How MAS was “WAU-ed” under Tan Sri Md Nor

by weechookeong

The Happy family. Tan Sri Md Nor, 4th from left in pic. Look how happy he was. He must be thinking of WAU-2!

Yours truly would not have written this piece had Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof (Md Nor) didn’t try to be show that he is after all a crony by jumping to blindly defend Tan Sri Azam Mokhtar (Amok) crony, Rashdan and En Ahmad Jauhari Yahya (AJ) in HERE.

Md Nor seemed to be oblivious to what have taken place before his very eyes in MAS unfer Amok’s, Rahsdan, AJ and PlaneConsult. The “TRANSFORMATIONS” in HERE,HERE, HERE, HERE & HERE that have taken place in MAS has no doubt threatened the existence of MAS and its 17,000 loyal staff and their respective families with great uncertainties. Even the logo of MAS has been changed with no apparent reason. The problems in MAS were not caused by the MAS logo but the failures of the top management to plug the LEAKAGES / KEBOCORAN or due to their encouragement for more LEAKAGES /KEBOCORAN!

Let us look at what have been said in a joint statement on that famous “D” Day for MAS on 9-8-2011 by Amok as the MD of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Md Nor, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranunthat have been posted prominently in Khazanah’s website in HERE.

Amok’s crony, Rashdan, must be thanking his lucky star that he, being a crony, didn’t have a say or what he had said will not be quoted.

Let us look at Md Nor’s statement on the secret MAS-AirAsia share swap and CCF. He made the said statement when he was only 9 days old as MAS new Chairman where he took over from Tan Sri Munir Majid on 1-8-2011. Yes, he sounded like an expert in the aviation industry. To yours truly, his ONLY expertise lies in the project called“Widespread Assets Un-Bundling” aka “WAU”.

Lets start with Md Nor, the current MAS Chairman. He was the MAS MD from 14-2-2001 to 31-3-2004 where he completed his greatest “achievement in saving MAS”under the infamous “WAU”.  Yours truly is sure that many MAS staff remember Md Nor’s “WAU” days, where Amok and his crony, Rashdan, were confined in a small office in Menara MAS, which was a landmark in Jalan Sultan Ismail. However, this landmark has been disappeared by a stroke of a pen. Md Nor didn’t sell it but if his “WAU” was effective and a real exercise to save MAS, the real WAUlogo will still be standing tall in Jalan Sultan Ismail today. It was a sad history for MAS.

Yours truly had to digress a little bit here, by looking at the special relationship between Md Nor, Amok and his crony, Rashdan otherwise you may not be able to understand the modus operandi of how they have “SAVED” MAS through the infamous “WAU”.

Almost 9 years later, Md Nor, Amok’s crony, Rashdan, are back to “SAVE” MAS again but without Amok in MAS. But Amok is one of the major key players in this new scheme to “SAVE” MAS with the secret share swap and CCF. But Amok is in a very powerful position as MD of MAS where he was able to call all the shots presumably in the appointment of PlaneConsult too. Amok’s crony sits in the powerful Joint Collaboration C0mmittee (JCC) with Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Datuk Kamarudin Meranun both from AirAsia and headed by none other than Datuk Azman Yahya,who is also the the newly appointed director of AirAsia. Yours truly is not sure whether Amok’s crony Rashdan also  sit on the Advisory Panelheaded by Tun Abdullah Hj Ahmad Badawi, which was specifically set up “To ensure that all parties in CCF operate in the INTERESTS of ALL PARTIESand reflect the aspiration of the customers.” Is this Advisory panel still awake check on the going-on in MAS?Yours truly hope so!

The state of affairs have changed in a big way, now that Amok’s crony, Rashdan, is a big man in MAS. He sits on many important committees in MAS. After a week when the said secret share swap was inked by Amok, Rashdan can’t wait to rush to London to sign an agreement to sponsor QPR Home jersey for RM18 million at the time when MAS was supposed to be BLEEDING. It was as though under the said secret share swap and CCF, MAS is “contractually” bound to spend the money to help QPR because Tan Sri Tony Fernandes of AirAsia personally owned 51% of QPR.

Who said MAS is bleeding? MAS is only BLEEDING when it comes to staff benefits, welfare and services to its customers.  

