YB Tan Sri Nor Yakop and Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar: It is never too late to say “NO”!

Updated @ 9:55 pm on 20-9-2011: MAS has terminated its service KLIA – Bandung – KLIA as from 4-10-2011. Please visit the MAS website and see for yourself in HERE. This is another profitable route that has been terminated by this whizz kid En Mohammed Rashdan Yusof and his management team. The profitable routes of JB – KK & Kuching – JB were also terminated from 15-9-2011. During the recent Hari Raya season, several Firefly full load flights were also canceled. The new Managing Director should now reviewed all decisions taken by this whiz kid Rashdan and his management team. He should immediately stop this whiz kid Rashdan from running “Amok” in MAS before its too late.   

Yours truly has received three comments yesterday evening at 6:14 pm, 6:17 pm and 6:25 pm.  First comment under the name of DC with the e-mail address of uijencheah@gmail.com and the subsequent two under the name of PuteriWangsaMaju with the e-mail address of proud2bemalaysian@gmail.com.   

All the three comments were from the same IPP address: 203.142.32.113  They were from the same person with different names. The comments are reproduced below.  

DC uijencheah@gmail.com 203.142.32.113

Submitted on 2011/09/19 at 6:14 pm Dear YB, I applaud your efforts in exposing the various issues about AirAsia in your blog. I am an AirAsia staff, and I live in your constituency as well. The various fees you mentioned above in your blog post are optional to guests, and not obligatory. Even the convenience fee is not chargeable if you opt for the Direct Debit payment method. But that’s besides the point I am writing to you. I believe that you have been invited countless times to visit our AirAsia operations in LCC Terminal by our Government Relations team, as well as invitations from Tony himself which you have declined or have not replied. Before we proceed any further, we would like to once again, extend an invitation to your goodself to visit our AirAsia office, observe our operations, as well as our AirAsia Academy, where Tony will be able to host you and further provide you with explanations on the various grouses that you have been magnifying online. We sincerely hope that you are able to accept this invitation. I live in your constituency and as my MP, I hope that you will be able to come and see my workplace as well before commenting further about AirAsia. Thank you YB.

Rashdan: Do you know about the RM50 ancillary charges imposed by the so called “No Frills” AirAsia

PuteriWangsaMaju proud2bemalaysian@gmail.com 203.142.32.113

Submitted on 2011/09/19 at 6:17 pm Hey peeps, get your facts right first…! i find YB WCK is only good in creating agenda setting among you ppl…YB WCK, it’s high time you should stop digging AirAsia’s progress and boast as if you are an economy analyst; instead start working a lil bit harder to fight the crime rate in your constituency! Non of us in Wangsa Maju dare to walk alone with a sling bag…pls utilize well the 10 questions you can raise in Parliament.

Rashdan: Do you know about the RM50 ancillary charges imposed by the so called “No Frills” AirAsia

PuteriWangsaMaju proud2bemalaysian@gmail.com 203.142.32.113

Submitted on 2011/09/19 at 6:25 pm Ya.. ya keep going against AirAsia YB. You are only good at that…..then; we rakyat will be left with bus services like lousy Transnational to travel around…let AirAsia be..they are doing good to many more others who appreciate them!

Cabinet must say “NO” to Tony

The first comment appeared to be quite reconciliatory and the other two were very defensive of the outfits of AirAsia and camouflaged with concerned over security in Wangsa Maju, which yourS truly during every Parliamentary session has been pleading to the Home Minister to prioritise security and to recruit more police officer to combat crimes not only in Wangsa Maju but nationwide. For your truly realised that crimes in Wangsa Maju cannot be solved by the police officers in Wangsa Maju alone but it needed a national agenda to reduce the crime rate to an acceptable level. The records in yours truly’s blog speak for itself. Please read your truly’s posting on the subject of security in HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and more.

Coming back to the “invitation by Tony” as stated in the comment of DC. Your truly sincerely hope that comment from DC was not from Tan Sri Tony Fernandes or his “friendly” writer / “budak suruhan” as the comment seemed to possess certain flavours which pointed to a certain direction. For the moment, your truly will keep what ought to be off record remains off record unless compelled to reveal them.

For the record, during one of the Parliamentary Sessions there was an invitation by words of mouth to several opposition MPs to attend special dinner hosted by Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes (as he then was) and a day time visit to AirAsia Bhd’s fortress in LCCT.  Your truly wasn’t to keen to succumb to such mode of invitation which sincerity was most doubtful. As far as yourS truly can remember there were just a handful of MPs went.

