KUALA LUMPUR: The government must avoid placing political appointees in Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd’s (KTMB) board of directors, as practiced by the previous administration.
Railwaymen Union of Malaysia (RUM) president Abdul Razak Md Hassan said the current administration must ensure that only professionals were chosen to be board members, in order to oversee the administration and management of the national railway company.
He said the move was necessary to enable KTMB to reclaim its glory and be free from any outside interference and political influence.
He said that professionals possess business-minded mentality needed to help KTMB generate profits.
“The railway industry in this country needs to be run by professionals, not by political appointees anymore, because they (professionals) have a wider perspective on the sector, in order to help develop (the industry) and be competitive like in Japan and Indonesia.
“With professionals at the helm, the company would be able to make locomotives and coaches, and sell (locomotives and coaches) to ASEAN countries.
“This would bring about a comprehensive railway industry (in Malaysia),” he said when met after attending a briefing with the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) at Menara Ilham here today.
Owned by the Finance Ministry, KTMB was only profitable for a short while after its corporatisation in 1992.
Registering net profit between RM9 million and RM15 million from 1993 to 1995, it began to record financial decline from 1996.
It had struggled for almost two decades to revive its financial performance.
The company – which registered a total of nearly RM3 billion in losses since it was incorporated – is expected to announce its net profit for 2017.
Abdul Razak said the previous government spent more than RM5 billion to buy expensive locomotive set from China.
However, he said the move had failed to contribute to the development of the railway sector as a whole in Malaysia.
“If Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad could consider the possibility of developing a second national car, why can’t we focus on the country’s railway industry?
“We want to move ahead and become an industrialised country and not being seen as merely a country that buys (railway locomotives and parts among others),” he said.