Let us now look at Md Nor’s “greatest achievement” as MD of MAS from 2001 to 2003. Of course, it had to be“WAU” and “WAU” only! Within two year of Md Nor’s tenure as MD he had done tremendous disservice to MAS!

“WAU” is a very familiar “bitter” word, yours truly believes that Md Nor, Amok and his crony, Rashdanwould like all Malaysians to forget for good because they all knew that WAU will be back to haunt them.

But now they have started a new chapter in MAS with the secret share swap and CCF.   

WAU was the pet project of BinaFikir Sdn Bhd and Md Nor.  At the material time, Amok and his crony, Rashdan, were founders of the infamous BinaFikir Sdn Bhd.  By now, Maybank Bhd must have regretted for buying it for RM8 million in 2008. Not a bad big transaction for Rashdan. A consultant just knows how to make money for himself. We had to learn from Amok’s crony, Rashdan. BinaFikir was in existence for only 6 years when it was sold to Maybank. It was worth RM1.3 million a year. WAU! BinaFikir must have added value that we didn’t know.      

Yours truly is very certain that Amok must have divested his interest in BinaFikir before he joined Khazanah as MD inJune 2006 and has no hand in the said sale of BinaFikir to Maybank Bhd.  

On 15-3-2012 yours truly ask the Minister of Finance during Questions Time in Parliament a specific question, how much did MAS pay consultant fees to BinaFikir SdnBhd for their great job known as WAU, where MAS was supposed to have been “SAVED” for good! Of course, there was no answer to this part of the question. Well let us see how long can MAS hide the total payment to BinaFikir Sdn Bhd,

WAU was also about selling of MAS assets. From the available records yours truly could not find the term “non-core assets” used by BinaFikir, when “WAU “was hatched. Why?  Under “WAU” BinaFikir used the term “an asset light airline”. It was a damn smart move!

The question is: How did Md Nor, Amok and his crony, Rashdan, make MAS into “an asset light airline”?  

It was very simple and yet Md Nor needed consultants to think for him. Even an idiot could have done it. Under“WAU”, MAS quietly sold 70% of MAS Catering Sdn Bhd to a company belongs to Datuk Hj Ibrahim bin Hj Ahmad Badawi, the 32 buildings known as MAS Kompplek in Sepang, which was built by MAS costing at least a few hundred of million RM in 1998, was sold in 2003 to Asset Global Network Sdn Bhd. Was this effort to save MAS or assets stripping? You all are the better judge than yours truly.

Thereafter, MAS signed a one sided agreement with MAS Catering Sdn Bhd for 25 years costing MAS few hundred millions RM yearly and a lease agreement with Asset Global Network Sdn Bhd for 57 years at current rental of RM75,049,774.79 per year with 5% increment every 5 years, by 2013 RM78,878,067.57 and by 2059 RM123,429,247.85!

Md Nor please come clean and tell us how many more of such one sided agreements MAS has entered into when you were the MD. Please make another statement in The Star.

With these two items alone MAS had to pay at least more than RM600 million yearly as fixed cost. This is what Md Nor’s greatest achievement as MD of MAS! All the hard works by the 17,000 MAS workers have been drained by these LEAKAGES. 

If MAS workers are bad as what the cronies are saying and that they have caused MAS to BLEED. Please look at their previous achievements:

2001 – 2006  “WORLD BEST CABIN CREW”

2001 – 2006  “BEST ECONOMY SERVICE”

2001 – 2006  “BEST FIRST CLASS SERVICE”

The workers are the pillars of MAS that made MAS to accumulate all the assets.  At one time, MAS owned Menara MAS, MAS Komplek, prime properties in London and Singapore to name a few. Now MAS has been stripped naked by the Panamera Deadwood! Even the MAS logo has been left. The cronies rapped the MAS logo with funeral colour – BLUE.  Now the cronies are treating them like slaves. Kicking them around as they like. Appointing consultants to belittle them. Giving the staff notice to sign up with new company called MAS Sdn Bhd by 16-4-2012 failing which they will be terminated with three month salaries as compensation. Is this how you treat your staff and hope they will be productive. These cronies must be thrown out of MAS as soon as possible before MAS is finished.

