(Petaling Jaya, Saturday): There should be a multi-racial, all-party and all-NGO 100,000 People Protest Rally against crony bail-outs like the MAS bailout to protect the rights and interests of Malaysians regardless of race, religion or political beliefs instead of racial protests to escalate ethnic tensions and undermine economic stability as that proposed by the Federation of Peninsular Malay Students (GPMS) over the 83 Suqiu Appeals which was "approved in principle" by the Cabinet in September last year before the general elections.
Malaysians cannot accept the claim by the Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin that the government buy-back of the 29.09 per cent stake in Malaysia Airlines (MAS) for RM1.792 billion at RM8 per share from Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli's Naluri Bhd was not a bail-out.
Although Tun Daim said the RM8 purchase price for each MAS share agreed by the government was arrived at on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis, the fact is that the government is acting on behalf of the Malaysian people who are not the "willing-buyer" in this case, as could be established in any opinion poll.
It is clearly the general public opinion that the government is paying too high a premium for the shares and there is a sense of national outrage that the people are being made "suckers" another time.
The RM8 share price the Government is paying Tajudin represents a premium of RM4.32 or 117 per cent over the closing market price of the MAS share which was priced at RM3.68 on Wednesday when the deal was signed.
Tajudin had told a foreign news agency that he was lucky in getting
a good price of RM8 a share, which will enable him to settle Naluri�s
entire debt of RM1 billion but Malaysians do not feel so "lucky" and they
are entitled to ask whether the buy-back deal is to save MAS or Tajudin.
MAS has debts of about RM9.4 billion and is headed for a fourth
straight year of losses.
The government�s MAS buy-back deal is most dubious especially as analysts
have doubts that it could get more than RM8 per share in selling
a strategic stake in the carrier to foreign parties.
Although Daim said yesterday that the price of RM8 a share for the MAS buy-back deal would not be revised as the agreement was binding, the government must be accountable and transparent and submit itself to public opinion to justisfy the exorbitant price.
The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should convene an emergency meeting to hold public hearings on the propriety of the government�s RM8 per share in MAS buy-back deal from Tajudin.
If the PAC Chairman, Datuk Jamaluddin Jarjis is not prepared to convene such an emergency meeting of the PAC, it only illustrates his unsuitability to hold such a post in view of the clear conflict-of-interest in heading the PAC while being Chairman of the public utility corporation, Tenaga Nasional Bhd.
(23/12/2000)