KUALA LUMPUR — A prominent Sabah lawmaker wants the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to review its investments in loss-making companies like AirAsia Bhd.
Instead Datuk Anifah Aman, the leader of the Barisan Nasional (BN) parliamentary backbenchers, says EPF should consider distributing its reserves to contributors to help cushion the impact of the impending economic recession.
“Why does EPF continue investing in companies like AirAsia?
“If EPF invests in companies which make money then we will see higher dividends for contributors,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
Last Friday, AirAsia Bhd recorded a pre-tax loss of RM662.357 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2008, compared to a pre-tax profit of RM450.152 million in 2007.
EPF has in the past one year increased its shareholdings in AirAsia from just under five per cent at the end of 2007 to just under 10 per cent in January.
While AirAsia is projected higher revenue this year, the prospects for the global airline industry remain gloomy.
Anifah’s remarks about EPF investments, comes on the heels of his criticisms last week of underperforming government-linked-companies (GLCs) such as Telekom Malaysia Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd.
EPF is also a substantial shareholder in Telekom and Tenaga.
Anifah, who blames the government’s handpicked young professionals for the poor performance of the GLCs, says the poor results, was causing the government to lose billions of ringgit in extra funds it could rely on.
“The difference between the private sector and GLCs is that these so-called experts which were brought in by the government have no experience.
“If all the GLCs were performing to par we would have a few billion extra to use for cushioning the impact of the economic recession,” he said.
He said the government must consider a change of management at GLCs which are experiencing losses.
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