Malaysian Parliament rejects debate over 1994 airline stake sale
International Herald Tribune
July 10, 2006
The Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR Parliament on Monday rejected an opposition request to debate a claim by a former tycoon that he had been forced by Mahathir bin Mohamad to buy a stake in Malaysian Airline System, the state-owned flagship carrier, to bail out the government when Mahathir was prime minister.

The Parliament speaker, Ramli Ngah Talib, said the issue was not urgent and inappropriate for discussion because it involved an unresolved court case.

Lim Kit Siang, the opposition leader in Parliament, had asked for an emergency debate in the lower house. Lim's Democratic Action Party had sought to debate whether an independent inquiry should be established to review "blockbuster bailouts" that suggested questionable financial practices and a lack of transparency in the government in the 1990s.

Lim filed his motion Thursday, when a local newspaper reported that the former tycoon, Tajudin Ramli, had submitted a court document saying his 1994 purchase of a controlling stake in Malaysian Airline System for 1.8 billion ringgit, then worth $750 million, was not a normal commercial deal as was made out at the time but a forced "national service."

"This debate," Lim said, "should have been allowed because we're trying to create transparency, accountability, integrity and good governance."

Tajudin's accusation comes as Mahathir faces criticism from the government for criticizing a wide range of policy decisions made by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who succeeded Mahathir in October 2003.

Tajudin's court document, filed on June 29, was in support of a lawsuit he had filed against the government and individuals, seeking 13 billion ringgit in compensation, accusing the government of conspiring to take over his companies.

Tajudin asserts that he was directed by Mahathir and his finance minister, Daim Zainuddin, to buy the Malaysian Airline shares from the carrier's main owner, the central bank, for 8 ringgit a share, even though its market price was 3.50 ringgit a share. Tajudin said Mahathir and Daim had told him that he was buying the shares to save the central bank, which at the time was hit by multibillion-ringgit foreign exchange losses. In 2000, the government repurchased Tajudin's stake at 8 ringgit a share, even though the market price was around 3.6 ringgit, provoking an outcry that the government was bailing out a crony.

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