KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — The influential Public Committee Accounts (PAC) has no oversight over national carrier Malaysia Airlines as it is a commercial entity not directly owned by the government, committee chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said today.
The parliamentary committee does not have the mandate to scrutinise the airline’s records as the flag carrier is a “creature of the National Aviation Policy”, PAC chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said, in reference to the national aviation plan.
“MAS is an independent company operating on their own. They are regulated by Bursa Malaysia and the Securities Commission.
“There are no direct public funds involved in MAS but in the public interest, we have a concern that public funds are indirectly being used to prop up MAS and it continues to record losses,” said Nur Jazlan.
MAS posted a net loss of RM443.4 million in the first quarter this year, compared to a net loss of RM278.8 million in the same period last year, making it the airlines’ worst quarterly showing in the last two years.
The flag carrier’s shares rose by 9.7 per cent today, following two straight days of losses, reported Reuters, after Putrajaya issued a statement that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had not mentioned bankruptcy as a future option for the loss-making airline.
The share prices rose to 17 sen in early trade, a day after it plunged as much as 21 per cent to a record low of 15 sen, yesterday.
State investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd owns almost 70 per cent of MAS’ shares.
The Wall Street Journal had last week quoted Najib as saying the government could not rule out bankruptcy for the airline, a day after it announced its staggering losses.
But a government spokesperson said yesterday that Najib had not mentioned bankruptcy as an option for the loss-making carrier during his WSJ interview, but had acknowledged that “different modalities” have been suggested to save MAS from its problems.
Nur Jazlan, however, said Putrajaya has to decide “the price of national pride” by continuing to prop up by the ailing company.
The Pulai MP said MAS was “surviving solely” on support from the country’s aviation policies which, he added, needs to be scrutinised.
“The policy was to improve air-links between Malaysia and the rest of the world and boost internal domestic travel, and when it started, MAS made money because there was no real competition.
“But when budget airlines came into the picture, that was when MAS first had competition.
“If the government’s original intention for MAS to fly to more destinations, open up new routes and make money, it has defeated the purpose, because today it is cutting routes and still losing money,” Nur Jazlan said.
“The destruction is clear… look at how much the shares have plunged since 1994 from RM8 to 15 sen yesterday,” he added.
He also suggested that the government consider setting up permanent parliamentary select committees for every cabinet portfolio to enable a check and balance mechanism.
“In the absence of a permanent select committee, the PAC hopes to trigger debates and discussion on public policies because we are the only ones representing members of parliament across the board,” said Nur Jazlan.
Najib, during the 2014 Budget speech in October last year, announced the National Aviation Policy to enhance the aviation ecosystem and the industry’s service network, among them upgrading the existing air traffic management system.
MAS has come under the international microscope after its jetliner, MH370, went missing mysteriously on March 8 after leaving Malaysian shores, resulting in the largest international search mission the world has seen in the history of aviation disasters.
Despite a multi-nation hunt in the wild waters of the Indian Ocean, thousands of miles away from the plane’s original flight path to Beijing, there has been no trace of the missing Boeing 777-200ER.
