Rejoinder to minister's take that opposition was 'out of reading sphere'

The Malaysian opposition, if they are members of parliament, have the right to pose questions to the prime minister and ministers.

Yet, as can be seen, by the embargo on questions related to 1MDB, they are not granted that right time and again.
Invariably, the parliamentary Hansard will show that the members of parliament from the opposition cannot and were not accorded the privilege of asking questions pertaining to MAS's restructuring too, even the state of wellbeing of Petronas, indeed, Felda or Mara.

Thus, not surprisingly, opposition members are often surprised by Prime Minister Najib's gallant display of generosity abroad, when he is squeezing Malaysian taxpayers through and through with GST and even tourism tax.

In blind defense of Najib, Rahman Dahlan affirmed that the opposition has not kept up with their readings on the respective aviation deals and purchases already agreed by MAS last year, to which the prime minister proceeded to confirm in the US when meeting Trump.

In other words, what's new? All these had been agreed before the trip.

Rahman reasoned that the big-ticket items, in other words, were decisions already made well before the prime minister's arrival.

Three questions arise immediately from this attempt to re-alter the narrative of the US-Malaysia visit, which has been heavily, and widely, criticised not only in Malaysia but globally.

One, if the managerial decisions had already been made by Malaysia Airlines, why should they be announced to President Donald Trump, when other pressing issues are equally critical?

Is Malaysia Airlines's shopping spree a matter of national, regional or international interest?

Indeed, wouldn't the humanitarian tragedy facing the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, invariably, North Korea's nuclear weapons programme or China's militarisation of South China Sea, top the speaking points of Najib to Trump?

Yet, Najib chose to highlight the purchases of Malaysia Airlines. If this was not a callous attempt to curry favor with the White House, no one knows what is.

Second, these purchases have been decided just barely after Malaysia Airlines has broken even, and after retrenching 6500 cabin crews and technical staffs in June 2016.

If these new planes were being bought and decided as early as a year ago, shouldn't these loyal cabin crews be given a chance to serve in the new planes?

Yet, again the prime minister made no mention of their plight let alone the minister of transport Liow Tiong Lai.

Ironically, the latter was captured in a video gig playing himself as a double - with the alter ego asking why the government is so corrupt.

In Malay, we have a proverb, sudah gaharu cendana pula, sudah tahu bertanya pula ’ meaning asking the questions with answers known already.

Three, the practice of announcing aviation purchases, up to 33 "birds" literally appeal to the politics of Washington State where Boeing, indeed, Microsoft is based.

Why not use the same money to urge Microsoft to work closely with Malaysia to help the digitisation of the Malaysian economy, especially when Bandar Malaysia is indeed positioned as a future digital hub of Southeast Asia?

Besides, buying Boeing planes is a standard textbook tactic by Japanese and Chinese, even Korean economies, to ward off any trade sanctions or higher taxes by the US.

The US just withdrew from Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Mustapha Mohamad, the Minister of International Trade and Industry was in Washington DC, as was chief cabinet secretary Ali Hamsa.

Why use a tactic of Japan, China, Korea and Europe to win the heart and mind of the White House -- when Malaysia is not an aviation hub of any long-haul flights as yet.

Indeed, if Boeing was the prime concern, why not bring Tony Fernandez of Air Asia on board? After all, Air Asia has been performing better than MAS, with the first quarter profits of RM267.1 million (US$63.6) alone this year.

Wouldn't Air Asia be able to get a better deal from Boeing or indeed even General Electric (GE) when Air Asia is in a position of strength while MAS, by extension, Khazanah which owns 69 percent of MAS, is not?

When stupidity pervades Umno - as it really does - even the minister in the Prime Minister's Department can no longer cohere between defending the prime minister, as he must politically, and stringing up a clear and succinct explanation, as he is legally obliged to.

Perhaps Najib confused Washington State of Boeing with Washington DC itself too? The former has its capital in Seattle which is in the West coast, while the latter is the swamp that Trump ostensibly wants to drain.

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RAIS HUSSIN is a Supreme Council Member of Parti Peribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM). He also heads the Policy and Strategy Bureau of PPBM. - Mkini