Idris Jala and MAS

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is a national pride that has gone terribly wrong. Singapore Airlines(SIA) by comparison has been on a steady course despite much turbulence affecting the sector.

Then that’s the Malaysian story all over,from an educational system that used to produce world beaters, we have now walked down the path of producing students who score As displaying their ability to regurgitate well and little else.

Its not easy to manage success,and the problem with Malaysians is that we get complacent easily. MAS was doing all right and only of late it literally flew into the dark clouds of mismanagement.

Staffed by civil servant types and not by corporate warriors,it plodded along without thinking much of the global aviation picture. The culture seems to be who cares as long as we get our salary at the end of the month, therefore, life must be good and everything is all right.

It was even reported while it was bleeding, the top management still had time to spend money on office renovations and to buy paintings for investment purposes.

They say all things must pass,when reality hit you between the eyes, and when you realize your bottom line is going red all over,the party must come to an end.

It ended abruptly and some superman from outside the industry was brought in.This man from Borneo by the name of Idris Jala appeared on the scene.Nobody heard of him except for the people in Shell,the oil giant company .

A talented member of the Kelabit tribe from the Bario Highlands in northern Sarawak, nobody gave him a chance in hell to turn the company around. The government cannot be that stupid, they must have studied his background thoroughly for him to be given the massive responsibility of nursing the sick baby back to health.

Or,maybe he was brought in, as some cynics suggest, to do the dirty work of cancelling the money losing routes in the two Borneo states. No peninsular Malaysian would want to take the responsibility for fear of a political fall-out.

When the figures looked positive after one year of running the show,many were still skeptical of his turnaround talent.I remember sitting at a dinner with some friends who commented that anybody could improve the figures if all he had to do was to sell off the assets of the company.

Fair enough. The latest figures,however, have showed better operating profits and many skeptics are slowly turning believers. MAS is not out of the woods yet. However,if the turnaround plan is strictly adhered to without too much political interference, the sky is the limit for MAS.

Personally, I would like to see our national carrier do well under the current management. Given our penchant for interference from higher up and less than transparent corporate governance, I am not sure if MAS can sustain itself after all the dark clouds have cleared away. I don’t know how long Idris Jala will be tolerated by the powers that be to guide the company.

Once everything appears stable, caution will be thrown to the wind yet again; there will the powerful who will demand free first class seatings for members of their family, there will be those who want toilets to be used exclusively by members of their own entourage plus hosts of other instructions at the expense of the profitability and the reputation of the airline.

If this happens and I think it will happen if we are not careful, the cycle will repeat itself, all this at the expense of the taxpayers of course.With this possible scenario, even the smartest of the corporate doctors will probably allow the national carrier to crash land.

As for Idris Jala’s next role, how about drafting him to be the next Sabah Chief minister as Sarawak appears to be well taken off by the politicians there?!