Datuk Seri Oh Datuk Seri

I thought we all live in free market. I cannot help but feel disgust at the remarks made by Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Tajol Rosli Ghazali, who asked Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia and Firefly to forget about profits and serve the Ipoh-Kuala Lumpur route with charity in mind. First of all, those three companies are commercial entities. They exist with one reason only, that is to make profits.

“Urging Malaysia Airlines (MAS), its subsidiary Firefly and low-cost carrier AirAsia to help revive the under-utilised Sultan Azlan Shah Airport here, Tajol Rosli said: “MAS and AirAsia must forget about whether the flights are viable. Flights to Ipoh must be seen as a social project. Be more considerate and forget about profits.”

I am sure someone as educated as Datuk Seri, would be able to differentiate the difference between Rural Air Services in Sabah and Sarawak and Ipoh-Kuala Lumpur route. While there is a need to provide air services in Sabah and Sarawak due to inadequacy of decent road network, there is simply no urgent need to justify social service reason purported by Datuk Seri for Ipoh-Kuala Lumpur route. This is because, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur are already connected by highways and soon will be connected by high-speed train.

But surely, as a Mentri Besar who cares about his people, he has every right to plead airline companies to serve the route.

See, I am a reasonable person, first I criticise his opinion, then I give him some credit for simply doing his job.

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” – Plato.

P.S. The last sentence of my entry is a normative statement.

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