KLIA: An Elephant Whiter Than White

Nippon Airline joined other airlines in announcing the withdrawal of its services from KLIA. Billions of ringgits were spent on the airport at the time when imports should have been reduced to curb cash outflows - but Mahathir insisted that the project was for the future. It would soon reach its intended capacity when KLIA becomes a regional aviation centre.

Mahathir waited and waited for the day his prophecy turns a reality to vindicate himself, but after Nippon Airline's withdrawal - he must have resigned to himself that the day would never come. KLIA market is actually shrinking, not expanding as he had hoped before.

Many factors contributed to this but we will not bore readers with the nitty gritty of aviation industry. Suffice to say that it was unwise to consider challenging Changi and Bangkok's position as the regional hubs. After all, there are already too many world-class airports which serve as hubs in this region anyway including the state of the art Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong.

If the trend continues, the country is going to suffer a huge loss on its investment. Mahathir reiterated that the project is considerably cheaper taking into account what it will cost in the future - but that is certainly not the kind of prudent talks you expect from a Prime Minister of a country whose nation is still gripped by the aftermath an economic crisis! Prudence dictates that only necessary investments are made. Those investments must be productive and regenerative in nature - investing in a mega project whose success is arbitrary and based on the accuracy of future projections is speculative indeed!

This is where some of us disagree with Mahathir and his style of managing the economy. Economy should be built upon a sound foundation, mobilised by an entrepreneurial society and backed by a people's oriented government. Mahathir believes that he can create this entrepreneurial society based on a make-belief foundation - by developing heavy industries and monstrous big bucks projects to spur the economic growth. But economic growth needs able and well trained human force to man it - big and beautiful buildings are useless if there is no one to use them!

This is a factor which Mahathir chose to overlook. In the end, Mahathir's pet projects such as KLIA and Formula One circuit in Sepang become white elephants - so notoriously remembered by the people for the amount of public funds it sucked to feed an old man's ego. They are indeed white elephants which are whiter than white -beyond people's reach that they remain new for the years to come!