YOURSAY ‘You cannot have the cake and eat it too, Reezal. Simple as that.’

Vijay47: When the news first emerged that Christoph R Mueller was being made chief executive of MAS Newco, almost every comment in Malaysiakini was to express sympathy to him and caution him of the inevitable interference he could encounter from Umno chauvinists.

Right as rain, we have this wannabe-Malay Kepala Batas MP Reezal Merican Naina Merican doing his expected racist act in the hope his actual Indian origins were somehow lost in translation.

Just less than a week ago, beggars like him were strutting around shamelessly demanding the fruits of others' efforts and for all his camouflaging his extortion with some cunning reference to "local expertise and resources priorities", he cannot conceal the fact that he remains a beggar.

If MAS were his grandfather's, I wouldn't care a hoot what he or his grandfather did with it. But the airline belongs to all Malaysians and we cannot have opportunists and witless Malays doing their best to again drive it into the ground. That seems to be their only area of success.

Kit P: I have no idea whether the new MAS CEO will turn out to be the right person, but the attitude of this Umno MP is precisely the kind of political interference which has led MAS to disaster.

MAS is in a deep hole and it is long past the point where the primary consideration should be the "the bumiputera agenda". MAS is facing a life-and-death situation. Reezal, you can't eat nationalism and racial supremacy.

Bystander: While I agreed that Malaysians should be prioritised for the MAS CEO job but meritocracy must be observed at all times.

Didn't we learn our mistake when Dr Mahathir Mohamad named tycoon Tajudin Ramli to helm MAS? He literary almost grounded MAS with the mammoth losses suffered before the government decided to bail it out.

We have Tony Fernandes of AirAsia. So the notion that Malaysians are stupid and incapable of running an aviation business is not true.

Mosquitobrain: Once an idiot, always an idiot. What bumiputera and national agendas are more important than saving the national airline from bust? MAS is bleeding, the country is bleeding.

You're not only blind, but also deaf. Just let the professionals do their job and you can carry on with your jolly making. It is people like you who are holding back Malaysia progress.

Bitter Truth: You cannot have the cake and eat it too, Reezal. Simple as that. You have to decide. If you want MAS to continue to bleed then by all means continue the old ways and get a Malaysian (who will be more like a puppet) to be CEO.

But if you want a turnaround, then get real and employ a foreigner who may just do it if there is no interference on his decisions.

Kim Quek: Can’t these dull-headed leaders see that it is Umnoputraism that worships racism and makes meritocracy taboo that has caused the MAS fiasco?

Isn’t this the same epidemic that have caused the numerous and endless mega haemorrhages that have sucked our coffers dry?

Don’t they realise that Malaysia would have been bankrupted under Umno’s rule decades ago if not for our petroleum resources?

Proarte: The bumiputeras are all Malaysians who were born in Malaysia after Merdeka and that represents 99.9% of the population. Of course, I am not including the millions of Umno created 'bumiputeras' who are illegal.

The real 'bumiputera agenda' in actual fact is the 'Malaysian agenda'. Racism will never contribute to economic success. The 'bumiputera agenda' which Reezal talks about should properly be called the 'Umno & Crony agenda'.

Corruption, inefficiency, plunder, racism and religious bigotry is their 'agenda' to facilitate the grand scale robbery which they are perpetrating in the name of the Malays.

Lim Chong Leong: Is this going to be a case of Morten Frost being head coach for our badminton team not too long ago?

Idris Jala tried to do the right thing as MAS head but was soon "silenced" with a ministerial position. In the end, Umno will maintain the national carrier as their gold mine and suck it dry. No amount of money pumped into it will be enough to feed the greed.

Dr Suresh Kumar: Why do business organisations head hunt for a CEO? Is it not to get the right candidate with not only an excellent academic qualification but also with other strong credentials such as experience, a strong leadership quality, a visionary and a team player to turn a poorly performing organisation around?

And how do you think a CEO carries out such an arduous task, Reezal? Isn't doing business is all about 'profit and loss'? You talk about the bumi agenda, what is that agenda?

Is it some Umno crony getting the contract to sell ikan billisless nasi lemak at an insanely inflated price to MAS or is it that the deputy Malay CEO should be allowed to decorate his office with an artwork worth RM7 million, which happened during the time of bumiputera CEOs such Merican and Tajudin, the guys who screwed up our national flagship to bankruptcy today, of course with the help of Mahathir who is now telling the bumis that they are stupid and cannot run an aviation company?

AkuMelayu-Tetapi ABU Jugak: Haruka Nishimatsu, the famous CEO of the JAL (Japan Airlines) recovery, simply "knocked down his office walls so anyone can walk in” and “bought his suits at a discount store, because a boss who wears Armani puts himself at arm's length from his people.”

Here’s CBS report about him: "The person in charge here walks the walk. Look up, and there's the boss. Got an idea? Catch him at lunch in the company cafeteria. His salary for running the world’s 10th largest airline: not millions, but one year as low as US$90,000 (RM350,000).

“When he was forced to cut salaries for everyone else, he also cut his own. ‘My wife said, 'what?'" Nishimatsu said through a translator.

“To him, a leader is one who shares the economic pain. ‘I feel close to him,’ said flight attendant Akiko Isobe. These days all airlines are struggling.”

But MAS management is still living the good life.

Mushiro: “Local expertise and resources must be prioritised at all times,” Reezal said.

But local bumi expertise has been used to squeezed MAS of every possible juice until MAS has to be bailed out by the government more than once. MAS is not only bankrupt but it has also lost its name and the confidence of customers.

With too many crony mentality and political interference, a local MAS CEO will find it very difficult to please the many Umno vultures.

And talking about Reezal's 'priorities at all times to local expertise and resources', is Reezal aware that 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad), an MOF (Ministry of Finance) company, has parked about RM28 billion in the Cayman Islands?

Malaysia's liabilities for 1MDB will run to about RM42 billion. Will Reezal voice out his stand on this bigger and more urgent issue.

Bash: Indeed, here we go again. Did you hear Mahathir said that you are stupid?

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