The share swap between national carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and budget airline AirAsia raises too many concerns to make it a viable option for the local aviation industry, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim says.

The swap raises "serious concerns" over AirAsia's dominance over state-owned MAS, he said, bringing fears of an eventual monopoly - particularly from the involvement of "cronies and political power brokers".

NONE "More importantly, the deal raises the question as to what is the fate of the GLC Transformation Programmes that had been launched by Prime Minister Najib (Abdul) Razak, with much fanfare and wastage of millions of the rakyat's money," Anwar said in a statement today.

"And is the government specifically admitting that the so-called successful turnaround of MAS was a mere charade? The prime minister must be held accountable for misleading the rakyat on this."

Anwar, who is also PKR adviser and Permatang Pauh MP, urged the Securities Commission to investigate possible irregularities, such as insider trading, as too little has been revealed about the deal, raising the issue of transparency as well.

He also raised concern that the deal would end up short-changing MAS staff in the interests of the top leaderships of MAS and AirAsia.

Signed GLCs going bust

Meanwhile, PAS youth leader Mohd Firdaus Jaafar said the share swap pointed to the real possibility of yet another government-linked company gulung tikar or closing shop due to the lack of competitiveness.

NONE Firdaus , who is the MP for Jerai, questioned the relevance of the sale of 20.5 percent of MAS shares to AirAsia, instead of the government finding better ways to improve on the national carrier's dismal performance.

This was especially so after MAS lost RM243.3 million in the first quarter of this year, compared with its total profit of RM310.6 million achieved over the whole of 2010.

The swap, he said, was indicative of the failure of Khazanah Nasional Bhd - which is the majority shareholder in MAS with 23 percent of the shares - and other GLCs in general to stay competitive, with the exception of national oil giant Petronas.

"The question is, why are GLCs under the Umno/BN government mostly losing out their competitiveness, compared with the private companies that are far ahead?

"Are these GLCs lubuk (feeding grounds) for Umno/BN leaders to reap profits for personal gains and not for the GLCs?" asked Firdaus, who also chairs PAS Youth's consumer and environment committee.

PKR: Najib's economic policies facing meltdown

Gov't tackling cost of living problem, says Najib

Asia faces tougher battle in new global slowdown

Food stamps not a silver bullet

Penang civil servants to get RM600 'duit raya'