Actually AirAsia didn't lobby for the RAS if you remember it correctly. Why in the world would Tony Fernandes go shouting "We've ordered 100 A320s! Give us those Mulu and Limbang flights!"
AirAsia just wanted route rationalization, more domestic routes and break a monopoly that is screwing the country up. MAS' defense was that the local routes was impossible to make profit from and that they needed time. The smart Government we all voted in (or didn't) decided to ask MAS to just concentrate on their international routes and reducing their local ones. The end result was AirAsia was given more domestic routes but had to take over RAS too.
I personally admit FAX screwed up but I and a lot others had expected it. It was bound to screw up since the people who ran it had no experience in running it, inherited a lot of problems I prefer not to reveal since some people will take offence and especially since the handover back has been done. Now it's all good. The services are run by the people already experienced with it as it should be.
Sabah and Sarawak (by the way old man, we don't call them East Malaysians anymore) might have lost a few million in revenue in the 1 year of FAX operations but the Federal Government lost billions in tax revenue in decades of MAS operations but let's not go to what is already widely known. Again, I personally admit FAX tried but failed.
When you say ACA won't start anything unless the PM's Department instigates an investigation, it shows you know little of the corruption prevention laws of Malaysia. The ACA doesn't even need a report to start an investigation. They can start something even if they
suspect something is wrong. How do you know their intelligence unit isn't already collecting information? I am quite well versed in the ACA's operations as I did a study on them during uni days. If there is proof of any wrongdoing, they will act.