Socio-economy

More dysfunctional stories about MAS unearthed

We all know that the criticisms levelled at Malaysia Airlines are nothing short of unpleasant and sometimes can be vicious. But this stemmed from the now cancelled share swap with MAS’ competitor Air Asia. One thing we can be sure, the need to criticise MAS is to see that it will regain its footing amongst the elites in the commercial flights industry.

There was no need to incur serious money to change the logo when the logo itself is the least of its problems

One industrial expert told yours truly, how could MAS, winner of several best cabin crew awards and other notable achievements for several years could suffer a loss while Air Asia, a young airline with such dodgy reputation of having guaranteed flight delays and poor cabin experience and even worse public relations records could garner profits.

The critical key is MAS’ operational costs.

It was never about its reputation or staff performance.

Buried deep in YB Wee Choo Keong’s more recent post, a commentator by the name GE Man wrote a list of peculiarities that is currently being faced by MAS. One have to wonder if they are all true. If they are, then the challenge MAS ought to face is much more steep than the government realised.

Thanks to the blog MAS Troubleshooters for pointing out the said comments:

After the proper set up of MAS Engineering 20 years ago, never in our history we send our aircraft for maintenance to 3rd party .

Yet this Monday/ 23rd July , MAS subsidiary airline Fire Fly is sending their turbo prop ATR 75-200 aircraft to SAE (Sepang Aircraft Engineering) to do a maintenance C1 checks.

One of the aircraft to be send is with registration 9M-FYH.

AJ and Azhari should tell us why MAS Engineering lost this contract too.

Bet they will say that MAS Engineering /MAE had no hangar space and man power to do it .

AA Engineering office is in SAE hangar too, what a coincidence !!

Some one will start to tell all MAS Engineering staffs that we don’t have much work in MAS engineering thus we got to reduce staff and offer VSS.

Lately too, not much of third party aircraft maintenance contract secured in MAS Engineering.

Good luck to all MAS Engineering staff , hope tomorrow you will still have your job.

After loosing Fire Fly ATR 75 maintenance contract to SAE , MAS Engineering /MAE lost another contract to AIROD for Batavia Air and Lion Air B737-300/400 maintenance .

The list of conspiracy and sabotages that bleed’s MAS to death:

1) Killing off Fire Fly B737-400/800 Jet Services since it is directly competing with AA as a low cost community carrier and taking over some of its routes.

2) Cut/Stop MAS profitable routes (Bandung , Surabaya , Sydney etc etc) so AA can take over the routes and mount additional flight. The rakyat had no choice but to pay what ever price AA put since they are monopolizing this routes.

3) Re schedule / re timed MAS flight to odd hours (Hong Kong, Beijing etc etc) so that AA take the prime slot. MAS seat’s load factors dived.

4) Signed the so called an AAX’s 35,000 passengers re-accommodation at a very low fare. MAS loosing money at least MYR 1000 per AAX’s passengers carried and lost of sale able seats to would be full paying MAS passengers.

5) Logo and re-branding, con-sultan fee’s paid, re-painting of more then 115 aircraft which will cost at least MYR 900,000.00 per aircraft that requires down time of at least 10 days.

It will cost a whooping MYR 100 millions. Lost of aircraft utilization will cost money too to MAS. Luckily the change of logo and re-branding were restricted to A380. Even that will cost money for the respraying of the 6 A380!

6) QPR sponsor worth MYR 10 million when AJ is crying MAS is bleeding.

7) A380 seat re-configuration at the wimp and fancy of the Pariah which cost MAS at least MYR 4 million per ship set. With 6 unit A380 ordered , this will add an additional cost of MYR 24 million to MAS and the “old seats” to be scrap.

8) The A380 ferry (joy rides) flight from Toulouse to Kuala Lumpur with some joy riders on board who are not related at all to the ferry flight formalities, incurring additional cost of sending them to Toulouse, hotels, daily allowances and lost of sale-able commercial seats, Kuala Lumpur – London and Kuala Lumpur – Paris.

9) Lost of UN UNIFIL Lebanon lucrative charter flight to AAX. Giving an excuse of MAS don’t have any aircraft available to do it where’s else many aircraft laying idle due to routes cut and excess cabin crews had to be deployed to Golden Lounge to work.

