Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Posted: 24 Aug 2011 04:43 PM PDT

Then perhaps MAS should look for alternative fuels since it is suggestive that ONLY MAS operates on expensive fuels, other airlines are not. Two, find ways to make the business period nontraditional. Replace leadership at all levels.

Its leadership they say. You mean, under the layer upon layer of MAS in-house talent, you can't find people who may have been sidelined or ignored but who understand MAS cannot be elevated to fix MAS? Instead you think you can trust some people who have RM 57 billion payables to help put MAS? This order for Air Bus by AA was perhaps the kiss of life that saved Airbus from bankruptcy.

The whole deal between MAS-AA raises uneasiness all around for it suggest that at the very base, MAS's miserable existence gave an opportunity and excuse for some people to make money. That when the dust clears, we will become aware that all this is a corporate game by rich and powerful people for the benefit of the same rich and powerful people.

Why should the fate of MAS (we are not bothered with the future of AA since it's in capable hands) be decided by 3-4 corporate chieftains- banker, rival airline owner and chief of our sovereign fund? Who yielded the responsibility of caring a national asset to a few chosen individuals? Why was this assignment to decide the fate of a nationally owned asset not be publicly announced in the first place?

Since everyone accepts that MAS MUST be placed on an even keel, a cabinet level working committee should have been duly formed to fix MAS? Or the cabinet decides at that time, to empower the MOT to fix MAS problem. Unless of course the MOT is full of imbeciles who never inspire our government to allow it do anything. With an unenviable record like the PKFZ deal, MOT was never in the radar when the government was looking for ways to fix MAS.

MAS is a national strategic asset that requires leadership and a workable and profitable business plan. MAS is the responsibility of the government in the first and all place. We didn't see the MOF or Ministry of Transport people or a cabinet endorsed team assigned to fix MAS. Instead, this government has acted irresponsibly by asking or agreeing to have the problem of MAS being sorted out by special interest groups. That's what they are really- AA, Khazanah and CIMB as the match maker, are special interest groups.

We are being indoctrinated and de-sensitize into believing that the MAS-AA deal is a purely rational business deal, handled on its pure merits. We looked around, identified MAS's problems, we come to the conclusion that its leadership problem.

Who were that we? We are the banker, the head of sovereign fund and the interested rival.

Surely, when the deal was inked, those people in Khazanah, AA and CIMB already knew of the coming 2nd quarter financials of MAS. For the miserable losses, cumulative at .769 billion, the outfgoing MAS CEO was given 11 million shares? Further he's saved from ignominy and inglorious anonymity by being exiled into the inner recesses of the establishment that is now single handedly running the business of Malaysia- khazanah.

So we are treated to another round of CYA rationalization- MAS recently announced a net loss of RM527 million for the second quarter of 2011.

Due to what we may ask? Due to higher fuel costs and (be) anyway, you can almost imagine the MAS people through its corporate communications people say, this 2nd quarter is traditionally our weakest business period.

Posted: 24 Aug 2011 01:32 PM PDT

strongly believe that a democratically elected government has a moral responsibility to enable its citizens to live with dignity and comfort. In their time of desperation and need, there is no extortion imposed upon them and their love ones.

Health care is something that I believe, should not be privatized. A sick, weak and severely threatened person is in no position to negotiate.

Do consult all our religious teaching and conscience – is holding the sick, terrified and weak, and his or her loved one to ransom the right thing to do?

Let's take KPJ Healthcare Berhad as a sample and examine the additional costs that we have to bear in privatized healthcare

In financial year ended 31 December 2010, it earned revenue of RM1.6 billion with a profit after tax of RM126million. Now that is a lot of extra cash for sick persons to dish out.

By letting the private profiteers/capitalists running the show, the following additional burden is imposed on the sick and needy:

1. Private doctors charge a lot (how many rich specialists stories you have heard) and the environment as such is that public hospitals are losing talents to the private sector (for a lot of other non-financial reasons too). Note 8 to the accounts revealed that in 2010 alone, RM438 million were paid to medical consultants.

2. Additional cost for running private companies: samples of unnecessary expenses include RM68.9mil rental of land and building, RM7.6 mil for advertising, RM2mil for directors' remuneration and RM0.8 mil for auditors. (Refer to Note 8 again). No such necessity for public hospitals.

Mahathirnomics drove the medical cost up as well. Do you know that in October 1996, Faber Group, a hotel business was suddenly given a 15 year concession to provide cleaning services to 15 government hospitals and today, it has made enough money to publicly gloat about the huge amount of profit made as a result of having a monopoly of cleaning jobs that civil servants could have done at no profit at all.

3. In the balance sheets of KPJ, total investments in shares of subsidiaries and associated companies were RM762.6 mil and RM307.4 mil respectively. These are mostly money spent on buying shares of companies and nothing to do with providing medical services.

The RM56.6 mil above was spent on buying shares of SMC Healthcare Sdn Bhd (RM51mil) and Sri Kota Refractive & Eye Centre Sdn Bhd (RM5.6 mil) so made some shareholders happy and leave patients to foot the cost of these acquisitions.

4. Being a business conglomerate, it is normal to borrow money from banks to buy assets to operate the business, and also buy into other companies as mentioned above. Of course, the banks will charge interest which the business would build into their invoices to customers/patients. A public hospital would not need bank loans as tax money is interest free. The profit and loss accounts show interest expense of RM6 mil and RM14 mil for 2 years running.

5. KPJ paid dividends of RM41mil and RM77 mil for 2010 and 2009 respectively. Would you like to pay for some dividend income to so rich entrepreneurs as you are suffering from pain and feeling extreme discomfort and vulnerable?

6. We are suppose to pay taxes to the government so that we can get good public service in return, for example competent medical service. However, in privatized healthcare, we see a reversal whereby government tax is a "mark-up" on an already inflated medical bill.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Khamis, 25 Ogos 2011

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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