Let us all hope that Md Nor will issue another statement, of course, in The Star, to provide full details of the 25 years, 57 years agreements and other similar agreements under his pet project WAU. If he doesn’t clarify the above, yours truly will provide full details of the 57 years lease agreement for a start.

This was what Md Nor said on the “D” Day for MAS on 9-8-2011:

“The signing of the Collaboration Agreement heralds an exciting new era of cooperation whereby the airlines involved will stand to gain significantly by tapping the benefits of working together. We believe that the joint collaboration will help MAS focus on our strengths in our core markets and work towards deriving higher loads and more efficient resource utilization. We will also be able to offer services in engineering and other areas to both AirAsia and AirAsia X. Firefly’s resources would be refocused to launch a new regional full service airline operation.”

You and MAS staff are the best persons to judge whether what Md Nor has said has been reflected in MAS and by the appointment of the consultant PlaneConsult, who is also the consultant to AirAsia Bhd and AirAsia X Sdn Bhd. Plead read HERE.

Up to this date, the “identified individuals” as per the terms of the consultancy contract under “Working Method” so far  the “identification” exercises were restricted  from individual  AirAsia namely, En Rozman (CFO), Puan Nor Zalida Ahmad (Head Strategic Communication) and En Azhari Dhalan (Head of Engineering). It looks like an invasion by AirAsia staff into MAS. But to Md Nor and PlaneConsult, it was “tapping benefits” of working together between MAS and AirAsia!  Yours truly is sure that MAS staff must have been very appreciative of Md above statement and his latest statement in the Star.  

Don’t tell us that that out of the 18,000 employees PlaneConsult and/or MD Nor, AJ and Amok’s crony Rashdan cannot find three suitable loyal MAS employees to fill these posts!

Was this a case that Md Nor, AJ and Amok’s crony, Rashdan, had to “kow tow” to the Mat Salleh consultant PlaneConsult when MAS had to pay over RM2.5 million(651,000 Euro) in consultancy fees excluding salaries, taxes, duties and all expenses? Was this not a form of LEAKAGES at a time when MAS is BLEEDING?

Until this day, PlaneConsult and/or Md Nor, AJ and Amok’s crony, Rashdan, was still unable to identify individual in MAS that can fill the post of its Commercial Director. Yours thought that many ex-MAS employees have been employed in high office in other airlines like Korean Air and other.

Don’t tell us that good top management staff have left leaving only Panamera Deadwood that was the reaso Md Nor, Aj and Amok’s crony, Rahsdna, had no choice but to employed Mr Shane Nollan as its Acting Commercial Director? Or there is an hidden agenda in this appointment and other employment of AirAsia top management staff?

Yours truly is just curious to find out who is this Mat Salleh from PlaneConsult by the name of Mr Shane Nollan. From the available record he is an Irish man, a consultant in PlaneConsult and a friend of the chairman of PlaneConsult, Mr Conor McCarthy, who is a co-founder of AirAsia and also a director of AirAsia. Was it on this strength that he was picked to be ACTING Commercial Director with massive powers?

Wasn’t it strange that MAS had to employ a consultant to be its Acting Commercial Director? Why was it so? Was it a case of Mr Shane Nollan was given a “special task” to perform under the so-called CCF?

Of late, Md Nor has proven that he is a real BIG MAN and that he could take on the YAB PM in his latest press statement in the Star by screaming so loudly about the goodness of CCF for MAS and the CCF must go on when the YAB PM has said that he will revisit the secret share swap and CCF. Please read HERE.

Bearing in mind that MAS is BLEEDING and Md Nor’s new found bravery, yours truly call upon him to tell us all especially MAS staff, what is the monthly salary and other expenses of Mr Shane Nollan for acting and the details of the 25 years one sided agreement with MAS Catering Sdn Bhd now known as LSG Sky Chef Brahim’s Sdn bhd and 57 years lease agreement with Assets Global Network Sdn Bhd? 

If Md Nor chose to remain deaf and dumb over these questions, the 25 years one sided agreement and 57 lease agreement then Yours truly will be compelled to seek help from Parliament for the answers.

Please read two interesting articles by Rockybru, “MAS has arrived” and Another Brick In The Wall, “Media take side”.