10) Lost of Fire Fly ATR 75-200 maintenance contract to SAE.

11) Lost of Batavia Air and Lion Air B737-300/400 maintenance contract to AIROD.

12) The would be B777 seat and IFE retrofit worth at least MYR 150 million for all 15 unit MAS B777. This B777 will be phased out in 3 years time yet a retrofit is initiated and as it is the seat and IFE served its purpose well.

13) B737-800 steel brakes changes to carbon brakes which cost millions. AJ had issued a direct LOI/LA to one of carbon brakes manufacturer without going thru’ a normal company procurement procedure and WITHOUT Board approvals!!

Using a carbon brakes is only economical if you use it since day one you buy the aircraft. Now MAS got to buy the new carbon brakes and discard/throw away/scrap the steel brakes inventory worth millions and MAS got to change tyre type from radial to bias tyre!!

14) Two weeks ago in London Farnborough airshow, AJ signed a MYR 5 billion contract for A380 Trent 900 Engine Total Care Maintenance Program with RR for as long as MAS is flying this A380 aircraft. No engineering and financial evaluation was carried out and NO BOARD approval sought. All decide by the TRIO, AJ, Azhari and Amin.

15) Approximately 3 years ago MAS/PMB had sold 17 unit of their B737-400 classic aircraft to AAR and MAS leased it back (Sale and Leased Back ) from AAR until such time that all MAS new B737-800NG is delivered as replacement.

Two weeks ago, during Farnborough Air show in London too, MAS Airlines Engineering Group (AEG) and someone had signed an agreement with AAR to purchase back 6 unit of this B737-400 classics.

The surprising deal is that the purchase price per aircraft is MYR 19.8 million (USD 6.4 mil). The market price is only USD 2.5 million (MYR 7.75 mill) each (Please refer http://www.speednews.com for aircraft prices).

MAS is paying 2.5 times more then the market price!!!

AND what is the logical explanation buying back this junk??

MAS will be milked by a whooping MYR 118.8 millions for this deal.

As usual no engineering and financial evaluation was carried out and NO BOARD approval sought. All decide only by two persons and one of whom is an ex GE Man.

16) Early this month (July), against all MAS procurement procedure and the first one in MAS history, Azhari had issued an LOI (Letter Of Intent) to LHT a contract worth MYR 500 million for the A330 Aircraft Component Support PBTH (Power By The Hour), knowing that there is other bidders who had offered a lower price then LHT .

Azhari is the first CEO of MAE (MAS Aerospace Engineering) history who issue LOI without Board Approval.

He doesn’t have such authority, only tender department who can issue LOI/LA after BOD had approved it.

A wrong procurement procedure, Azhari will bull doze this A330 LHT contract during this coming BTC (Board Tender Meeting) on Wednesday / 25 July 2012. He will try to shove it to the BOD throat.

17) In the making, Azhari and Amin is now trying to do something about the B737-400 engine CFM56-7 PBTH (Power By The Hour) contract worth at least MYR 1.5 billion (minimum 10 years contract)( more then 200 engines) and source said it may be a direct nego again. One can expect where it will go. Just think who is maker!

18) In the making think, Azhari and Amin is trying to figure out who will get the B737-800 / B777 / A380 / B747-400 APU maintenance contract worth more then a 1 billion ringgit . A total of more then 150 units of APU (Auxillary Power Unit) is to be contract out for maintenance soon.

With 18 on the list above, my dear PM and BOD of MAS and Tan Sri chairman, YB YB , you must not stand still while MAS being screwed to death. MAS is BLEEDING ok!

This will be the way to kill MAS as MAS be will be liable and inherit a long term high engineering operating cost, too high to sustain the business for at least the next 10-20 next years from now , how MAS will survive like this ?

A procurement manual is there to be followed so the tender and bidding is carried out in a transparent manner, how come one person or a TRIO are allowed to decide on this multi billion ringgit contract.

At least least 3 bidders must participate to make the bidding process to be an advantage to MAS bottom line. Direct nego is a suicide!!

The remaining parachuted fellows are the share suap parasites and should leave MAS, so much damaged done in the last 11 months..

When it comes to criticising MAS, we have to thank YB Wee Choo Keong and some of the industry insiders in carrying the torch to keep MAS on its toes.

