‘Give new MAS boss a chance’

The government admits in Parliament that former IPP head Ahmad Jauhari Yahya has no experience running an airline

KUALA LUMPUR: The government said today that it had “no choice” but to let the embattled Malaysian Airlines System (MAS) be headed by someone with no experience running an airline.

Deputy Minister of Finance Awang Adek Hussin made the admission in the Dewan Rakyat and pleaded with the public to “give a chance” to Ahmad Jauhari Yahya to prove himself worthy of his new appointment.

“Maybe he doesn’t have the experience, but he was a CEO of a publicly-listed company,” he said. “He was a success. We have to give him a chance. Let’s not have any suspicion. Give him a chance.

“I am confident that this is a good test, because we don’t have a choice. If MAS incurred losses again, the government would have to inject more money. People will get angry at us again.”

Awang Adek was responding Padang Besar MP Azmi Khalid’s remark that the new MAS boss had no experience. The remark came while the deputy minister was replying to Arau MP Ismail Kasim, who asked how MAS and AirAsia were benefitting from their share swap.

Azmi jumped in when Awang Adek said MAS was getting a new line-up of chiefs.

Before being appointed to MAS, Ahmad Jauhari was the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Premium Renewable Energy (PRE). He assumed the two positions last March.

According to the PRE website, Ahmad Jauhari was previously MD and CEO of Malakoff Corporation Berhad, Malaysia’s largest Independent Power Producer (IPP), and president of Penjanabebas, the national IPP association.

Five-year collaborative with AirAsia

Last August, amidst reports that MAS and AirAsia had merged, both MAS and its main shareholder, Khazanah Nasional Bhd, denied that it was a merger, calling it a “collaboration” instead.

They also denied that the “collaboration” would give rise to a monopoly.

In the Dewan Rakyat today, the share swap was called a “Comprehensive Collaborative Framework” (CCF) between MAS, AirAsia and AirAsia X. The agreement to collaborate would last for five years and could be extended for five more years.

Awang Adek said “all parties involved” would benefit from the agreement.

He also gave the following list of primary shareholders in MAS and AirAsia.

Primary shareholders for MAS

Khazanah Nasional Bhd: 48.87%

Tune Air Sdn Bhd: 20.5%

Employees Provident Fund: 10.54%

Primary shareholders for AirAsia

Tune Air Sdn Bhd: 13.1%

EPF: 10.35%

Khazanah Nasional Bhd: 10%

Genesis Smaller Companies: 5.43%

Wellington Management Company, LLP: 5.04%