DAP condemns MAS for holding the special screening of ‘Tanda Putera’ to celebrate its 41st anniversary as a ‘special treat’ for MAS staff. What motivation from this hugely unpopular and discredited film can inspire MAS staff to scale greater heights, especially in turning around its huge losses?
MAS Managing Director’s announcement of the special screening of ‘Tanda Putera’ to commemorate Malaysian Airlines(MAS) 41st anniversary celebrations insults all MAS customers who are gravely offended by the lies that is not only historically wrong but also racially offensive and derogatory. Even Tanda Putera had admitted to lying with the weak excuse that they were using ‘creative license’ in film-making.
For instance, Tanda Putera producers have admitted they made a mistake accusing DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang of urinating on a flagpole in a Facebook posting last year. In their facebook posting Tanda Putera even unreservedly apologise to DAP leader Lim Kit Siang for the embarrassment caused by the such lies. Utusan Malaysia had also apologised to Lim Kit Siang and me for making similar lies.
For Malaysia Airlines to celebrate its 41st anniversary by screening Tanda Putera as a special treat for its staff, is an act of denial of the grave financial crisis it is facing with mounting losses and dwindling cash reserves. How can Tanda Putera act as a motivational boost for the staff when it is all about lies?
No wonder CIMB Research has placed an ‘underperform’ rating on MAS shares. Or is MAS now desperately relying on lies made by Tanda Putera to deceive not only itself but the Malaysian public that MAS is profitable. The public will not be so easily deceived. The public can compare the poor performance of Malaysian Airline System (MAS), despite the huge amounts of public funds invested, as compared to Air Asia Bhd.
Despite not getting a single cent in public funds, Air Asia has consistently outperformed MAS with cheaper fares and is now larger than MAS in market capitalisation, planes and share price. The public has a right to ask the value of money for some RM19 billion spent by the Federal government since 1998 to keep MAS solvent, including guaranteeing RM12.3 billion of MAS’ borrowings.
Tanda Putera is filled with political controversy as it was intended as a weapon of fear to help BN win Malay votes. By showing a political film filled with lies as a special treat for its staff to celebrate its 41st anniversary, MAS is sending the wrong signal that MAS has lost its way. Clearly, MAS does not know how to manage this corporate turnaround into profitability and instead is relying on lies as well as mixing politics and business to save itself by getting more grants from the Federal government.