44 thoughts on “More dysfunctional stories about MAS unearthed

  1. I’m not familiar about accounting and the preparation of company accounts. But some time back I read that companies may choose to show certain figures as large lump-sum debts or, if they concern fixed assets, like aircraft, as smaller Hire Purchase annual payments, spread over many years.

    Likewise, I was told that large public-listed companies with huge chunks of their shares held by conservative shareholders who went for good annual dividends rather than the ups and downs of share capital appreciation, like Sime Darby before it was brought to Malaysian domicile, had not chosen to show huge profits, and placed substantial sums of the profit figures under Reserves and the like. They showed consistently good, steady annual profits, ensuring investor confidence in them, nothing dramatic that’ll push the share prices markedly high at one time and drastically down another time.

    Even Lim Guan Eng claimed to have “reduced” some RM600 million debt in 2-3 years, although it was merely a matter of recording the over RM600 million debt to the Federal Government over water assets handed over to Penang as hire purchase.

    I’d be glad if anyone corrects me if I read or understood the above wrongly. With convincing arguments, please.

    So, with MAS, is there anything in the treatment of the accounts that “MAS, winner of several best cabin crew awards and other notable achievements for several years could suffer a loss”?

    If not, I suppose it was mismanagement or the result of the wrangling of lucrative air routes, plus too many free staff holiday travel, etc.

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    • Actually, MAS problem is very simple.
      The rot started from TR but after 15 years MNY, AFD, IJ, TAZ, AJ all could not and didn’t know how to fix it except makan gaji buta.
      The solution is simple, find the common factor and fix it from the root source. Back to basic maaa!

      Tan Sri Aziz has given many clues, masih buta dan pekak kah?
      Hai yaa, wo zhu zai zhe, bu shi you ke !!!

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      • It’d be helpful if you explain your “simple solution” and the clues given by Tan Sri Aziz for the benefit of those who may have missed reading them.

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        • Dear Isa,
          thank you for your interest. The country needs more people like you.
          Fisabilillah!

          Hear it goes;
          Earlier on 22 Sept 2011, former MAS Managing Director Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman wrote;
          I have just read your article (here) and would like to add my views. I am of the view that the air transport industry in the country has over the years been mired by wrong government decisions and periodical mismanagement by the operators.
          The current state of affairs of MAS has been caused by:
          (i) Some 15 years ago MAS management was messed up and the very fabric of its operation was destroyed and until now it has not been fully revived despite efforts being made to revive it.
          (ii) The situation has been compounded by the wrong decisions of the government to allow Air Asia to operate on domestic and regional routes in the beginning and later on long haul routes without any proper study on the impact.
          (iii) The authorities failed to appreciate the role and responsibilities of a National Carrier and wrongly placed MAS to compete against a private low cost carrier. It should be noted that it was wrong to convert Air-Asia’s license from international routes not operated by MAS into domestic routes without any study on the impact.
          (iv) Those concerned have failed to appreciate that Malaysia’s air transport premier travel market is very small and that the market is very ‘price sensitive.
          There is no way that MAS can compete against Air Asia. Up to now I must say that ‘Nasi hampir jadi bubur’. If they carry out their proposed scheme I confirm that ‘ Nasi terus jadi bubur’. I am surprised that so many clever people cannot under stand simple arithmetic.

          You may distribute my comments to the members of your network.
          With kind regards,
          Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman.

          Ref: http://mastroubleshooters.blogspot.com/2012/02/national-tragedy.html

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          • I Say Tonto,
            You consider protecting MAS from competition. In the old days, MAS said their domestic routes were unprofitable and wanted to raise it’s fares. Then Airasia came along and cut the fares by up to 1/3 and increase its schedule between Sabah and Sarawak to KL. The result is historic.
            In Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines, there are numerous budget and low cost carriers. Why not just increase the number of companies to operate instead of limiting it to two.
            When they announced the new CEO for MAS, I was laughing my head off. How can an moron from IPP be selected for this job? IPP CEo sits on their butt all day collecting revenue from,png term contracts with TNB. Unless they screw up big time, they actually have nothing much to do except maintain the power plants, which comes in with long term maintenance contracts with the manufacturers of the turbine/plants.
            Any MAS CEO must be Market savvy and have knowledge of logistics in terms of operational costs at his fingertips. this bum they selected knows nuts about these and the first thing he did so that he will not look foolish in front of MAS executives in his new job was to appoint two foreigners to advise him. looks like another disaster in the making.

