DAP strongly disagrees with former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad over Christoph R Mueller’s appointment as chief executive officer-designate of Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAS NewCo) shows that Malaysians are stupid in not knowing how to manage aviation incurring billions of ringgit of losses since its inception.
In fact, it is BN and not Malaysians who is stupid, by relying on racism to cloak incompetent cronies instead of spotting talented Malaysians right before their very eyes such as the Air Asia team of Tony Fernandes, Datuk Kamarudin Meranon and Azran Osman Rani. The success of Air Asia is well-known internationally. Without a single cent in government support and subsidies, they have transformed the airline industry by offering affordable fares where “everyone can fly”.
The contrast could not be greater. MAS recorded huge losses despite the Federal government offering tens of billions of ringgit and charging higher fares whilst Air Asia recorded huge profits despite charging budget fares. The secret of Air Asia success is simple and found in all excellent companies – a relentless and rigorous focus on competency, honesty and talent spotting regardless of race or religion.
Whilst the best and brightest Malaysian and foreigners are appointed in Air Asia, the Malaysian government has adopted a failed approach of not punishing and sometimes even rewarding bad behaviour. There is great concern whether this failed approach will be repeated in 1MDB, with RM41.9 billion in debts and some doubts whether its assets can continue to retain its value.
Malaysians hopes that the new foreign CEO will be given the free hand to clean up MAS by focusing on mismanagement first, instead of taking the easy way out of blaming the 20,000 staff and reducing it by 6,000 to 14,000. Malaysians are also curious as to the terms and benefits accruing to the new foreign CEO and that should be revealed to demonstrate MAS’ new-found commitment to transparency and accountability.