Kam Raslan’s Talking Edge

(Reprinted from The Edge – Options pullout, 15 December 2014 issue)

Dear Kam,
Malaysian Airline System Bhd wants to make Christoph Mueller its new CEO. What’s going on?
Jet Set

Christoph Mueller may or may not be a success as the new CEO of MAS but he does appear to have an impressive CV in the airline, air cargo and travel industries. Not only has he been the CEO of Ireland’s airline Aer Lingus since 2009 but he was also simultaneously on the board of Tourism Ireland, so hopefully, he is aware of the need to marry an airline’s and a nation’s brands. During his time at Aer Lingus, he managed to fight off a takeover bid from Ryanair, Europe’s (and Ireland’s) biggest discount airline. Previously, he was the aviation director at TUI Travel PLC (a very big British travel operator) and the CEO of Belgium’s very ailing Sabena as it pursued aggressive job cutting before its bankruptcy. He has also held senior positions at Daimler- Benz Aerospace, Lufthansa Cargo, DHL Worldwide and Deutsche Post. He gained degrees from University of Cologne and Harvard Business School. Not bad for a Eurasian boy from, I think, behind the old Pekeliling Flats.

This might sound like an impressive CV and it might sound like he has worked for several companies that have faced many of the same challenges that the embattled MAS is facing. But as I was researching Christoph Mueller, I slowly began to realise that I couldn’t find any mention that he is a Tan Sri or a Datuk Seri. He’s not even a Datuk. It slowly dawned on me that he’s not even Malaysian. I thought he was Eurasian, descendant of a German miner or planter. I know Seiberts and Seibels, and I felt sure that I knew some Muellers who lived next to the old TB hospital. You know the Muellers, father worked for the Public Works Department, daughter number two used to model for Hazeline Snow.

But now I realise that Christoph Mueller is actually a German from Germany. How can we have a foreigner as head of MAS? How can an outsider understand our culture with its cosy relationships, unquestionable feudal aloofness and intricate system of contracts and sub-contracts. It sets a dangerous precedent if somebody with an excellent and appropriate CV gets an important job like CEO of MAS because it sounds too much like meritocracy. As one member of parliament put it when criticising the MAS decision, “Local expertise and resources must be prioritised at all times.” I mean, couldn’t we find somebody from the palm oil industry?

What are we saying to the youth of Malaysia? More importantly, what about the Tan Sris and Datuk Seris? Who is looking out for them?

Dear Kam,
The price of oil keeps going down. This is great news, isn’t it?
Mat Motor

Several years ago, Iran’s then president Ahmadinejad used to say lots of crazy things, usually about the Jews. A president of Iran is not a particularly powerful post because real power is held by the supreme leader. But Iran is a major oil producer and each time Ahmadinejad said just about anything, the price of oil would go up as the markets reacted fearfully. Ahmadinejad must have realised that he could make billions for Iran just by saying something crazy. Those happy days are over now and even Vladimir Putin cannot raise the price of oil by fighting a war in Ukraine. Amazingly, oil has plummeted to US$70 (RM244) per barrel, and it might go even lower.

Governments around the world have worked out their budgets on the understanding that oil would be at least US$100, even US$110. The collapsing price of oil will expose all sorts of incompetence, unrealistic plans and straight-up scams being perpetrated by governments. At first, they will be able to fill financial holes by plundering formerly sacrosanct funds like pensions. Although Russia has next to no debt, the Russian economy is in dire straits and its government is already eyeing its pension funds.

And Malaysia? Oil makes up a third of our revenue but fortunately, we have 1Malaysia Development Bhd, so we’ve got nothing to worry about.

Dear Kam,
There’s been a lot of talk about revoking citizenship recently. I mean, what?
Orson

I must admit that I have never paid much attention to Alvin Tan, the notorious sex blogger who is now in the US trying to get political asylum. Nor do I know much about the activist Ali Abd Jalil, who has just received asylum in Sweden. Both are facing charges of, that’s right, sedition. But our government and our home minister have done everything they can to highlight their names, their causes and their plight. Our home minister has just revoked their Malaysian passports. I didn’t even know that was possible. It seems that my Malaysian passport is a gift that can be taken away if I’m ever a naughty boy. Good to know.

Dear Kam,
My son says things like, “Yo, yo, yo” and “To the max” and “As if!” I tell him to speak in English but he says he is. I am confused.
Mind Your Language

Many things baffle me. How do airplanes fly? Why is the sky blue? Why don’t ships fall off the edge of the world when the world is obviously flat? Our education minister has recently said: “I am baffled on why our children after completing pre-school, primary school, secondary school and tertiary education, still cannot converse in English.” Malaysian kids can’t speak English after going through our school system? Now that is truly baffling.

Dear Kam,
Who wants to be a billionaire? I do.
Money Matters

Great news, my fellow Malaysians! According to a thing called WealthInsight Intelligence Center (I’d never heard of them before either), by 2018, we’re all going to be billionaires! Well, actually the news report says we will have 20 billionaires but that will be more than the United Arab Emirates, and we will have over 30,000 millionaires. The report doesn’t mention anything about middle-class incomes or wealth disparity, but the important thing is we’ll have 20 billionaires.

If we are going to have 20 billionaires by 2018, then there is a statistical possibility that I could be one of them. I’ve got a really good feeling that it will be me this time. Wish me luck.

Reprinted with the kind permission of