He said the minister’s comments had caused the market to dump MAHB shares.
In his post on Facebook today, Kadir said at a time when investors and fund managers were jittery, the first duty of any minister is “to talk the market up”.
“In everyday language, to instil confidence. To push the market up.
“Only a not clever minister will talk the market down. But there could be instances when a not stupid minister deliberately talks the market down.
“He or she may have a sinister reason for doing that, like pressing prices down so that someone could buy them at a discount.
“I would not accuse minister Loke of any of the above. But I would have to give him a fail mark in this particular instance,” he wrote.
Kadir said Loke’s reported briefing to fund managers and analysts had the effect of “talking down” the market, causing them to sell MAHB shares.
“I have been generally impressed with this DAP minister. But in this particular instance, I’m disappointed.”
Kadir said, unfortunately, this was not the first time that ministers had shot themselves in the foot, adversely affecting government-linked companies (GLCS).
He said it was sometimes “better for ministers to be the laughing stock for saying stupid things rather than trying to be clever and causing market capitalisation of GLCs to tumble”.
“At least the stupid things they say are funny and entertaining. Adoi!” Kadir, who is also the prime minister’s media and communications adviser, said.
A report in theedgemarkets.com yesterday had stated that the minister’s remarks, which raised uncertainties for MAHB, had sent the airport operator’s share price to tumble this week. It slid 7.6%, or 66 sen, to RM8.04, the biggest fall since November last year.
It said the fierce selldown wiped out RM1.09 billion in market capitalisation from MAHB, whose share price had been climbing steadily since April, when it traded at RM6.60.
It added that some analysts noted that investors had taken the opportunity to take profits since MAHB’s share price had rallied for seven months.
The news portal said Loke, apparently speaking at a closed-door briefing, had said the government intends to adopt the public-private partnership model for airport operations.
This meant that there could be new players, including foreign parties, to partner with MAHB in operating the domestic airports. In short, MAHB may have to share its pie, the report said.
Loke also stated that the government was also considering the restructuring of regulatory bodies in the aviation sector.
Currently, there are two regulatory bodies, namely the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and the Malaysia Aviation Commission (Mavcom), according to fund managers who attended the forum, the report added.
Loke’s announcement is seen as another hit on MAHB after the passenger service charges (PSC) imposed on international travellers, except those travelling within Asean, was reduced by RM23 to RM50 from October.