I'm not sure I can immediately side with the posters defending Tiger and blame "politics" by the Indo's.
This airline does not have a very clean record of safety oversight.
But, I'm interested, how does this "dampish" lease actually work? Isn't it VA aircraft operated by VA pilots, presumably maintained via VA? It appears perhaps that the regulatory approval is needed via Tiger's AOC even though it is effectively operated by an airline that already has route approval? Perhaps Tiger have not been forthcoming with sufficient paperwork. You need staff for that.
And I love the quote that a discount airline should not offer a dodgy service! HTF are they going to stay so discounted then? I bought a $10 Rolex in Thailand once. It fell apart after a few months. So I spent the next six months complaining about it on the interwebs. Next trip to Thailand I bought another one. It only lasted a week. I'm getting really frustrated because Rolex are not returning my calls.