Be that as it may, at that material time your truly had to be present in Parliament in order to press the then Minister of Transport, YB Datuk Ong Tee Keat, and the  then Minister of Finance II, YB Tan Sri Nor Mohamd Yacop, to take drastic actions against AirAsia Bhd (AA) for not handing over the Airport Taxes worth over RM120 million, which AA had collected from its passengers but did not pay to MAHB for years with unprecedented immunity!

The issues then were not restricted to just the outstanding Airport Taxes but the way in which Fly Asian Express Sdn Bhd aka FAX fought to take over from MAS the Rural Air Service (RAS) for Sabah and Sarawak in 2006, the hay days of Tun Abdullah’s Administration.  This was also known as the “Golden Era”.  It must be noted that Fly Asian Express Sdn Bhd aka FAX then was incorporated on 19-5-2006. It goes without saying that on 1-8-2006 (three months after it was incorporated) FAX was awarded to operate RAS as from 1-8-2006 for 2 years. At the same time the Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s “poor step child”, MAS, had to continue with technical assistance until 26-2-2007 after which FAX took total responsibility for the aircraft for RAS , both technically and operationally.  The icing of the award of the RAS was the subsidy of about RM200 million via lump sum payment granted to FAX from the Tun Abdullah’s Administration.  To be fair, MAS must have also received some subsidy from the government for operating the RAS as it was not meant to be profitable but a service to the rural communities in Sarawak and Sabah.

To know the background and what really had happened with RAS and how the issue of Airport Tax debts of AA were hidden from the public and the covering up during honeymoon years between 2003 – 2008. Please read  HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE , HERE & HERE. 

The the two years contract was short lived and ended in less than a year due to the pressures from the Sarawak and Sabah State Governments, politicians and members of the public against the appalling poor service of FAX. Naturally, the Khaznah’s “poor step child”, MAS, was dumped with six un-airworthy aircraft and one being cannibalised for spare parts. After July 2007 MAS had to spend RM35 millions of Rakyat money to make the seven aircraft airworthy again. Even though the 2 years contract were prematurely terminated but the Tun Abdullah’s Administration did not take actions to recover the RM200 million subsidy on a pro-rata basis from FAX as can be found in one of your truly’s posting above.

One glaring point was that  in 2007 Khazanah did not take any  action to demand for payment of the said RM35 million spent by MAS for the seven un-airworthy aircraft which was due to the irresponsible manner under which the aircraft were kept and maintained.  This was one of the example of Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar’s leadership in Khazanah’s “CONTRIBUTIONS” to the growth of its step child, MAS.  When you are a step child you will always be a step child! Unfortunately, the successive heads of MAS didn’t have the guts to stand up against the unfair treatments and chose to remain as a step child. To be fair to YB Senator Idris Jala, he did resist attempts to “anaktirikan MAS” to a certain extent. Sorry to have digressed a little here.

A few months after dumping the RAS back to MAS, Fly Asian Express Sdn Bhd aka FAX was transformed into a new outfit known as AirAsia X Sdn Bhd through a change of name on 21-09-2007. Thereafter, Malaysians saw the birth of a totally new airlines with no resemblance of FAX of the RAS fame but closely associated with AirAsia Bhd, the preferred airline.  AirAsia X Sdn Bhd was advertised and perceived by members of the public as a part of  AA which provide long haul air services.

Originally, the AirAsia X Sdn Bhd aka FAX was only allowed to fly to destinations not operated by MAS, our national carrier and the Khazanah’s “step child”, so that it will not be in competition with MAS. Just like a camel and the Arab in the tent. Slowly but surely AirAsia X Sdn Bhd aka FAX  was granted matured routes like London, Gold Coast and others where MAS, the “step child” of Khazanah, has expended many million RM and energy to promote and nurture the said profitable routes and AirAsia X Sdn Bhd aka FAX was granted one destination after destination totaling 32 or more to date.

It was operating only 16 destinations and terminated three destinations leaving only 13. Despite AirAsia X Sdn Bhd aka FAX operating about 13 destinations we were bombarded with reports in the MSM and an AA’s friendly news portal that AirAsia X Sdn Bhd aka FAX was flying to a majestic height with “huge profits” and of course, expanding. So the story. Yours truly was indeed in a state of shocked to learn from official record filed at SSM that in 2009 AirAsia X Sdn Bhd was making huge losses of RM89.935 million. Please read in HERE and HERE.  No annual accounts were filed by AirAsia X Snd Bhd aka FAX for 2010 so we will not know what is the actual state of health of AirAsia X Sdn Bhd aka FAX.

