The government has made Malaysia Airlines System (MAS) into a "stepchild" while favouring AirAsia, said MAS Employees Union (Maseu) secretary-general Abdul Malek Ariff.

This is the reason why MAS has been incurring losses throughout the years, as the government starting 2006 has been focusing on helping AirAsia instead of MAS, he claimed.

"They (the government) has made a stepchild out of MAS, which is fine with us. But just don't blame us," Malek ( photo ) said in a press conference today at the union's headquarters in Subang Jaya.

He alleged that MAS staff are being made victims to save the budget airlines due to this favouritism by the government.

"We are just soldiers. We follow decisions from the top," he said.

Malek made reference to the share swap deal between MAS and AirAsia in 2011 as an example of how the government favours AirAsia.

The deal was then portrayed as a strategic collaboration by the government and the low-cost carrier.

Maseu was strongly against the deal as they claimed it would not benefit MAS in any way.

However, when pressed to clarify this example and provide more information on how the government favours AirAsia, Malek merely said: "If you work in MAS, you will know this."

Remove current directors

Malek added that MAS is a national carrier while AirAsia is a private carrier, so the government should be supporting the survival of the national carrier and the welfare of its employees.

Maseu is also calling for current MAS directors to be removed from the new Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB).

Malek cited the example of how former MAS CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya ( photo ) has been given a position on MAB's board of directors.

If MAS is technically bankrupt, it shows that Jauhari and his senior management team are not fit to run MAS, Malek explained.

"So why should they be given new positions in MAB?" Malek questioned.