by the wright brothers for the right affairs, donplaypuks® intrepid correspondent for aviation bailout affairs
As a Malaysian, I am not sentimental over state-owned enterprises, organizations and businesses that incur RM20 billion in loss bailouts by the Taxpayer, and then justify continuing making more $billion losses by wrapping it over with the national flag, shedding crocodile tears and talking about "national asset" and patriotism.
National pride and patriotism have a price and a limit. The idea of losing more money than these businesses ever made can only be mooted by those who have a licence to extend their scaly, sticky claws and rifle other people's pockets and lift their wallets.
National pride and patriotism have a price and a limit. The idea of losing more money than these businesses ever made can only be mooted by those who have a licence to extend their scaly, sticky claws and rifle other people's pockets and lift their wallets.
Let's face it, Proton, MAS, Perwaja, 1MDB et al have all proven to be huge blood-sucking financial liabilities, forced upon the Rakyat by political ogres with monstrously large egos. If Mahathir, Daim and Najib were initially told that they would have to fund these government guaranteed and subsidised businesses from their own pockets, they would have fled back to Kerala, Sumatra and the Celebes. If we were to successfully prosecute them for their criminal negligence and ineptitude, they would have to serve several lifetimes in jail.
The appointment of Christopher Mueller from Germany as CEO to, hopefully, re-build MAS from the ashes of failure and ignominy to rise successfully like the proverbial Phoenix, is one of the best decisions our government has ever made.
This is not because Mueller can walk on water (he can't) or that he will not fail; he may well falter, due to political interference or uncontrollable market forces and events. It is also not because we do not have local talent which theoretically can do what Mueller has already embarked on.
Everyone in MAS and Malaysia and his uncle Bob knew long, long ago, what ailed at MAS. Cronyism, corruption, plundering and looting took place before the very eyes of MAS staff and the Rakyat. Everyone in MAS and Malaysia and his uncle Bob knew long, long ago, what the solutions were.
Yet, everyone waited till some RM15 billion was pick pocketed from the Treasury, before Khazanah finally pulled the plug last year, took MAS private and ushered Mueller into the ICU room where MAS lay in near-death coma. The German did not waste time. He cut deep into the overflowing adipose layer of MAS. He is busy excising every ounce of fat which clings to and clogs the flying (or not flying) arteries and veins that caused the violent cardiac arrest of our "national asset'! Mueller gave some 8,000 redundant staff the sad and bad news - surplus to basic requirements.
Where a proper welfare-state action was required, PM Najib and Khazanah were found wanting. Why did they not offer new skills training programs followed by jobs for the redundant MAS staff? Instead, it took the one man, DAP Chief Minister of Penang Island, Lim Guan Eng, who is deliberately demonised by Mahathir as the one who breakfasts daily on Malay and Muslim flesh and sucks the blood of Malay and Muslim children for tea, to offer sympathy and re-employment programs for laid off MAS staff!
Did it need Mueller to tell us that MAS was over-staffed by at least 1/3? The previous Chairman and CEO of MAS did not look at aviation industry standards and statistics? They did not peer into SIA's performance records and wonder how another state-controlled airlines could churn in billion dollar profits year after year, while MAS bled from top to bottom, year after year? How come I read about it over 10 years ago?
A popular columnist whom I admire wrote yesterday:
"Our politicians bled MAS dry and Mueller wants to perform a cull and punish the employees instead of the fat cats who sat on the management board."
Well sorry, my dear, Mueller has no authority whatsoever to look at the past and go after the thieves and looters. No matter what, that's not what his expertise is required for. And that is precisely why there was and is no alternative to engaging a foreign turn-around expert with a proven track record to take the scalpel to MAS.
The staff who enjoyed good salaries, bonus and perks are not entirely blameless either. And where were the unions? They threatened to en bloc vote for the Opposition if Najib so much as put a stethoscope to MAS's chest! Last I heard, the union chiefs were squabbling over which was the right side for staff to enter the prayer rooms from!
The situation in Malaysia has fast evolved to a stage where meritocracy practically means nothing in state-owned and controlled organizations and businesses. Over thirty years of Mahathirism and skewed "affirmative action" government policies have cemented it. The cradle-to-grave welfare state metality has taken seige of the ultra-Bumiputra, especially the Malay, mind, fueled by BTN brainwashing and flamed by the insane Ketuanan rave and rant and false philosophy of Perkasa, Redhuan Tee, ISMA and the like. Sweeping the dirt under the carpet and pretending not to notice the cracks in the wall has become a national habit.
Why is a foreigner necessary to nurse MAS back to health and acceptable profitability?
In 1983, PM Margaret Thatcher was faced with a MAS-like situation vis-a-vis UK's crumbling coal-mining industry. The mines were losing billion of pounds, while the pits and union offices were bloated, over-staffed with leaders, unionists and miners. The unions would not entertain a whisper of lay-offs, pit closures or industry reforms. They went on strike at the drop of a pick axe. Britain's economy was in near tatters. No Englishman would step up to do the right thing and downsize an industry which was still living in the age of the ferocious dinosaur.
