Privatise MAS for profit, says Tun M

Ex-PM says as a GLC, MAS will not achieve its target as a profitable conglomerate.

SRI KEMBANGAN: Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today that Malaysia Airlines (MAS) should be privatised to increase company profits.

The former prime minister said that as long as MAS remained a GLC (government-linked company), it would be difficult for the conglomerate achieve high-profit status.

“This is the difference between conventional business by parties who work for profit without interest in the company’s profit-making,” Mahathir said at his Aidilfitri open house here.

“Privatising  MAS would increase the company’s profits,” he added.

Last week, minister in the prime minister’s department Idris Jala said that the government should have sold MAS when its shares peaked at RM6.20 in 2007 while he was still chief operating officer.

“The government should stay out of the airline business but it must sell it at the right price and at the right time,” Idris said during Pemandu’s Global Malaysia Series LIVE here.

“I think they should have sold it when I was there. When the shares went from RM3 to RM6.20″.

During Idris’ tenure in MAS from Dec 1, 2005 to Aug 31, 2009, the company went from a loss of RM1.3bil in the year he joined to recording a profit of RM850mil two years later.

Idris was then appointed chief of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s Performance Management and Delivery Unit in 2009.

In 2011, the controversial share swap between MAS and rival AirAsia – crafted for the benefit of the country’s aviation industry and for the revival of the national carrier– was ditched following concerns that the tie-up may lead to restructuring and job cuts.

The following year, MAS reported a loss of RM2.52bil due to soaring fuel costs and admitted that the flag carrier was “in crisis” but confident of recovery.

In May, MAS registered a significant improvement in its operations by reducing operating loss by 46% to RM165mil for the first three months ending 31 March 2013 compared with RM307mil in the same quarter in 2012.