THE proposal to set up a Borneo aviation authority by Sabah Deputy Chief Minister II Jeffrey Kitingan is short-sighted and a daft idea in equal proportions.

Also, it would not work and technically, it could not be done.

An aviation authority represents the whole country (as a nation) and not as a region or state.

A national body

A national aviation authority signs an international protocol in order to administer all the international aviation laws, rules and regulations, as this also involves the administration of international airlines from different countries.

National members sign the international protocol and the laws, rules and regulations contained in the protocol have been standardised via a UN charter whose members are nations of the world, not a region or a state.

For example, the UK represents England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (which is similar to Sabah and Sarawak). None of the regions – Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland or England – could have their own aviation authority.

Similarly, USA is the nation member and not Alaska or Texas.

In our case, Malaysia is a nation member of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a UN body, which sets the standards for aviation matters and must be followed by all the respective members in a national format.

Each state or region is submits to the nation under which it operates on aviation matters.

As each nation is a member of the international aviation bodies such as ICAO and International Air Transport Authority (IATA), the implementation of all the aviation laws, air space, navigation rules, regulations, including fees and charges, are administered by the respective national aviation body.

It cannot be managed by a state or region as they are not signatories to the protocol. A signatory must represent a nation, not a state or region, otherwise it will become illegal.

Functional issues

What the government could or should do, is to strengthen Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) by incorporating state or regional interests and put together an aviation plan into its institutional set-up and aviation strategic framework.

At the moment, CAAM is perceived to be weak and less functional when it comes to the aviation sector in Sabah and Sarawak.

However, this can be improved by getting people from East Malaysia to be involved in the administration and management, but not to set up a separate body.

Perhaps two regional offices ought to be set up – one in Kuching and one in Kota Kinabalu – so the officers there could cover the aviation interests and scope of work in the two states.

Setting up a state-owned airline is not a problem. You don’t need a state aviation authority to approve that ambition.

Any state can own an airline as long as they operate within the framework set up by the aviation authority and meets all the licensing and legal requirements.

In fact, Terengganu used to own an airline years ago, called MacAir. It went bust. – April 25, 2023.

* Rosli Khan reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.