Ada apa dengan MAS?

The 'early retirement' of Malaysia Airlines MD/CEO Datuk Ahmad Fuad Dahalan signals the beginining of Tan Sri Nor Mohd Yakcop’s second wave ‘peace time restructuring’ of Government Linked Companies (GLC).

Tan Sri Nor is a seasoned back-room campaigner.

He, as senior adviser, was the architect of the Malaysian Islamic banking system and was also the pioneer of Bilateral Payments Agreement, a central bank payments clearing system aimed at facilitating Malaysia’s trade with the developing countries without having to resort to the costly correspondent banks in London, New York, Frankfurt.

In the latter part of the Mahathir's Administration, Nor was the central figure in the fixed exchange rate regime introduced as a response to the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis which lasted for seven years was recently dismantled by Dato’ Seri Abdullah Badawi.

But what Nor will be most remembered for his role in a currency trading at Bank Negara in 1992/93 when the country lost billions in the currency market.

He was then the Adviser in charge of the forex department.

Under his watch Bank Negara lost RM15 billion within a span of two years.

Going by conventional accounting practice, the RM15 billion forex loss wiped out Bank Negara’s entire paid up capital (RM100 million) and its general reserves massed over its history (RM3.6 billion).

In short, if Bank Negara was a private bank it would have been declared insolvent.

Nor and Bank Negara’s Governor - the late Tan Sri Jaffar Hussein took the rap. Three days after the Governor left, Nor tendered his resignation.

In his resignation letter he stated that ‘it was the most honorable thing to do’.

Nor remained low for a while before returning to Corporate Malaysia as the Head of Research for Rashid Hussein Securities and later as Vice President of Abrar Group International (AGI) and later as CEO of Abrar Corporation Berhad (ACB) when he, via his family company bought an interest in Mun Loong from the owner of Benta Plantations.

In a short span of time, Nor disposed Mun Loong’s retail division, and the company, under a new name ACB, found a new core business in infrastructure development and construction.

According to the now defunct business magazine - Corporate World, ACB was involved in the construction of the RM180 million Express Rail Link project, the construction of two rail projects for KTM Berhad costing RM400 million and government hospitals worth RM700 million. It was also involved in a tunnel project in Putrajaya and property development in Nilai.

Lima many others who were affected by the 1997/98 Asian Financial Crisis, AGI was not spared, later was taken over by Danaharta.

The rehabilitation of MAS back to financial viability is perhaps Nor’s biggest assignment to date.

Since the break up of Malaysia Singapore Airlines Ltd. in 1972, MAS has been inconsistent.

It has made some profits and lose some money.

But, on the whole MAS has lost more money than it had ever earned.

The situation was not so dire, when it was under the ownership of Bank Negara, but, it was under the stewardship of Tajudin Ramli, that MAS's financial situation took turn to a worse.

Under Tajuddin, MAS went on a spending spree and as a result, accumulated RM9 billion in debt, and as a result was re-nationalised in 2000.

Some analysts said that, it was the re-nationalisation of MAS that became the 'straw that broke the camel's back' - in the relationship between Dr Mahathir and Tun Daim Zainuddin, and as a consequence, Daim was asked to leave Dr Mahathir's Cabinet.

In MAS' short history a lot of things have been done to make MAS a viable entity.

It was privatised in 1985.

1o years later, it was sold to a private entrepeneur (Tajuddin).

Barely 5 years later, MAS was renationalised.

Nothing seemed to have worked.

On the manegement side, in the past 33 years, MAS has been headed by some of the best brains in the country.

Tan Sri Robert Kuok was once the MD of MAS.

So did, the late Tan Sri Zain Azraai, the Oxford educated former Secretary General of Finance Ministry.

The late Tan Sri Azizan, the Chairman of PETRONAS - the richest and best managed corporation in the country and was also once the Chairman of MAS.

But it seemed that nothing has worked.

And now the task of nursing MAS to financial viability has fallen on Nor’s lap.

But, can Nor do something what others before him has failed to do?