Yours truly was amongst the many that were led to believe the said many press reports prior to the secret MAS – AirAsia share swap, which we were told by Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar on 8-8-2011 that the said secret share swap was absolutely necessary in order to save MAS via “COLLABORATIVE FRAMEWORK AND SYNERGY”!  Sadly to say there was no details given to the public just like what Tan Sri Md Nor Md Yusof, the newly crowned Chairman of MAS, did on 26-9-2003 when MAS sold 70% of MAS Catering Sdn Bhd to Gubahan Saujana Sdn Bhd, a company controlled by or related to Datuk Ibrahim bin Hj Ahmad … (without Badawi) where term like making MAS “an asset light airline” under the famous WAU with no details were beautifully presented to the nation. Please read in HERE.

Now yours truly has published in this blog a full details of how MAS Catering Sdn Bhd was cannibalised at the material time in broad day light! Please read in HERE. By the way the earlier project under the code name “WAU” which was coined by BinaFikir Sdn Bhd, a company co-founded by none other than Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar and the whizz kid En Mohammed Rasdan Yusoff aka Danny. WAU was also meant to save MAS! Was MAS saved under WAU? NO! Then came the famous MAS – AirAsia share swap on 9-8-2011!

Despite such “COLOURFUL HISTORIES” of AirAsia Bhd and AirAsia X Sdn Bhd aka FAX, which are on permanent record in Khazanah and MAS, Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar and the whizz kid, En Mohammed Rashdan Yusof, saw it fit to negotiate and enter into an agreement with Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Datuk Kamarudin both of AirAsia Bhd and AirAsia X Sdn Bhd aka FAX to exchange 20.5 % of MAS share for 10% of AirAsia Bhd and most shocking of all Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar has proudly announced that Khazanah has the option to purchase 10% of AirAsia X Sdn Bhd aka FAX, which now has foreign equity of 34.7% and losses of RM89.935 million in 2009, at an undetermined price.

Well, Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar has also announced that Khazanah has commissioned Morgan Stanley Investment Bank to do a valuation on AirAsia X Sdn Bhd aka FAX. Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar and the whizz kid Rashdan, it does not take a graduate from Harvard, Princeton, Yale and other reputable universities to know the basic rule of acquisition of any share in a company that DUE DILIGENCE exercise must be done before anything else i.e. before entering into MOU, share swap deal or others in whatever forms. But in this case, it would appear to be “BINA” first and FIKIR later“! But it will involve many many million of the rakyat money.

It seemed that periodically the nation had the unfortunate experience of witnessing how Rakyat money being abused in BROAD DAYLIGHT all for the sake of  “SAVING” or “RESCUING” or “RESTRUCTURING” ” (you name it as you will) the Khazanah’s “step child” but our national carrier and the nation flag bearer, MAS, using almost the same personalities in its exercise under WAU and now the secret share swap within a span of the last 8 years from 2003, the beginning of the “Golden Era” and “honeymoon years”.

YB Tan Sri Nor Yakob, Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar and Tan Sri Md Nor Md Yusof please for once touch your hearts and do good for our nation and make MAS the nation’s LEGITIMATE CHILD as its “GOLDEN” Child like when it was separated from MSA (Malaysian Singapore Airline).  Scrapped the secret share swap and all decisions made under the leadership of that whizz kid Rashdan like those appearing to stifle Firefly (cancellations of flight & terminations of routes), QPR sponsorship and etc.

Let move on together to find the genuine ways and means to make MAS, the nation’s “GOLDEN” CHILD under the new CEO. Lets give the new CEO a chance to do his job. Disband and/or revamp the existing EXCO under Tan Sri Md Nor Md Yusof with Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, Rashdan, the whizz kid and Datuk Azman Yahya of Scomi fame. Revamp the MAS Board with professionals with unquestionable association.

YB Tan Sri Nor Mohamad Yacop, Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar and Tan Sri Md Nor Md Yusof please take notice that if the said secret share swap deal is not scrapped by next week your truly will be compelled to move all machineries in Parliament to defend and/or protect MAS from being cannibalised again. By the way your truly has already tabled six questions in Parliament to scrutinsie this secret share swap.  The Parliament questions will be published in your truly’s blog tomorrow if there are no intervening events that your truly had to respond to. Thank you.