Mavcom hits turbulence with three seats empty

 

Three vacancies on the Mavcom board have not been filled by the transport ministry.

PETALING JAYA: Questions have been raised over the transport ministry’s failure to appoint new commissioners to the Malaysia Aviation Commission (Mavcom) for the past few months.

According to an aviation source, Mavcom has not been able to carry out its duties properly due to the transport ministry’s delay in appointing new commissioners.

“Mavcom’s commissioners have not been able to hold meetings due to a lack of quorum for the last two months,” the source told FMT.

According to the Mavcom Act, the quorum for a meeting must consist of at least five commissioners, one of which has to be the commission’s executive chairman.

The source said currently, only three commissioners were left, comprising executive chairman Saripuddin Kasim, transport ministry secretary-general Isham Ishak, and director-general of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) Saiful Anuar Lebai Hussen.

The three-year tenures of commissioners Mah Weng Kwai, Long See Wool and Fauziah Yaacob had ended at the end of February. They were all appointed on March 1, 2019.

“There have not been any reappointments or new appointments,” said the source.

The duty to appoint or reappoint Mavcom’s commissioners lies with the minister of transport after consultation with the prime minister, as stated in the Mavcom Act.

The source said the failure of the transport ministry to appoint commissioners meant that Mavcom could not deliberate on matters important for commercial aviation, such as the approval and renewals of licences for airlines, bag handlers and fuel providers.

An affected industry player said he fears he will need to wait a longer time to obtain the requisite licence for his business.

“We expect a further delay as normally, we are told not to contact them for 90 days after submitting our applications,” said the senior pilot who operates air services.

“As far as I can recall, this has never happened before,” he said, adding that the board of commissioners would usually sit once a month or so.

FMT has reached out to Mavcom and transport minister Wee Ka Siong for comment. - FMT