Prasarana leadership has to buck up or ship out

Today, in our New Malaysia, we are kicking out underperforming and most importantly, loss-incurring CEOs and board members.

With the national debt above a trillion ringgit, getting money to pay for the debt is already difficult, so culling the bad apples before they make things worse is a priority for Dr Mahathir Mohamad's government.

Other than Felda, Tabung Haji and the rest, there is also Prasarana.

Their objective is to manage public transportation in Malaysia, but they have failed. Malaysians can tell you that easily. Whether it is the buses or trains that they operate, the volume is missing and so are the profits.

Yet, Prasarana expanded overseas and is losing money there.

Last year, Rafizi Ramli informed Parliament about the Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro line (MMMSL) in Mecca which started operations in 2015.

The previous finance minister, Najib Abdul Razak, confirmedalmost RM100 million losses from the project.

What are the losses now? I suspect the figures have shot up even more.

This is a wholly owned company under the Finance Ministry, meaning their losses are Malaysia's losses, adding to the debt the country must serve.

Prasarana CEO Masnizam Hisham has to act. She has only been in the position for six months, but she must not become yet another leader of a GLC that fails at home and almost always invests poorly abroad.

Either quit the Saudi project and other ill-fated enterprises, or show where the leakages have been and reveal the true mistakes of these misadventures or just quit.

Because any of these would help stop the cash bleeding from struggling Malaysians, and help prime minister continue with his reform agenda. - Mkini