Dr Mohamed Rafick Khan Abdul Rahman said that the MAS issue should be addressed from the Malaysian perspective ( Address MAS issue from M'sian perspective ).

The problem is the Malaysian perspective is at odds with the national perspective.

The national perspective, as I understand the way it was articulated, is Malay political control as a means to abolish the identification of economic sector by race by improvement of the economic position of bumiputeras through the control of corporate wealth including that in the government-linked corporations.

It is true that in the face of competition, especially global, our corporations can thrive only when run efficiently by the brightest and the best.

If however this ethos of meritocracy were to be allowed, it would squarely run counter against the principal political leitmotif of post independence Malaysia the national agenda of restructuring society via uplifting of the economic position of bumiputeras.

The danger is that when this justification of economic restructuring is misused by those in the helm of government-linked corporations, they might just feel entitled to run the organisation as personal fiefdom to enrich themselves, with those ranking below equally following suit (ala leadership, by example) within their respective demarcated spheres of influence and all justified in the name and under the banner of economic restructuring. The further problem is that despite such a cost borne, no broad-based economic restructuring is perceived to take place beyond creation of a selected group of multi-millionaires with political connections.

In such a case, capital expenditure and working capital of a corporation will always tend to press upwards, with all levels taking what they feel entitled to, without necessarily any match by performance or any real business need.

It is trite that a corporate organisation ought to be guided by pure business objectives of cost and benefits if it were to stand a chance for success. What are its chances if it were influenced by political objectives? It may survive if it were a monopoly with unending government assistance but the odds immediately stack against it when faced with competition from other organisations run solely on business objectives.

Yet if faced with a dilemma between the meritocracy necessary to cure the ailing corporate performance and the so-called national agenda, the political choice would clearly be the latter, whatever the costs.

This is because based on the way our race-based politics has been structured since independence, it is the proven way to repeatedly garner and win votes to ensure political relevance and continuance of the ruling class

(Whether or not this would serve the longer and wider interests of the nation and Malaysians - beyond the narrow interest and ambitions of politicians is however another matter, which it remains for every Malaysian to best judge for himself).

What needs to be dispelled here is the notion that our political leaders are not aware of the economic effects and costs, and the political benefits of choosing and pursuing their course.

They are sufficiently sophisticated lot to be aware, and have tried to juggle by seeking to mitigate the more deleterious effects of the NEP by exhortation, training and expanding educational opportunities for the target market it seeks to address.

The entire amalgam of ideas behind making Corporate Malaysia competitive by the best and brightest, trimming wastage and stemming the brain drain (the so-called Malaysian perspective) is always then in irreconcilable tension with the diametrically opposed imperative of restructuring society based on patronage (the so-called national perspective).

If a choice has to be made between the two conflicting policy imperatives the Malaysian perspective or the national perspective it is quite obvious that the latter has always prevailed, and for the foreseeable future, will prevail.

Looking beyond Proton or MAS, many other corporations may now or in the future dive into red and yet no matter, it is a price that is accepted, discounted and readily paid for and on behalf of all Malaysians.

It is quite evident that Dr Mohamed Rafick Khan Abdul Rahman's Malaysian perspective is not yet accepted.