KENYATAAN MEDIA
DS Najib Perlu Perjelas Di Parlimen Tentang CEO-CEO Malaysia Airlines Berhenti
Pengumuman semalam bahawa Peter Bellew, CEO Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) bakal meninggalkan syarikat penerbangan itu cukup memeranjatkan, lebih-lebih lagi kerana kenyataan dibuat bekas majikan beliau, RyanAir Holdings PLC, di Bursa Saham London semalam. Apa yang lebih memeranjatkan ialah pada 27 September lalu, Bellew dilaporkan gembira untuk terus berada di Malaysia dan usaha mengembalikan kegemilangan MAB adalah ‘kejayaan terbesar hidup saya’.
Berhentinya Bellew mewujudkan persepsi bahawa Pelan Pemulihan MAS bernilai RM6 bilion yang diumum Khazanah Nasional pada 2014 mungkin terkesan secara negatif, kerana Bellew merupakan CEO ketiga yang meninggalkan MAB dalam masa dua tahun. Sama ada wujudnya keadaan ‘pengurusan mikro’ (micro-management) atau ada sesuatu yang cukup tidak kena dengan semangat Pelan Pemulihan MAS sehingga MAB gagal mengekalkan CEO-CEOnya.
Tanda-tanda perbalahan pendapat di antara Bellew dan pemegang saham MAB kelihatan jelas dalam respon CEO tersebut kepada pengumuman Perdana Menteri Dato’ Sri Najib Razak di White House bahawa MAB akan membeli kapal terbang Boeing berjumlah USD10 bilioin dalam masa 5 tahun.
Namun usaha DS Najib untuk “membantu ekonomi Amerika” mungkin menjadi penyebab Bellew memilih untuk meninggalkan MAB. Seminggu selepas pengumuman DS Najib itu, media melaporkan Bellew sebagai berkata kapal terbang-kapal terbang itu tidak akan dimiliki MAB tetapi akan disewa, “yang merupakan norma mana-mana syarikat penerbangan moden”. Ini bercanggah dengan pengumuman DS Najib.
Perbezaan yang cukup jelas ini sudah pasti mengakibatkan pendirian Bellew tidak disenangi sesetengah pihak. Apakah perbezaan ini juga telah mengakibatkan sekutu rapat DS Najib, Habibul Rahman Kadir Shah, dilantik sebagai pengarah bukan eksekutif MAB, sebagai satu cara memastikan kenyataan-kenyataan Bellew dapat ‘dikawal’?
Memandangkan kepimpinan MAB kini dalam krisis sedang Pelan Pemulihan diteruskan, dan oleh sebab berbillion ringgit yang dilabur Khazanah ke dalam MAB adalah wang rakyat, maka Dato’ Sri Najib selaku Perdana Menteri merangkap Pengerusi Khazanah Nasional perlu memberi penjelasan kepada Parlimen tentang apa sebenarnya yang sedang berlaku dalam MAB, mengapa begitu ramai CEO telah bertukar ganti dalam masa yang cukup singkat, dan apa langkah-langkah yang akan diambil syarikat penerbangan tersebut untuk memastikan ia akan pulih sepenuhnya menjelang 2019.
Fahmi Fadzil
Pengarah Komunikasi KEADILAN
18 Oktober 2017
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MEDIA STATEMENT
PM Najib Must Explain to Parliament Malaysia Airlines CEOs Departures
The announcement yesterday that Peter Bellew, Malaysia Airlines CEO, was departing Malaysia’s flagship airline comes as a major shock, especially since it was made by his former employer, RyanAir Holdings PLC, in a statement to the London Stock Exchange yesterday. What is more shocking is that as late as 27 September, Bellew said he was reportedly happy to be in Malaysia and that the turnaround of Malaysia Airlines would be the ‘greatest achievement of my life’.
This departure creates the perception that the RM6 billion, 12-point MAS Recovery Plan announced by Khazanah in 2014 may be adversely affected, especially since Bellew is the third CEO to leave Malaysia Airlines within two years. Either there is too much micro-management by shareholders or something is severely missing in the spirit of the Recovery Plan such that Malaysia Airlines is unable to retain its CEOs.
Indications of a rift between Bellew and shareholders was most clearly seen in the CEO’s response to the announcement by Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Razak at the White House that Malaysia Airlines itself was to buy Boeing planes worth up to USD10 billion over 5 years.
Yet PM Najib’s “value proposition” to “help the American economy” might have been the straw that broke Bellew’s back. Just a week later, media reports quoted Bellew as saying the planes would not be owned by Malaysia Airlines but rather be leased, “which is a norm in modern airlines”. This appears to contradict what PM Najib had announced.
Such a stark difference of direction would no doubt have set Bellew on a crash course with the powers-that-be. But could this difference have also led to the appointment of PM Najib’s close associate Habibul Rahman Kadir Shah as a non-executive director of Malaysia Airlines, as a way of keeping Bellew “on-message”?
Seeing as how the Malaysia Airlines leadership is in crisis halfway through the 5-year Recover Plan, and as the billions invested by Khazanah into the national airline is money that ultimately belongs to the Malaysian people, Dato’ Sri Najib Razak as Prime Minister and Khazanah chairman must explain to Parliament what is going on in Malaysia Airlines, why so many of its CEOs have departed in such haste, and what course the airline plans to take to ensure it is on-track for full recovery come 2019.
Fahmi Fadzil
KEADILAN Communications Director
18 October 2017