UMNO MP's ritualistic tirades againts MAS-AirAsia Sting

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 — Umno lawmakers accused Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar and Tan Sri Tony Fernandes today of cheating the public in the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia share swap.

Kinabatangan MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin called on Khazanah chief executive Azman to be investigated by graftbusters after the state investment agency exchanged 20.5 per cent of the national carrier for a 10 per cent stake in Asia’s top-performing budget airline. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) must call Tan Sri Azman ... all of them ... if there is any misappropriation, stuff them into jail,” the Barisan Nasional (BN) backbenchers deputy chief told Parliament. “How can Khazanah be fooled? Azman Mokhtar, how can he be so stupid, to be ‘tuned’ by Tony Fernandes. If I was in such a position, I would resign rather than troubling others. “Maybe they are not stupid. Maybe they get huge profits by squeezing and grabbing money from the public,” he said, referring to the AirAsia CEO’s company Tune Air which now owns a fifth of MAS.

Sri Gading MP Mohamad Aziz also accused AirAsia of “clearly cheating the public and now trying to cheat MAS.” “If this kind of man (Fernandes) can control us, God forgive us,” he said while debating Budget 2012.

Bung Mokhtar also said the government should “not be scared of Fernandes. Whatever he wants, we give. He wants to overcharge for excess baggage and suck the blood of poor villagers.

“Now I hear he has a plan in the future to take over all domestic flights and MAS will only have international flights. If we give this to him, the country will be in ruins. It will be the end of the world for us,” he said. Bung said if the government could not provide a satisfactory answer, it meant that “government officials colluded with AirAsia and has vested interests.”

The MAS-AirAsia swap has come under fire from both sides of the political divide as well as employees of MAS who believe the deal will affect their careers.

The finance ministry said earlier this month that the deal is being investigated by Bursa Malaysia and the Securities Commission for insider trading despite the swap being agreed on three months ago. MAS’s poor financial performance of late had resulted in the share swap with AirAsia on August 9.

This allowed AirAsia boss Fernandes to sit on the MAS board, ostensibly to help turn the ailing airline around.

MAS had announced in August a net loss of RM527 million for the second quarter of 2011 due to higher fuel costs despite recording a better yield and a nine per cent growth in passenger revenue from the same period last year. This brings total losses in the first half of the year to RM769 million even as the airline said that profit outlook for the second half of the year appears bleak.

Putrajaya insisted last month it had “no choice” but to implement the controversial share swap as “if (MAS) continues to make losses and the government has to inject funds, then there will be even more anger.”Critics have accused the budget carrier’s boss of taking advantage of the loss-making national airline to fuel his personal ambitions, the latest being the acquisition of English Premier League club, Queens Park Rangers (QPR). The national carrier will sponsor QPR’s home jersey for the next two seasons, while AirAsia’s logo will be emblazoned on the team’s away and third kits in a “multi-million pound” deal.

Finally I hear and read some UMNO MPs wailing against the sting in the air. You get bamboozled by the razzle dazzle of the super salesman known as Tony F and the Mafiosi Azman Mokhtar, you finally come to your senses that these people are doing a big scam. But I bet ya- Tony F will come visiting these two and offering packaged holidays and the issue will die out a premature death.

I wrote about this sometime ago and I have been accused of pushing the racist angle because the owner of AA is one Ceylonese. This is a free market economy- whatever he wishes to do with his AA , that’s not our damn business. But when he sticks his fingers into theass asset belonging to the nation and whose stakeholders are the people of Malaysia, we have every right to question the motives of those who are pushing for a private business agenda.

Except one thing- the UMNO MPs are missing one person who is as involved as Tony and Azman are- the man who I described as the modern day Hamman. Now, if you all remember a little bit of religious history, especially about the story of Moses, you will remember, Hamman was the majordomo for Pharoah. In modern day terms, you could say, Hamman was the chief broker, deal maker, official merchant banker for Firaun or Pharoah. But the old day Hamman was at least ethical in serving only one paymaster. The modern day Hamman services 2 masters at one- AirAsia and Khazanah. The modern day Hamman, reappearing in the person of the CIMB boss services both Tony and Azman. Ouch!

Just in case the two chief noise makers from the BN, Bung Mokhtar and Mohamad Aziz don’t yet know- the deal was planned as far back as 2 year ago my friends.

People want to take the easy way out when solving the MAS issue. Why can SIA still make profits? How come Emirates who started much the same way as MAS grew into the big and profitable airline it now is? How did Etihad succeed?

The simple answer is because MAS operates on a business model shaped like an inverted pyramid. At every level people skim off the milk. The people who decide that the MAS uniforms be tailored by some cekai tailoring outfit in Sungai Buloh. The supplier who supplies funkeong standard shoes and handbags. (last time when we cant afford Bata shoes, we wore FunKeong- remember?) Even the people who interviewed prospective pilots for a RM 500 fee. The catering service that is now paid RM 7 million a year when the initial cost was RM 2 million a year. The VPs who are given BMW 5 Series with drivers and SVPs who may be driving Porsches around.

Yet despite the bloodletting by Idris’Al Dunlap’ Jala, MAS is still drowning. Its losing RM 5 million a day!

Now you bring in a master butcher to save MAS.

I remember a few years ago, when people and journalists were looking for Eric Chia- Karpal Singh boomed- fellas you are looking for him at the wrong address. He is staying at Sri Perdana.

So, Bung Mokhtar and Yb M Aziz, please look for the 3^rdman, the banker at the correct address yes. And mention also his name in your tirades. Kalau you orang berani lah!.

Posted by sakmongkol AK47