Thatcher did a neat piece of paradigm tap-dancing and appointed a foreigner, an American, Ian McGregor, to do the hatchet job. McGregor had already carried out lobotomies, full heart by-passes, liposuctions and varicose vein removal operations at UK nationalised car company British Leyland and British Steel where the ink had run red for years. He arrested further dripping on to the sopping blood-soaked carpets there, and re-vitalised these mega loss-making industries .
Why a foreigner, an American? Well, it has to do with the same reason why we need a foreigner, a German, Christopher Mueller, to make MAS fly once again.
Put simply, in the divided and polarised 1Malaysia of today, no Bumiputra Malay will be allowed to do what is necessary or doggedly pursue what it takes to completion and engineer a truly successful turn around at MAS. They will succumb to political interference and pressure. When accused of being traitors to their own kind, the dreaded "Jebat, Hang Tuah and derhaka" cry, they will not be able to make those hard decisions. They will wilt under Perkasa and ISMA's accusations, and dare not allow meritocracy to flourish and MAS to spring back to a meaningfully profitable life. They would rather the government print more and more money to bailout MAS, than lay-off one excessive worker. Where ruthless efficiency will be the bitter pill required to be swallowed, we can be very assured that they will substitute it with namby-pamby, syrupy, mollycoddling and ill-affordable perks, handouts and allowances!
This is how Mahathirism has programmed the ultra-Bumiputras, especially the Malay elite mind. They will set the bar lower rather than higher, until the government itself collapses. One local CEO will plumb for outright buying of aircrafts one year, another will push for leasing the next, both options being acceptable as million dollar kick-backs in the airlines industry are nothing new in a highly competitive arena and cut-throat business domains.
This is how Mahathirism has programmed the ultra-Bumiputras, especially the Malay elite mind. They will set the bar lower rather than higher, until the government itself collapses. One local CEO will plumb for outright buying of aircrafts one year, another will push for leasing the next, both options being acceptable as million dollar kick-backs in the airlines industry are nothing new in a highly competitive arena and cut-throat business domains.
Will appointing a Chinese or Indian work? No! The Chinese will be told that one must not break a fellow citizen's rice bowl or they can return to China, the Indian, that he should be grateful his grandfather was granted citizenship and that besides, the culture at MAS is such that the staff will boycott a non-Bumiputra CEO. 'Apa lagi you mahu, anak pendatang?' (what more do you want, children of immigrants) will be the insulting reaction. Race, religion, colour, creed and culture will all be used to make life for a non-Bumi CEO at MAS, untenable and unworkable.
Mueller, however, will have arrived with no baggage or tag. He does not have to look at who stole what, when, where and who from before he arrived. That will be PM Najib and Khazanah's job. He will not have to worry about Bumiputra and Malay quotas. His remit will be to transform MAS back into the 5-star profitable airlines star it used to be. He knows no one can achieve that by offering 3-star service, soggy nasi lemak, limp noodles and being side-tracked by cut-throat low cost airlines upstarts. Mueller's job will be to capitalise MAS at the optimum cash plus borrowing (gearing) level and maximise profits. In other words, the return on capital must meet industry norms, and not that of some fantasized social welfare club!
To do all that, he will need the most qualified, trained, experienced, committed and motivated staff. He has no time to play the race and quota game. He needs the best, and only, the best. If that means the arrival and colonisation by a more egalitarian, efficient and happy work force and environment where only meritocracy and being a Malaysian counts, we will all soon be laughing all the way to the bank!
And, if the politicians stick their noses in where not wanted, Mueller can always stick two fingers in the air and walk away, and blame them for failure. It's a no-lose situation for Mueller. With that kind of freedom, Mueller cannot fail.
I wish Christopher Mueller every success with MAS and hope that he will emulate the other two Muellers who have attained the world stage. They are goal-scoring machines, footballers Gerd Mueller (of the fantastic '70's and '80's) and Thomas Mueller (in the current era). Both are from Bayern Munich (2013-14 UEFA Champions League winners) and German national football teams which won gold medals at the World Cup.
MAS's Christopher Mueller will have his hands full transforming MAS into the kind of 'lean and mean fighting machine' and winning outfit that Bayern and the German national football teams are renown for.
Now, that's the kind of ruthless efficiency and achievement I like to talk about, the kind that wins gold medals and everyone openly admires - the best kind!
And, if the politicians stick their noses in where not wanted, Mueller can always stick two fingers in the air and walk away, and blame them for failure. It's a no-lose situation for Mueller. With that kind of freedom, Mueller cannot fail.
I wish Christopher Mueller every success with MAS and hope that he will emulate the other two Muellers who have attained the world stage. They are goal-scoring machines, footballers Gerd Mueller (of the fantastic '70's and '80's) and Thomas Mueller (in the current era). Both are from Bayern Munich (2013-14 UEFA Champions League winners) and German national football teams which won gold medals at the World Cup.
MAS's Christopher Mueller will have his hands full transforming MAS into the kind of 'lean and mean fighting machine' and winning outfit that Bayern and the German national football teams are renown for.
Now, that's the kind of ruthless efficiency and achievement I like to talk about, the kind that wins gold medals and everyone openly admires - the best kind!
Donplaypuks® with RM20 billion aviation bailouts, man!