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      • TONTO

        Care to explain how did TR started the rot?

        Be specific.

        If without proof, at least show an argument “without reasonable doubts.”

        Otherwise, you’ll be making the accusation like former CCID Chief Dato Ramli Yusof.

        Such accusation without substantiating was his work as orchestrated by twisted MAS’s out-source lawyer, Rosli Dahlan.

        Accuse of something but not substantiated. The rest of letter talks of something else.

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        • Sori off topic a bit but I’ve been wondering why that ex-CCID fellow turned anti-Establishment? Dia tak dapat naik pangkat sebelom pencen ke?

          Kalau tak, bagus mintak tolong dia investigate kerenah di MAS sekarang ni.

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  2. this is astounding.
    if normal career person procure something, without proper approval channel, they shall face disciplinary action from company. no question, no exception.
    but these all mighty High-Income Monsters, they can do whatever they please, make big bucks out of it, and continue doing all this corporate misconduct, and tak jadi apa pun kat depa.
    astounding.
    if all listed above really happens, especially the loss of maintenance contracts part, i dont know what to say to the BN government anymore. Tau buat kerja ke tidak our ministers ni?
    Duit berbillion tu buka atuk diorang tinggal kat depa to do whatever they want, tu duit aku to john! (and duit semua Malaysians jugak la, but you get my point, no?)
    And what astounds me the most is, benda ni bukan secret pun, dah comes out into the open. Still tak jadi apa. The persons responsible still living lavishly. Aku nak tukar kereta baru pun kena fikir banyak kali…last2 cancel. baiki je kereta lama.
    What la like this. Kita bising macam ni pun tak boleh nak jadi apa. Awat payah sangat nak hukum orang salah?

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    • I don’t think it’s a case of the BN Government not willing to take action on any wrong doings in MAS. We must remember that DS Najib did instruct the MAS-AA share swap be undone upon being explained the full facts by the MAS Employees Union, if I’m not mistaken.

      I’m not certain whether the accusations listed in the post above are factual. After all, JMD also uses the words “dysfunctional stories about MAS” in his post heading. Stories they’ll remain until proven true.

      Kita perlu ingat bahawa bermacam macam pembohongan, fitnah, tipu menipu berlaku di Internet. Kalau tohmahan tohmahan itu di keluarkan oleh YB Wee Choo Keong sendiri, itu serius. Seperti dia kata, bersama dengan seorang ADUN PKR, bahawa Exco DAP Selangor ada berjumpa dengan “the Underworld” di Ibupejabat Kerajaan Selangor.

      Kes ini ia lah tohmahan yang di tulis oleh seorang pembaca blog YB Wee Choo Keong, yang menggunakan nama GE Man. Kita tidak tahu motifnya berbuat demikian. Kalau dia seorang daripada yang “aggrieved”, tidak dapat kontrek, jawatan atau apa apa faedah yang di harapkannya dari MAS, maka tuduhan tuduhannya perlu “di ambil dengan sedikit garam”, bak kata omputih.

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    • “all mighty High-Income Monsters, they can do whatever they please, make big bucks out of it, and continue doing all this corporate misconduct, and tak jadi apa pun kat depa.”

      The Sime Darby bloke has been brought to Court.

      I hope the allegations of making purchase decisions without proper evaluation and BOD clearance are not true and that the MAS boss is evaluating his options before taking action on the irregularities.

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  3. If all, or even most, of what is written in the above post is true, those three making major purchasing decisions without proper evaluation and without reference to the BOD, should be dragged to the seaside, sprawled face downwards on the sand, and sula-ed Malacca Kingdom style.

    If the accusations are true, they appear to be running the national airline like bapak diorang punya. The stories even appear unbelievable but it’s fairly easy for the authorities to check the validity of the accusations. Surely there are a few responsible staff at mid or senior management level who’d squeak and blow the whistle to the proper authorities. Isn’t the Union also responsible in taking action that led to the undoing of the share swap with AA?

