Paul Warren asks, [#1]What guarantee?[/#] (Dec 6) The short answer: none!

One should ask why the government, going by press reports, is willing to buy out Tajuddin Ramli's stake in MAS at close to RM8 per share, which is very near to what he paid for his stake in the first place.

So, after MAS got run into the ground, is laden with horrendous debts, lost money four years in a row and sees its ranking vis-a-vis other international airlines drop way, way down, he is getting out with his original investment more or less reimbursed, minus interest charges, of course. If this is not a sweetheart bail-out, then what is?

But then, this is depressingly familiar in Malaysia where the concepts of transparency and good corporate governance are just words in the English language.

And so the stock market will continue to languish, clued-in Malaysians will bypass the capital controls and hold more of their funds overseas, and foreign direct investment in the country will nosedive into the pits. But that is par for the course, is it not?