Khazanah denies report that its 'meddling' led Bellew to quit

Updated 8 years ago · Published on 18 Oct 2017 7:16AM · 4 Comments

Government investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd says it works closely with Malaysia Airlines' board on the restructuring. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, October 18, 2017.

KHAZANAH Nasional Bhd yesterday denied a New Straits Times report alleging that its meddling had led to the resignation of Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) chief executive officer Peter Bellew.

In a statement yesterday, the government investment arm said the “speculation based on unnamed sources in the article is both erroneous and misleading”.

“Khazanah also wishes to clarify that no Khazanah official was approached by the New Straits Times for comment prior to the publication of this speculative article.”

MAB is wholly owned by Khazanah under 2014’s Malaysia Airlines recovery plan and the Malaysian Airline System Berhad (Administration) Act 2015.

It said restructuring of Malaysia Airlines followed a well laid-out governance and approval framework.

“The Malaysia Airlines board of directors and management submits it’s key plans to Khazanah as the sole shareholder and funder of the restructuring, and collectively, we have worked closely together to deliver the progress of the ongoing restructuring to date.”

The NST report published yesterday quoted unnamed sources as saying that Khazanah should be blamed for Bellew’s departure.

The source said Khazanah was micro-managing MAB and had bypassed its board on several occasions.

The article claimed that MAB’s previous CEO, German aviation executive Christoph Mueller, also had disagreements with Khazanah and quit after less than a year on the job.

Yesterday, Irish budget carrier RyanAir announced that Bellew, who left the airline in 2014, would return as its chief operations officer on December 1.

The announcement shocked MAB, with the national airline citing Bellew’s remarks late last month that Irishman was “happy to be in Malaysia”. – October 18, 2017.

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Comments

  • No more Mat Salleh in any GLC. Now, please call Azran Rani former CEO AirAsia X to lead MAS! He is the best option Malaysia have rite now.

    Posted 8 years ago by Jimmy Jimmy · Reply

  • No self respecting CEO will willingly propagate racism or cronyism in any organization.

    Posted 8 years ago by Xuz ZG · Reply

  • No smoke no fire.!!!!! This is a suicidal job. One can never do a good job independently when you have bad breath breathing behind your neck enforcing the ketuanan concept in every nooks and corners of the organisation. Coupled to the rent seeking process and heavy cronyism practises the airline are never meant to fly. The best CEO in the world would not be abled to uplift the flight with such baggages.

    Posted 8 years ago by Lee Lee · Reply

  • Malaysia Airlines will soon be bankrupt again.

    Let me run Malaysia Airlines. I will cut the 20, 000 suppliers to 2, 000, keep politicians out, and implement the Five Freedoms.

    As Muller said, other airlines have only 2, 000 suppliers.

    Malaysia Airlines is just another excuse for politicians to plunder the public treasury.

    The nasi lemak must be back to RM150 per serving.

    Many people are avoiding Malaysia Airlines.

    Deja Vu!

    History repeats itself.

    Those who forget the lessons from history are condemned to repeat their mistakes.

    It was not so long ago that Malaysian Airlines, now replaced by Malaysia Airlines, had a share deal with AirAsia.

    Under the deal, Tony F and a fellow Director at AirAsia joined the Malaysian Airlines System (MAS) Board.

    The government scrapped the deal when the unions claimed that MAS was a Malay company. They were against Tony F of AirAsia sitting on the MAS Board. MAS was in fact not a Malay company. It belonged to the government.

    After MH370 and MH17, MAS declared bankruptcy and the government passed the MAS Act. Six thousand of its 20, 000 workers were retrenched. Many joined AirAsia.

    Now, Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) plans to do what MAS did earlier.

    Hopefully, AirAsia won't take the bait. Once bitten, twice shy.

    Besides, a MAB-AirAsia deal would be bad news for air travellers. It will reduce competition.

    While AirAsia is a budget airline and Malaysia Airlines a full service carrier, any share deal between the two would see airfares going up.

    AirAsia must remain true to its campaign, "now everyone can fly".

    AirAsia is about meritocracy.

    Malaysia Airlines, like its predecessor, was bogged down by politics, corruption, nepotism, racism and opportunism.

    Christopher Muller, the former MAB CEO, wanted to cut the airlines 20, 000 suppliers to 2, 000 as at other carriers. He was shown the door.

    He also cut the price of nasi lemak on board to RM45 per serving from RM75. A handful of so-called Malays were lining their pockets at the expense of the people.

    Earlier, the nasi lemak was RM150. There was an uproar in Parliament and the price was cut to RM75.

    Since Muller's departure, nasi lemak probably went back to RM75 or even RM150.

    It's not a good idea for AirAsia to have anything to do with Malaysia Airlines. Let the so-called Malays there dig their graves again.

    In fact, under the Five Freedoms that govern international aviation, a flag carrier like Malaysia Airlines should be doing well.

    It won't be the case until the majority of the racist so-called Malays at the airline, and the corrupt politicians poking their noses into MAB, are removed.

    Posted 8 years ago by Joe Fernandez · Reply