competitiveness and global views

Tony Fernandez had this to say to STARBIZ, comments on why MAS is opposed to open skies for Malaysia .. i think his view is fitting:

Did anyone wait for AirAsia to be of certain size? From the start, we were up against an airline that had subsidies, enough aircraft and support from the government.

Just look at us. Five years ago we have 2 planes and today we carry 18 million passengers. We have not have 62 labs or 20 management consultants telling us what to do or 17 code names. It was survival for us and now look at our growth. No one protected us today.

MAS has a bigger market capitalization than ours. So why is one national champion trying to hold back the growth of the other?

Look at CIMB group. It is now a regional bank but not once did Datuk Nazir Razak talk about protection in Malaysia even when CIMB had to compete with banks like Maybank or even Public Bank.

So Idris (MAS MD Datuk Idrs Jala) needs to take a global view. It is a free market out there. Why stop others from growing? I am really surprise at what he said. He should not be scared for MAS.

They (Firefly, MASs budget carrier) even have Subang even though we fought so hard to stay back in Subang.

Why are they afraid of competition? We welcome competition. It is time to get rid of ship on our shoulders. Just get the inferiority complex off.

All local companies that have enjoyed protectionistic trade policies and yet have failed to show any signs of world-class quality (need i name them?) should take note