The chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has once again shown off his contrarian streak by bucking conventional wisdom in the Federal Government about what to do with long-ailing Malaysia Airlines (MAS).
PAC chair Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said that Putrajaya had been providing a safety net to MAS for too long, stretching back to a time before even the country’s “open sky” policy, which resultued in the emergence of low-cost carriers like AirAsia – and increased copetition for Malaysia Airlines.
According to The Malaysian Insider‘s Mohd Farhan Darwis, The Pulai MP said, “If you ask us, surely we have an opinion, why use public funds to revive MAS without any positive outcome.
“After so many years of helping MAS, and despite denials that the company does not get any government aid, Khazanah [Nasional Bhd] is the investor and the money comes from the government.
“So it is time the government made a decision whether or not to let MAS fly on its own.”
Yesterday, Khazanah Nasional managing director announced that the government’s corporate investment arm would be drafting a restructuring plan for MAS within the next year. The plan would involve overhauling the airline’s internal work culture, its external support structure, and its leadership and management.
“The final decision will be made by the government, our job is to give advice on what needs to be done,” Azman had said.
Nur Jazlan, however, seemed unconvinced that Khazanah should even bother to do that much.
“The restructuring of MAS has been done many times since 1998, and by the same parties, so I hope this time it can bring about some positive solution towards reviving the airline,” he said.
“Previously MAS was protected under the National Aviation Policy and because of that the government was pumping in funds into the airline because it was consistent with government policy.
“But now that we have the ‘open sky’ policy with low-cost carriers in the market, this policy cannot be sustain and in any case, the future of MAS would depend on the country’s aviation policy,” Nur Jazlan added.
Nur Jazlan has previously been a vocal voice of dissent within the Barisan Nasional government concerning the safety and readiness of the new KLIA2 air terminal, which reportedly showed defects in its runways mere weeks after opening on May 2, despite getting greenlit by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
See Also:
Khazanah will have a plan to save Malaysia Airlines in a year
Malaysia Airlines suffered its 4th straight quarterly loss
Malaysia Airlines might need a government bailout
Bloomberg says MH370 might break Malaysia Airlines for good
Malaysia Airlines employee union begs PM to save the airline