    Someone ought to write to MACC to investigate, at least to check if there is any worth a detailed investigation. True, there are all sorts of wild corruption accusations made by the Opposition, or even disgruntled staff losing out prospects from the “unswapping” of the MAS-AA shares and the break up of close co-operation, who may be out with a vengeance to trample on MAS image, but these are worth at least a look-into on such easy-to-check things as the aircraft maintenance done by other than MAS Engineering.

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  4. Maintenance to SAE? No surprises. That’s where Azahari is going to after his departure from MAS. He has been singing the tune that MAS MAE and SAE must merge, for “survival”,with him as CEO of course! So Azahari is staying put for now, to ensure his and his master’s plans are all in place before jumping ship. He bought time for himself by convincing AJ that he can “clean up” MAS Engineering by giving AJ a list of names of allegedly “corrupt” staff. News is TF wants to buy SAE (backdoor acquisition of MAS Engineering, very clever), but EADS are reluctant to sell. So TF wll use his “leverage” with Airbus to pressure EADS by announcing that he has started talking to Bombardier on potential purchase of C series aircraft. AJ is smart enough to know this is going on. Question is, why is he allowing it to happen?

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    • Any chance of us knowing the sources of your info to assess the reliability of what’s said? E.g list of names of allegedly “corrupt” staff, TF wants to buy SAE (backdoor acquisition of MAS Engineering), TF using his “leverage” with Airbus to pressure EADS etc.

      Or perhaps you can elaborate some more to convince readers the reliability of the info you provided. Thanks.

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    • “A commentator by the name GE Man .. wrote a list of peculiarities” in YB Wee Choo Keong’s blog.

      He says, “As usual no engineering and financial evaluation was carried out and NO BOARD approval sought. All decide only by two persons and one of whom is an ex GE Man.”

      Anybody know what is GE? Maybe Mata mata can help.

      GE Man also says, “The remaining parachuted fellows are the share suap parasites and should leave MAS, so much damaged done in the last 11 months..” Share suap = share swap? Parasites = corrupt MAS guys? AA guys placed on MAS payroll?

      GE Man maybe angry with share swap. He should ask MAS Union to make noise for good of company.

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  5. Yes, Air Asia is now definitely MAS’ competitor. Yes, we need to criticize MAS so that they’d be on their toes to regain its footing among the elites in the airlines industry. But many of the allegations stated above appear to be too bizarre to be true.

    It’s dumbfoolery of the highest order if some of the alleged acts were actually carried out e.g

    – sending MAS aircraft for maintenance by 3rd parties, debunking the role of MAS Engineering

    – signing a MYR 5 billion contract for A380 Trent 900 Engine Total Care Maintenance Program with RR for as long as MAS is flying this A380 aircraft without any engineering and financial evaluation and NO BOARD approval

    But it sounds to me that the person(s) who came out with such information has questionable motive. He appears to be knowing about MAS personalities and operations, but if he is keen on MAS being run properly, he should have written to MACC, or even the PM’s Office, anonymously.

    It’s utterly unimaginable that MAS CEO and two lesser Officers can decide on MYR5 billion contract without proper evaluation and reference to the Board. It must be the biggest joke of all time. Anyone has proof – or even plausible reasons to believe – that such things are possible?

    It then looms in my mind that this could be the work of saboteurs out to tarnish MAS image. Out of competition benefits (AA hands perhaps) or out of vengeance for anything ranging from not getting contracts to missing out on employment positions.

    Still, MACC should step in. We can’t allow the prospect of any further hanky panky on, in, or with MAS.

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    • I do not agree that all the points raised by GE Man are bizarre/untrue/are with questionable motives. I know the details of point number13, and GE’s comments on this point are absolutely true. The decision made ignored the reservations voiced out by the two departments that evaluated this, and this multi-million ringgit decision is going to haunt us for a long time, long after AJ has exited MAS. This is the normal trend of things over the decades, CEOs come and go, the staff are left to clear the mess, and end up being blamed for “low productivitry”.

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      • Giving out the details might make readers believe in and give support to what are being said. Perhaps you should do that as you sound interested in MAS’s productivity and performance.

        Group action gets better attention than individual ones. You might also want to get the Union to bring the matter up. The Union takes care of the well being of members and, if the airline does well, staff well being can be better taken care of – bonus and other employment benefits.

