MAS woes from Mahathir era

(The Star) – The financial issues faced by Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAS) is a legacy problem from the era of former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said Johor Baru MP Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad.

“As pointed out by MAS chief executive officer Peter Bellew, the problem MAS is in started back in 1994 under Dr Mahathir when he privatised MAS,” he said.

Shahrir said in a statement yesterday that Bellew had repeatedly denied Dr Mahathir’s claims that his resignation from MAS was due to interference from the Government or from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said Bellew had rebutted Dr Mahathir’s allegations by clarifying that the decisions to purchase new Boeing planes to replace existing planes that are coming off lease and to add new routes were made by MAS long before.

Dr Mahathir had claimed in a blog post that Bellew quit MAS because of inteference from Najib.

Bellew, who is currently on garden leave, responded with a press conference denying allegations that there was interference from MAS major shareholder Khazanah Nasional Bhd and the Government in the management of the airline.

He also denied he was leaving because of last month’s aircraft order during Najib’s visit to the United States.

Bellew said his decision to leave MAS and rejoin Ryanair as chief operating officer was to “balik kampung” to be with his family.

Captain Izham Ismail has been appointed as his successor.

Shahrir said MAS should be revived and put back in its rightful place as the pride of the nation, like how the Government fixed the lopsided independent power plant agreements and took complete control of PLUS from the private owners in 2010 to solve frequent highway toll hikes.