MAS and ITS LOSSES

Lo and behold, now everybody is talking about MAS and the amount of losses it makes in the last financial year alone. Mind you, when you are a National Air Carrier and have a financial losses amounted to RM384 million, you are bound to make a lot of ATTENTION.

What irked me so much is the way it is being discussed. All the brouhaha about the purchase of paintings valued over RM 1.55M is for me is dumbfounded and somehow missing the point altogether.

Okay lets put two and two together…MAS is losing RM 384 milion and that purchase of paintings doesn’t actually balance the books la friend. Even when MAS sold the painting that wouldn’t make any difference. The trouble is deeper but none of the “OUR” appointed minister are willing to talk about it because they probably part of the problem. In fact, probably that is the root of the problem!

Most GLCs be it Telekom Malaysia, TNB, Proton & MAS, the procurement methods is not transparent. Why? Politicians intervene as they wanted the slice of the pie themselves. How the hell do you know? I was a procurement officer at one of these GLCs. Another buddy of mine works with another and ex-boss works with another but the story is the same.

When a big tender is up, there are bounds to be information leaks. While the upper management is talking about information secrecy and need to keep tight lip about it, they themselves will dine and wine when their selected vendors at karaoke bars or golf clubs.

These vendors are usually helmed by some Datuk or Tan Sri or even Persatuan Peniaga Pulau Pinang or Perlis to make their presence felt and the political powers to boot. Monies will be thrown and mention and commission will be mooted.

When the tenders are evaluated, you are bound to see that normally even the lowest price offered will not win the tenders! Why?? because the company offered the lowest price is not the Political company. The evaluation committee usually helmed by the top management in these GLCs that have dine with the vendors will used criteria such as experiences, high capital amount, and the ability to deliver to swing the tenders to the favoured vendors.

I know some of you will say this is normal …but look at the bigger picture, if a simple meals offered in a flight can cost triple the amount than its nearest competitor, what does that tell you? In my own personal experiences, there have been too many instances where the cheapest offered good with the same specs., sama capability and sama distributor tak menang tender kerana pelbagai alasan pihak atasan. Company yg ada political power juga menang biarpun harganya mahal lebih RM 250 per unit.

Mungkin ada yang berkata, ala lu kecoh…RM 250 aje, asal dia deliver cukup…okay, tapi RM 250 seunit for a delivery of 1500 unit, tak jadik RM 375,000.00 mahal dari the lowest quotation??

Ini baru satu comparison, banyak lagi …in fact terlalu banyak jika hendak dinyatakan dalam satu entry ini tapi hakikatnya tetap nyata, penyalahgunaan kuasa oleh sesetengah pihak especially those, who have the necessary cable.

Minister sendiri juga bersalah kerana dengan menggunakan pangkat Datuk dan Tan Si mereka, mereka buka company, mereka jadik chairman company sana sini, dan melalui ini juga mereka menggunakan cabme mereka utk masuk tender2 besar mahupun kecil.

Only in Malaysia and in the world itself, the government party is also one of the richest parties in the world. Because elsewhere, no minister is allowed to do business or associated themselves to one. They are forbidden to do so because it clouded their judgment and reaons.

This, in my personal opinion, is the main reason why MAS have such a heavy losses and Proton today announced a lost of RM 150M, what does this tell you? Mismanagement or just a simple fact that the business is not allowed to run properly as it should??

MAS and its GLCs need not change its MD or CEO every so often because the problem is not with one person, the root of all this evil is the culture or ways we do business in Malaysia where those who are backed by Political powers will always triumphed over those who are the really the genuine article.

Think hard about this because afterall, it is your taxes money that allowed some of these Datuk to drive their brand new Mercedez or BMWs. You pay for the car you never get to drive!!

P/S now, everybody forget about the AP issue altogether.....typical Malaysian eh??