        Responsible Union action (dialogue, conveying of information on wrong doings to Management or even reporting to MACC) rather than the kind of industrial action (strike, demo) that’ll bring further chaos.

        I think the public will support MACC investigation and the Union can play its part to get that.

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          • Why wait to be questioned, why not go upstairs and dedahkan. Where exactly upstairs, we can bincang lah. The most effective one upstairs lah to get results.

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  6. Selamat berpuasa JMD.

    I’m sure you’ve heard of the idiom,

    ‘With friends like these, who needs enemies’

    If I may paraphrase,

    ‘With Malays like these, who needs the Chinese’

    With hindsight, the history of this land (I almost said country) has shown that it is the disunity (betrayal, dishonesty, emotion rather than logic – read amok,…) that is the weakness of the Malays, just like the famed Tuah and Jebat story that so inspired this blog.

    I have to agree with some of the skeptics, GE Man’s insider info would have been more believable had he thrown in a few greedy, kiasu, cunning, business savvy mata sepets in the mix somewhere. (Just kidding)

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    • Just kidding, she said. But good of her to be wishing a Muslim Selamat Berpuasa.

      However, I have my reservations on her 2nd para:

      – “With hindsight, the history of this land (I almost said country)” – wonder what that means.

      – “it is the disunity (betrayal, dishonesty, emotion rather than logic – read amok,…) that is the weakness of the Malays ..” – strange that she refers only to the Malays, not of the others as well. In the MAS-AA affair, the betrayal was done by the non-Malay as well. At the top level, and we don’t know of the role of the non-Malays at the Management and middle levels. We don’t even know who “GE Man” is and what his motive in putting that long list really is. It’s conceivable that he is an AA agent out to ruin MAS’ image, cause confusion, enmity and discord in the Management and in/with the Board, making it extremely messy, for further exploitation by or to the benefit of AA’s image in the eyes of the flying public.

      – She should know that there have been stories many times worse than the Tuah and Jebat episode in the history of this country (repeat, country) – especially the Kapitan Cina and the 44 gangsters of of the Hai San and Ghee Hin clans of Larut in the mid 19th Century, who signed a Petition for the British in Penang to help regain tin mines lost to rival gangs, that made the British use as an excuse to enter Perak, leading to the Pangkor Treaty “signed under the barrel of the gun” in 1874, and the Brirish colonizing this country thereafter.

      That was betrayal of the highest order. That was treason by the Chinese who were invited to Larut by Menteri Larut, Ngah Ibrahim, who wanted them to help modernize his tin mines and to some of whom he gave mining land lease, even capital to start new mines so that he could tax them to build roads and develop the territory under his rule.

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      • Glad to cross path again Aku. Selamat berpuasa to you too.

        Phew, aren’t we glad in current times the Cina Gangster (and their hantu gangster movies and what nots) are not running the country (MCA pun tengah nyawa-nyawa ikan) or our GLCs.

        Once bitten, twice shy.

        I say keep them out of our civil service, armed forces and natural resources, lest Ngah Ibrahim rolls in his grave (not that he is still in his grave as he would have ascended to heaven, just an expression).

        Let the cainis rot in their jinjangtowns – ‘massage parlors’ (read brothels), monolingual education (read srjkc schools), and their kiasu kerrruptedd culture.

        We should all be aware of the gunting dalam lipatan – meleis or cainis.

        footnote:- ‘country’ is only 55 years old, promises fulfilled. ‘land’ goes back all the way. e.g. jebat was a resident of this land, but he was a citizen of Melaka.

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        • Thanks for the wishes, msleepyhead,

          Been getting the feeling that MCA and Gerakan not making as much noise as they should against the gangster types. Only heard about the Selangor MCA Head yesterday hitting at Ronnie Liu about the 4,000 unlicensed massage parlours – never heard of the fellow before. I’d expect them to be walloping DAP every day, after all, they own 1-2 newspapers like The Star. Maybe I’ve been reading the wrong stuff – ceased reading newspapers and been relying only on the Internet news since sleepy Tun Dol’s time – no inference on your blogging name at all, msleepyhead.

          Just back from outstation, the road trip is taking its toll slightly, will talk to you another time.

