Railway Union Up In Arms As Ktmb Awaits New Chairman

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At the end of February, media reported the recently removed Menteri Besar of Perak, Dato Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu was tipped to be the new Chairman of Keretapi Tanak Melayu Berhad (KTMB) to replace Dato Rameli Musa.  
However, no formal announcement has yet to be made. The official Facebook for the Railway Union of Malaysia (RUM) asked on March 6th as to why Faizal has yet to to accept his appointment. The Edge reported Faizal told the press he will be meeting Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin to discuss the appointment. 
For Faizal, or casually referred to in the political circle as Peja, he may have the Prime Minister's ear, but he does not exude the confidence to provide the leadership to overcome KTMB's dramatic drop in revenue, rising liabilities, and even late salaries paid.  
Peja's appointment is seen by political pundits as Muhyiddin pacifying his Deputy President, who was removed at the behest of the Sultan. Peja was suspected of blatant involvement in the rampant sales of state land, but there is no such opportunity in KTMB. The company does not own any rail assets.  
He will also have to content with an aggressive union that is vehemently opposed to the new CEO appointed by Minister Dato Dr Wee Ka Siong, against Destini-KTMB JV to do MRO, and up in arms with MoT's preference for China's CRRC. 
The union suspect there is common benefit from CRRC and worried for the worst case senario of KTMB being sold to the China giant. They claimed a China contractor hired by MoT failed to deliver rolling stocks and it cost KTMB.  
Destini

The union's main concern with the Destini JV is the propect of KTMB workers being laid off. 
They suspected hanky panky behind the 70% majority held by Destini and KTMB only 30% arrangement. Slightly more than a week before notice for the AGM, union sent representatives to report to MACC.   
Destini has always been associated with UMNO Perlis leader, Dato Rozabil Abdul Rahman. The C4 Center website linked him with Dato Shahidan Kassim, but within UMNO circle, he is oftenly associated with Khairy Jamaluddin. During their Pemuda days, he was KJ's Treasurer for Pemuda and dubbed as his bagman. 
Despite politically linked and the long list of contracts from government and agencies, Destini is a public listed company which to quote the company website here, "provides integrated  engineering solutions and has big interests in the aviation, marine, land systems and oil and gas sectors"

Rozabil requested investors to not look at his political link, but judge him for his track record. Despite rumours he was selling out of Destini after BN's lost in the 14th general election, Rozabil explained in a 2018 interview that he was seeking for fresh capital. 
The long list of projects does not come with healthy cashflow and the company has long been known to be tight of cash. Apparently Destini's financial standing was one of the issue raised by RUM in their opposition to the JV.  

To the rail workers, Destini does not offer confidence as having the technical capacity and experience in rail work. Their only railwork was the 2016 award for RM62 million worth of job to supply 35 motor trolleys and two rail road vehicles for delivery in 2019.
Since 2018, Destini have been bidding for the MRO job, but their capability in rail work seemed limited and gearing up for the MRO through collaboration in a JV company. 
Sources within KTMB claimed there are other better local contractors with longer track record and specilised skill in railwork than Destini. There is local company with the capability to win international bid against CRRC.     
CEO and Chairman  
The union's disgust with the new CEO, Rani bin Shamsuddin is that he was brought in by MoT to replace CEO Datuk Kamaruzzaman Zainal before his tenure expired. 
Rani is a reappointment as he had served in the position from September 2017 till September 2019. He was blamed for being ineffective in plugging leakages, and amicably solving problems for the first Klang Valley Double Tracking project  with Syarikat Dhaya Maju LTAT Sdn Bhd.
The union petitioned Muhyiddin to block the reappointment but Rani is acceptable and willing participant to Wee's China plan. The Phillipines Railway Boards cancelled three DMU contract given to CRRC. This led union to. worry MoT may fulfill the need for new cargo trains from CRRC. 
Rani tenf kow tow to Ministers. Had it not for tgr Covid pandemic reason, the union would have picketed against him. Now that he has returned, he is expected to stand up to any interference from MoT on the new diesel locomotive.    Peja has not confirmed his acceptance of the Chairmanship post but already the union has given a stern warning to keep politics out of KTMB. 
Peja said he wish to focus on election preparation for Perak, but words are he will only accept on condition MoT also appoint him as Chairman of the asset manager for KTMB, Railway Assets Corporation (RAC)

KTMB is a wholly owned company of the Minister of Finance Inc — a subsidiary of the Finance Ministry (MoF). Its train and rail operation is regulated by the Transport Ministry (MoT). The corporatisation exercise, after the Railway Act 1991 took effect, involved placing the asset into RAC, a statutory body under MoT. 
There was a proposal to merge RAC and KTMB as it was crucial and strategic to do. Much of the losses and operational problems of KTMB lies with its inability to make its own decision on the asset and the 1992 restructuring. 
Even the union is agreeable to the merger or putting it under one holding company. More so Malaysia need to urgently uplift its rail system or face run the risk of economically being left behind to its neighbours. 
Unfortunately, Wee already denied of any such plans in June last year.  The idea was shot down.      
With egos at loggerhead and no clear political will to revamp KTMB operation, it looks to be an insurmountable task to turnaround KTMB and uplift the Malaysian rail transport system. 
And, Faizal may not be the right person to lead the task. 

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