On 26-1-2015 Tony Fernandez, the CEO of AirAsia issued a press statement that AirAsia was abolishing fuel surcharge for its flights. BK Sidhu, the Star Business Editor, went on an overdrive to assist in the spinning of the said announcement to put AirAsia in the good light during this particular period. Prior to the crash of the unauthorised AirAsia’s flight QZ8501, Tony and/or AirAsia have been enjoying positive stories from BK Sidhu, the editor of Star Business.
BK Sidhu, the shameless editor of Star Business, has been known to be the “de facto spokewoman” for Tony Fernandez and/or AirAsia. One of the classic examples was in June 2013 during the AirAsia X IPO she saw it fit to mislead the investing public by quoting an “unknown source” that the IPO shares of AirAsia X will be over subscribed by 5 to 6 times, HERE.
When it was finally listed, AirAsia IPO share was under subscribed and Maybank Investment had to pump in fund on numerous occasions totaling about RM38.6 million to help to stabilise the AirAsia X IPO, HERE.
After a year, AirAsia X share price was still hoovering around 60 Sen, which is half of the original AirAsia X IPO share price of RM1.25 per share.
No professional journalist would have quoted an “unknown source” that AirAsia X or for that matter any stock to be over-subscribed by 5 to 6 times without supporting facts. In that article, that shameless BK Sidhu had been shown to have reduced herself to be a half past six Spin Doctor. A trained professional journalist would not have done what she did. A professional journalist will ensure at all times that his or her articles are objective, informative and/or helping the readers to make an informed judgment. As for that shameless BK Sidhu, she is more interested in publishing propaganda for her “boss”.
The shameless BK Sidhu made it a big news when Tony Fernandez announced the abolishing of the fuel surcharge on 26-1.2015. When Malindo abolished the fuel charge 7 months ago it was a non event. When Firefly, the subsidiary of Malaysia Airline System (MAS), abolished the fuel surcharge on 16 January 2015, the shameless BK Sidhu did not see it fit to publish it as a news item let alone spin it like what she did for her “boss”.
According to Tony Fernandez press statement, AirAsia made a decision to abolish fuel surcharge in November 2014 but it took AirAsia almost 3 months and the crash of its unauthorised flight QZ8501 that killed 162 innocent passengers for Tony Fernandez and/or AirAsia to announced the implementation of the actual abolition of fuel surcharge just a few days ago.
If Tony Fernandez and/or AirAsia are sincere about the said decision, AirAsia should have backdated the implementation of the said abolition of the fuel surcharge to November 2014 and refund all the fuel charges that have been paid by its customers on 1st November onwards. Of course, such refund from AirAsia will be hard to come by if not impossible. Even the agreed refund of the cost of ticket will take many months to be effected.
On the same day (27-1-2015) Star Business under the editorship of that shameless BK Sidhu saw it fit to highlight another story headlined “AirAsia earning still intact”.
In the above story, the shameless BK Sidhu, as the editor of Star Business, chose to ignore the fact that on 20-1-2015 Dato’ Seri Kalimullah Bin Masheerul Hassan, the founder, director and shareholder of AirAsia and its group of companies had suddenly disposed off his 393,000 AirAsia X shares.
Surely such material facts which involved a founder and director of AirAsia X disposing his shares at this particular time ought to be included in the said article. Well, the shameless BK Sidhu is suffering from willful blindness when it comes to matters that are adverse to AirAsia. Please see the announcement by Dato’ Seri Kallimullah to Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (Bursa KL) below:
AAX – Changes in Director’s Interest (S135) – Dato’ Seri Kalimullah Bin Masheerul Hassan
Announcement Type: Changes in Director’s Interest Pursuant to Section 135 of the Companies Act. 1965
| Company Name | AIRASIA X BERHAD |
| Stock Name | AAX |
| Date Announced | 22 Jan 2015 |
| Category | Changes in Director’s Interest Pursuant to Section 135 of the Companies Act. 1965 |
| Reference No | CM-150122-D917C |
Information Compiled By KLSE
Particulars of Director
| Name | Dato’ Seri Kalimullah Bin Masheerul Hassan |
| Address | No. 1, Jalan USJ 2/7UEP Subang Jaya47610 Selangor Darul Ehsan |
| Descriptions(Class & nominal value) | Ordinary Shares of RM0.15 each |
Details of changes
Currency: Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
| Type of transaction | Date of change | No of securities | Price Transacted (RM) |
| Disposed | 20/01/2015 | 393,000 | 0.669 |
| Circumstances by reason of which change has occurred | Disposal of shares | |
| Nature of interest | Direct | |
| Consideration (if any) | ||
| Total no of securities after change | ||
| Direct (units) | 102,935,447 | |
| Direct (%) | 4.34 | |
| Indirect/deemed interest (units) | ||
| Indirect/deemed interest (%) | ||
| Date of notice | 22/01/2015 | |