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  7. Bro ISA, Union can easily confirm the info if asked by the authorities. The question is whether they have the political will or NOT!

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    • Txs for the input, bro.

      But “they” = the Union, the Management or the Government?

      The Union needs not have political will because they should not be political. The Management may need political will to curry the favour of the political masters. The Government is the one that really must show political will. But they can score big marks if they do – they already did get high marks for undoing the stupid MAS-AA share swap. They should do it again by whacking the culprits as GE13 is coming.

      The Union can prod them to do so. Nicely. Like they did that led to the undoing of the share swap.

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  8. Bro, you are right about the big marks.
    It is the Authorities i.e. the Govt who must have the political will.
    The question is how can they whack the culprit when they themselves are involved

    The truth is the Union and staff still have no confidence in the Govt. of the day (including PR in Selangor) because they are having so much issues that they created in the first place.

    They are lost in problem solving, conflict management and decision making.
    A very smart man told me that Malaysia is the mirror image of MAS. When MAS is screwed up, the Country will suffer the same.

    My sentiment now is, in coming GE, if there are BN, PR and IND, I would chose IND even if they are unknown.

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    • I don’t know if “they themselves (the Govt) are involved”. I don’t mind listening to what you have heard on that. If possible, with details to help assess reliability. For me, until there is credible and reliable information, there may not even be “strong reasons to believe” so. The Government meaning those Government Officers or politicians holding positions in the Government Ministries, Departments and agencies.

      If by Govt you mean MAS top management, I’d say that to me, MAS Officers are not Government Officers and cannot be regarded as part of the Government. Although the Government owns MAS shares, MAS is run as a commercial airline and the staff are airline personnel – including the Management.

      But if the management are corrupt, they must be reported to the authorities, never mind whether they get arrested or not. I believe that once reported – to MACC for example – investigations will be carried out and some may shiver in their pants even when investigated, and get scared of doing any further corrupt acts. Whether such investigation will lead to Court cases or not is another matter. If not reported, the matter will become more serious and there’ll be no end to it.

      I must say I find it difficult to believe that three MAS Executives can commit the airline to billions of Ringgit expenditures without proper evaluation and reference to the Board of Directors. Even if they are all Directors, they may be only functional Directors, not members of the Board, except perhaps only the CEO. Billion Ringgit or many hundred Ringgit expenditures must be cleared by the full Board. I gathered that from a few of the functional Directors as well as the independent Board members I knew quite some time ago – they have long retired.

      There might be serious hanky panky but I don’t think MAS has become a chapchai company where the BOD is completely sidelined or disregarded. I suspect there are naughty attempts at maligning MAS’ image by the Opposition – airline opposition and/or political opposition.

      Your voting independent may not bring any benefit – they cannot form or hold positions in the Government and cannot do much. I’d go for the people who have run the country reasonably well for the last 55 years – with weaknesses, but who hasn’t?

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      • Better the devil you know than the rogues you don’t. They have not been so devilish anyway.

        The rogues may sell hundreds of acres of prime State land like DAP did in Penang, when they should have developed the land to ensure sufficient low cost houses for the low income rakyat of Penang.

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        • Now Lim Guan Eng wants his crony, the President of the Penang Chamber of Commerce, to take the Penang Port privatization project, too. After Syed Mokhtar has been awarded the project from a tender that included foreign bidders.

          Being anarchistic, drumming up public support, campaigning for Penangites to handle the port project. Lim should be kicked out from the CM job because he is not a Penangite.

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          • True dat!

            Let’s kick out this Melaka reject.

            We must drum up support for the ‘Penangite Penang’ konsep.

            Penang untuk orang Pinang!

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      • Regarding the accusations against MAS higher-ups, can anybody try to come out with proof of wrong doings? Surely the Union can get one of their members to persuade anyone with access to the alleged Letters of Intent etc and photograph them? Those that are said to commit the company to billion Ringgits of expenditure without Board approval.

        They are not marked secret or confidential, are they? Surely more than one person has access to them – if they exist and if the allegations are true. A few copies must have been made for the information of a few others involved in the running of the airline. One of those responsible for keeping them may be persuaded to photograph it in the interest of the airline survival and the long-term security of Union members’ jobs.

