KOTA BARU: A state Perikatan Nasional (PN) leader today justified the pact's argument against the privatisation of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), citing that the airport operator manages the country's "important and invaluable" assets.
Kelantan Deputy Speaker Datuk Mohamed Farid Mohamed Zawawi also described the challenge issued by a PKR leader for PN to close down the operations of all factories owned by BlackRock in opposition-led states such as Kelantan and Kedah reflected the short-sightedness and shallow thinking of the latter.
In his response to the statement made by Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad during a ceramah in Penang recently, Farid claimed the PKR vice-president and other party leaders did not understand the nature of business between MAHB and factories or mining activities.
Farid, who is also a Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Supreme Council member, added that Nik Nazmi did not understand the severity of the issue surrounding MAHB's privatisation.
"Any comparisons between MAHB and a factory or mining operations are meaningless.
"A proper and thorough understanding of the nature of the business between the two would clearly shed light on the essence of the concern expressed by the PN leadership
"A factory and a mining company have limited operations in terms of time, location, and scope of work. And of course, their operations can be suspended, ceased, or terminated at the pleasure of the license holder," the Kok Lanas assemblyman said in a statement today.
Unlike the factories operating in Kelantan and Kedah, Farid said MAHB manages the country's important and 'invaluable' assets, as it is the concession holder for 39 airports in Malaysia.
"The said concessions cannot be replaced, replicated, or cancelled and, as such, it is actually a monopoly in structure.
"In other words, MAHB possesses a monopoly on operating airports in this country on a long-term exclusive basis. This is very similar to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and Bernas, for that matter.
"Now the question is, why would the government even consider selling a monopoly business in the country to a foreign entity with zero contributions to the welfare of Malaysians? Why not sell Bernas as well? Perhaps the price of rice would be lower," he added.
Airports, especially international airports, he said, are technically the borders of the country.
He added that movements across the borders are an integral part of national security, as was evident during the pandemic period, when the borders were completely closed to safeguard national interests and prevent the spread of Covid-19.
"Our airports are also our strategic defense mechanism in the time of war. We are not saying that we are going into any war, but in the unfortunate event when we are dragged into a war, access to the airport for our war planes in an absolute necessity.
"Read any books on war, the first targeted assets by attacking forces would be the country's infrastructure such as airports, ports, electricity supply, communication channel and road or rail lines. Imagine a situation whereby our own planes cannot land at our own airports because the landing lights were turned off," he said.
At a ceramah held for the campaigning of the Sungai Bakap by-election in Penang on Sunday, Nik Nazmi challenged PN to close down all factories owned by BlackRock in Kelantan and Kedah.
Nik Nazmi issued this challenge in response to a PN leader's call for the federal government to end any dealings with BlackRock.
According to Nik Nazmi, BlackRock is not only one of the biggest investors in the Malaysian stock market but also operates many factories in the two PN-led states.