Reject offers to privatise KTMB, union urges govt
By Sharen Kaur
Published: 2014/01/13
RAILWAYMEN'S Union of Malaya (RUM) hopes government intervention in Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) will stop private parties from putting up proposals to take over the company.
KTMB - which is involved in freight, intercity and commuter train services - is loss-making and due to that it has been the subject of a takeover target by several parties for more than a decade.
Year-on-year the Ministry of Finance Inc allocates money to the ailing company to help run its operations. Last year, more than RM150 million was given to KTMB.
RUM president Abdul Razak Md Hassan said the union's 3,600 members are against proposals by any private parties to take over KTMB.
Business Times recently reported that Gamuda Bhd may submit a proposal to MMC Corp Bhd to jointly take over KTMB operations in a deal worth more than RM5 billion.
Gamuda and MMC, a company controlled by Albukhary Foundation, are in discussions over the matter.
"We hope Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will decide soon and reject all offers put forward by private parties to privatise KTMB. If a decision to dismiss offers to privatise Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) can be made immediately, why not the same for KTMB?" Abdul Razak said recently.
In August last year, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad suggested that privatisation could be the answer to make MAS profitable again, after several unsuccessful efforts to turn the national carrier around.
He said as long as MAS remained a government-linked company, it would be difficult for the airline to achieve high-profit status.
Najib, however, dismissed calls to privatise MAS as efforts to turn the airline around have begun and are beginning to show promise.
Abdul Razak reiterated that KTMB can be profitable without privatisation.
"KTMB needs a strong leader with industry knowledge, and has developed trust and credibility. He must also be able to share the company's vision with absolute clarity," Abdul Razak said.
RUM is staging a protest next month to put pressure on its current president, Datuk Elias Kadir, to resign.
Elias was appointed KTMB president in May to help turn it into a profitable entity.
He told Business Times a few months after his appointment that he aims to grow non-rail revenues, slash costs and improve efficiency and train delivery.
Abdul Razak, however, estimated losses for this year to be around RM220 million.
For fiscal year 2012, KTMB recorded a net loss of RM284 million on revenue of RM361 million.