        How about that MAS Union? This is not an instigation to criminal act but is purely in the interest of quelling the many wild allegations made by GE Man etc.

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      • Actually, YB Wee CK has proven just that. As an independent, without him 20,000 staff dah kena buang kerja dan Malaysia has no identity and no flag carrier..

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        • Betul ke 20,000? Kalau disloyal, menyeleweng, “work smart”, dsbnya, ok lah.

          But MAS is still functioning. And carrying he flag. Cuma kita harap fluttering like a huge, strong and sturdy burung helang. Boleh sambar AA dan campakkan ke laut kalau depa meroyan.

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      • Good. And correct, cannot embarrass the airline, might scare away a few pax.

        And I believe they also have their kaki in 1-2 places. Theirs is a job of getting the facts quietly. Like the Police do. And have undisclosed sources of information.

        I wish to goodness that things are sorted out in MAS. Whack the delinquents.

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      • Apa ini, kenot embarass airline.

        The airline is a national institute and cannot be embarrassed. It will be a good show to future gunting dalam lipatan fulks who treat the airline like theirorang punya bapak’s kitty.

        The wrongdoers must be exposed and punished!

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  9. Often it’s the wrong men in the right places and the right men in the wrong places. I read many comments favouring the Malaysia Airports Bhd boss Tan Sri Bashir or something some time back. Wonder why he was not appointed to the MAS CEO post. Mebbe objected by Tony the Ular when AA was with MAS. I also read that Tony did not like the man because he was hounded for non or late payments of MAB services, airport fees etc.

    But, for goodness sake, pls get this MAS affair sorted out, appoint a reliable man who can really get the Malaysian flag fluttering on MAS airplanes.

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    • Tan Sri Bashir is the wrong fella to lead MAS. In fact, he is doing a lousy job at MAHB and I will request that the anti competition committee to disband and break the monopoly MAHB has on airports in Malaysia. our current airport passenger tax is absurd and I cannot blame anyone as from the start, KLIA was too expensive and currently proving to be unsustainable as a business even with air Asia coming in with their many aircraft. so to spend another RM4 billion for a LCCT at KLIA is beyond belief. They still have a Debt overhang from 15 years ago of RM 9 billion which they cannot pay for the construction of KLIA.
      MAS needs someone with balls to manage.that guy who helms MAS must understand that his he will sink and swim with the airline and needs to re-direct it into new territories. Other premier airlines the world over are sinking due to low cost carriers and drop in premier passengers.

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      • This balls fellow talks balls and no suggestion as to who has balls. Presumably because he himself has no balls, even no rod, like eunuchs.

        Since he only gives opinions, so can I. There was this shop with the signboard saying “We Kam Fatt” and another opposite the road saying “So Kan Wee”.

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  10. AA tu di kata banyak untung, ekaunting diorang betul ke? Ada “cooking the books” ke? Guna standard accounting procedures ke?

    Jangan macam Lim Guan Eng, ekauntan jadi politikus DAP. Hutang negeri RM600 juta dia kata dah bayar dalam 3 tahun. Rupa rupanya dia main silap mata. Hutang Kerajaan Fderal RM600 lebih untuk kemudahan kemudahan air di bina di Penang di kiranya sebagai Hire Purchase, bayaran ansuran banyak tahun. Jadi yang di tunjuk sebagai hutang bagi tahun berkenaan hanya beberapa puluh juta saja le. Pembohong penipu rakyat.

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  11. Saya tak yaakin AA banyak untung. Atau untung dengan titik peluh si Ular tu sahaja.

    Saya baca selalu orang kata dia banyak membelit bukan saja kata kata, tapi juga kemudahan kemudahan yang sepatutnya MAS dapat, seperti laluan terafik (air routes) yang lumayan. Itu di katakan berlaku di masa AA bersama MAS. Heran di masa itu dia dan kroni dia juga di beri tempat di Lembaga Pengarah MAS. Senang lah dia membelit.

    Sekarang sudah berpecah dengan MAS. MAS sendiri boleh gunakan air routes yang lumayan itu. Kita lihat lah jika AA boleh untung banyak di masa depan. Dan jika MAS boleh untung berpatutan. Saya fikir boleh, kalau yang tak senonoh di buang dari syarikat itu.

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