Of MAS, Cabinet Reshuffle & Such

Well first the talk about the Cabinet reshuffle. Ini rumour saja ok. Talk is the Home Minister goes back to Defense. Defense Minister goes to Ministry of Finance. The Finance Minister who is also the PM goes to Home Ministry.

The MCA will get Health and Transport but they want SPAD put under Transport as well.

Putting the Home Minister  back in Defense maybe because there is no where else to put him. Giving the Defense Minister a shot at Finance is possibly to give him more exposure and build up his stature. Hishamuddin is headed up. Plus the PM is his cousin. PM holding Home Ministry is not unusual. 

The MCA's idea to put SPAD under Transport is sensible. Right now the situation is chaotic. 

Here is news about MAS :

Khazanah to announce plan for Malaysia Airlines in 6 to 12 months

• Khazanah plan for MAS in six to 12 months 
• to steer national carrier out of problems
• three things to be in place
• internally MAS as a company needs to up its productivity
• to be clear about what kind of national carrier we want 
• leadership to do this is very challenging 
• very challenging for the MAS leadership
• needs to be solved in a sustainable manner
• Khazanah undertaking study, consulting stakeholders

All you concerned Malaysians must wake up ok. Malaysian Airlines troubles compounded about 10 to 11 years ago circa 2003. That was the year a pirate became the PM and his pirate band took over the country. Now despite there being a nother PM, the pirates are still in place.  

That was when a new airline Air Asia came into being. In 10 years Air Asia has gone up, up and away while MAS has gone down, down and down. In 10 years Air Asia has had just one boss. In the same time MAS has had about five CEOs. Before a CEO can even get used to the executive toilet, he is replaced. So how to plan any long term strategy?

And the type of characters they put in charge of a national airline. No offense meant but media guys and dont know what types. In short "MAS has been designed to fail" - according to the 'deep throat' source.

And why is it that every time MAS and Air Asia crossed paths, MAS has suffered losses. MAS gave up airplanes and domestic routes to Air Asia. They returned the routes and planes later. The planes needed serious service. Whether MAS got money is questionable. 

Then there was that silly share swap between MAS and AA. It was actually a takeover of MAS by AA. Tony moved key staff from AA to MAS, including one director of engineering. Then the share swap unravelled but some of Tony's key staff remained with MAS.

AA has extracted many beneficial agreements and contracts with MAS. The public wants to know how much Tony pays MAS Engineering for servicing his planes? Market rates or special rates Tony? People say special rates.

Along the way MAS also got screwed when their lucratice and monopoly F&B business was hived off to the PM's brother. Why? It was a profitable business generating huge revenue for MAS. Why hive it off? Then the PM's brother sold it to Lufthansa at a profit. Why? 

Kononnya nak tolong Melayu niaga, jual MAS F&B kepada family PM, dia pula jual MAS F&B kepada Jerman?? MAS lost a huge business there.

Anyway before I go further about a couple of months back I met a 'deep throat' source who told me that Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid would be replaced as MD of Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd. This event has now come to pass. I think Bashir will "retire" today June 11, 2014.

Bashir rose through the ranks in MAS and made it to almost second in command. A professional with high levels of integrity. Which means the pirates did not like him. 

So in 2003 they kicked him out of MAS and made him CEO of MAHB. In just 10 years Bashir has built MAHB into a world class company. MAHB is a world player. Few Malaysians know that MAHB not only operates 38 airports in Malaysia but they also operate airports in Istanbul, Delhi and Hydrebad. Bangalore airport is also in their sights but the Khazanah dunggus want it for themselves. Yup I heard about that too.  (The new CEO Badlisham is ex MDeC, Cyberjaya - another GLC musical chairs CEO. Newspaper guys, TV guys, Cyberjaya guys are appointed to run airports and airlines. Cool.)

Bashir had been a pain in the neck for many of the pirates when he was in MAS. He was anti piracy. Even in MAHB he made it so successful that the Khazanah dunggus became jealous of his success. So Bashir has been "retired". Easier to dance around the bonfire now.

Now the talk is that this so called 'turn around plan' will be nothing more than selling off MAS Engineering and MAS Kargo. Also known as asset stripping. And guess who will be first in line to buy MAS Kargo and/or MAS Engineering - possibly at knock down prices ?

Dont rule out Syed Mokhtar. (To save the Melayu water face lah). But the main contender will be our friend from Goa again. 

His partner and shareholder is of course none other than the closest advisor to the former PM -  whose brother took over MAS F&B business. Plus the former PM is now Advisor to MAS. And his closest advisor is also chummy with the dunggus in Khazanah.

Folks, can you get cosier than that? Talk about the fox in the chicken coop. This is an extreme case of Dracula jaga tabung darah. 

MAS' share price is now 18 sen. It was 15 sen. Just above toilet paper value. I think these clever begars are cornering the shares. Let it fall down, down, down. Imagine six months from now there is some announcement - MAS Kargo shall be sold to OutSyed The Box and the Band of Muggers !!! Wow - even if the share price moves up five sen that is a  28% return. 

These are some of the things that are going on. You are all sleeping folks. Others are sitting quietly in their executive suites and plotting all these moves. 

What can you do? Once every five years go and vote. Thats about  it.