does not make any economic sense.

 

Are Malaysians paying to feed the ego of octogenarian? Only time will tell.

 

Krissman: There was a time when MAS and Singapore Airlines (SIA) was known as Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA). They split and where is SIA now compared to MAS today?

 

SIA has 27 Airbus 330s, 19 380s (five more on order), 58 Boeing 777s, while MAS has 19 Airbus 330s, six Airbus 380s, and 14 Airbus 777s and 50 odd 737s.

 

SIA has been making profits, while MAS was bailed out at least three times. Petronas, the country’s cash cow, and Malaysian taxpayers have also bailed out Bank Bumiputera, Proton, etc, a number of times.

 

In a country endowed with all kinds of natural, human and other resources with no natural calamities like earthquakes, volcano or hurricanes and 365-day growing season, we should be all enjoying a very high standard of living.

 

Every citizen of Norway is technically a millionaire as the government invested all its North Sea Oil money into their pension plan. Mahathir squandered most of our wealth and now he has audacity to talk more?

 

Disgusted: Mahathir, don't only talk about MAS alone, talk also about Proton and the umpteen bailouts by the rakyat's money to keep it going.

 

At the same time, talk also about how Petronas money is misused and squandered. Why should the rakyat bear so much taxes if we could use all the money gained from natural resources for betterment and running the country instead of squeezing the rakyat for every cent earned?

 

Bash: Mahathir, you had your chance to prevent MAS from going on the decline back then but you didn't. So, this company as well with many other institutions in the country are suffering the same (bad) fate.

 

It's all coming back to roost. Such is your failed legacy.

 

J Ng: MAS' predicament is the result of the denial mode by the government. It has nothing to do with MAS.

 

As the largest shareholder, the government is to be blamed for MAS poor management or mismanagement. Commercial airlines have intense international competition. There will be many cost factors such as fuel, currency fluctuations, etc, etc, that are beyond the airlines’ control.

                                                                                                                       

It is time the government reevaluate MAS as a GLC. MAS will never be commercially viable with government involvement and interference.

 

Fernz: It's the same old scam. They will privatise MAS to a crony at a song, while accepting the burden of the liabilities, and then pay through the nose to buy it back when it goes to the dogs.

 

In the process, a few people make tonnes of money at the expense of the people.

Casey: Mahathir may be ignorant that the moral fibre and values of a nation is determined by the man at the top. Unfortunately, he was there for at least two decades too long.

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