It is deeply regret that the government has decided to solve Malaysian Airline System's (MAS) financial problem by resorting to increasing the domestic fares. The transport minister's statement that the increase will not affect domestic tourism industry shows that the government is only interested in making more money for MAS and neglecting its social responsibility.

The decision to increase domestic air fares is unfair to the people especially in Sabah and Sarawak as they will be the ones affected the most. Currently, the reduced air fare flight (night/midnight flight) costs RM689 return to Kota Kinabalu (KK). With the 30 percent increase, it will be RM895.

For the normal flight, at the moment, a return ticket costs RM844. With the new rate, it will jump up to RM1,097!

In peninsular Malaysia, people travelling to KL from other towns can either go by air or road. For people in Sabah and Sarawak travelling to the peninsula, there is only one choice of transportation, i.e. by air.

It is unfair of the government to increase air fares "across the board" on all domestic routes. The government and MAS must disclose to the public which routes are making losses. Given the number of passengers traveling to and from KK, Kuching and KL every day, it is hard to believe that these routes are making losses.

Some quarters have voiced their objection to the air fare hike by pointing out that MAS is actually milking the Sabah and Sarawak passengers to subsidise MAS' domestic flights in the peninsula. With the availability of good roads and highways across the peninsula, most people prefer to travel by road. This has caused MAS to lose money on these routes.

As Sabah and Sarawak are heavily dependent on the tourism industry, the air fare hike will also hurt the economy of these two states. The government encourages domestic tourism, but with the new air fare rate to these two states, it would be cheaper for people in the peninsula to go to Phuket, Hong Kong and Thailand for holiday.

Sometime ago, when Air Asia started operations to Sabah and Sarawak, their air fares were lower than MAS'. Later, Air Asia increased them to MAS' standards. Air Asia, it seems, was forced to increase its fares after MAS complained to the government about the former's cheaper fares. If Air Asia can operate at a lower air fares in the first place, why can't MAS? Maybe opening up the routes to other airlines will be the answer to this problem.

MAS and the government should not forget their social responsibility. Malaysia is a young nation and there is a need for social integration between the states separated by the South China Sea. Due to our geographical nature, transportation by air is the only means of achieving this.

Bear in mind, there are more than 10,000 Sabah and Sarawak students studying in the peninsula (excluding 10,000 factory workers). To them, balik kampung means shelling out at least RM900 every time they go home.

I hope this is not another plan by the government to 'pump funds' into MAS before selling it to another of its cronies. Surely we have to pay the price for national integration, and thus the lowering of domestic airfare is one of the prices we should pay.