In the name of “privately funded initiative” and possibly privatizing the civil service!
Building an airport like KLIA East @ Labu, which has been given a swift “midnight approval” by the Abdullah Badawi administration to proceed, is not a development project for the timid and weak of heart.
To begin with, the said joint-venture between Sime Darby and AirAsia is slated to set both companies back a whopping RM1.6 billion which does not include land cost. And if you notice, amusingly, there’s this over-extended aggressive effort to assure the public that the project will be a “privately funded initiative” and consequently the often repeated mantra “not a Sen of the rakyat’s money will be used.” The sole spokesperson appointed to do all the talking, it seems, is none other than Dato’ Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia. In contrast, Sime Darby, the possibly bigger joint-venture partner by virtue of its large landbanks and provider of the initial 3,000 acres for the project, is oddly unbecomingly shy. There’s nary a squeak from the world’s largest plantation company so far and its silence is eerily deafening. Anyway, isn’t Sime Darby a government-linked company and therefore its money would be considered public money?
Why, this desperate attempt for continual assurance by Dato’ Tony Fernandes that public money is not involved is most unusual. Is there an underlying fear that what’s being bandied about is not the whole truth and the project is flawed and would die still-born? Or is there really something big and sinister to hide by interested parties? Time will tell.
But rather than wait for the likely rotten news to blow up in our face and land on our lap, let’s briefly consider the other vital components that will be involved in the KLIA East @ Labu project. Over and above the bricks and mortars and ancillary materials for the construction of the physical structures, runways, highways or railways one cannot do without the human resources that goes into its operations. One of the most vital of which would include personnel for air traffic control, security, customs, immigration and fire-fighting at the airport.
Bad enough that the government has already given firm approval for the privatization of an airport at Labu which has far-reaching national security implications, does this mean that in the name of “private funding initiative” a company that has so-called deep pockets would also be allowed to privatize part of the nation’s civil service?
Would Dato’ Tony Fernandes be given a free hand to pick and choose, which seems to be the case with this seeming favoured son, his privatized air traffic control, security, customs, immigration and fire-fighting staffs from Malaysia Airport Berhad, the Royal Malaysian Police, Royal Malaysian Customs, Immigration Malaysia and Bomba Malaysia, respectively? Heaven forbid! Such boldness and derring-do to pull a fast one! Such straight-faced double-speak all this while!
Fellow Malaysians, do we see what are potentially at risks if this is even considered? Can we begin to unravel the other half of the story that has not been told us thus far? What more is hidden? What more is likely to be at stake?
Then the whole Labu deal would beg the question:
In all honesty, can KLIA East @ Labu, a joint-venture project between Sime Darby and AirAsia, ever be a truly “privately funded initiative” project if the government can never allow a private entity to have its own air traffic controllers, police, customs and immigration force nor will it ever allow that section of its civil service to be privatized because of national security reasons?
– Terjemahan oleh Lee Wee Tak – Ucapan ribuan terima kasih dari Wee Choo Keong –
Soalan Mingguan WR Anda ke-43
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