Tony's blatancy, Star's stupidity!

PART-1

A cheap airline issuing OFFICIAL WARNING letter to airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad ? 

Well The Star report above (which appeared on page22 of the print version) says just that. We all know the cheap airlines' CEO Tony Fernandes has been on a collision course with the airport operator for quite sometime now.

Tony Fernandes' rants and tirade has known no bounds and his primary target has been MAHB, the cash-cow GLC under Khazanah Nasional, and MAHB managing director Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad.

Bashir is one of the few remaining 'aviation industry experts' whom some Johnny-come-lately can't fool. (There is a conspiracy to replace him with Syed Faisal from Pos Malaysia though) 

For a person who sits as a board member in another GLC, by virtue of the hush hush share swap (which is under multi-party investigations now), Tony's open attacks against MAHB and Bashir is uncalled for.

The Khazanah's new found darling has been bitching quite a bit here and there, but the most damning part is his unrelenting  attacks against a few Government decisions i.e. the slight increase in airport tax (the 1st in 19 years) and the decision to build KLIA2.

What surprises many is Tony Fernandes' blatancy. The blatancy of his attacks on MAHB and the government is simply perplexing, and he seems to be doing it with impunity. ... as though Khazanah's boss Azman Mokhtar and his sidekick Danny have awarded Tony the 'license to kill" Bashir and install another friendly or obedient MD.

Tony Fernandes (or AirAsia)'s latest blatant action was to put up "Say No to Airport Tax Increase" posters at the MAHB-owned Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang. AirAsia staff have also been order to stick (stickers with similar anti-Govt policy stickers) up their ... mmm  uniform and similar stickers were also put on passenger's boarding passes.

This latest antic is clearly an act of defiance against the Government approved decision to a minimal increase of airport taxes (still one of the lowest in the region if not the world).

... and when MAHB decided to stop such public display of anti-Government sentiments in premises which they own, the CHEAP airlines' started behaving as expected ...CHEAP.

Below is the full report 

The Star Online > Nation

Friday December 2, 2011

AirAsia: Stop harassing our staff

By WONG PEK MEI 
pekmei@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia has issued an official warning letter to Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad (MAHB) for allegedly harassing its staff.

The company’s commercial director Jasmine Lee claimed MAHB had told airline staff to remove the “Say No to Airport Tax Increase” stickers on their uniform. She claimed that the airport operator also removed posters at their sales counters at LCCT.

“They even went to the check-in counters and told our staff not to wear the stickers and to stop sticking them on passengers’ boarding passes.

“We have sent an official warning letter to request that MAHB’s officers stop unlawfully obstructing our staff from doing their jobs,” she said, adding that the incident occurred from around 10am until lunchtime yesterday.

AirAsia is protesting against the decision by MAHB to increase the airport tax by RM7 and RM14 at five airports nationwide which took effect yesterday.

The airports are Langkawi International Airport, Penang International Airport, Kuching International Airport, Terminal 2, Kota Kinabalu International Air­port and the low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) at KLIA.

Lee also alleged that MAHB confiscated security tags from some staff working in restricted areas.

“This incident will not deter us. We will continue to wear the stickers tomorrow and will put back the posters,” she said.

AirAsia CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes later tweeted: “Malay­sian airport staff tearing down our posters and taking away airport passes of our staff. And using intimidation. Can someone tell them this is Malaysia and not a police state.”

MAHB senior general manager for operations Datuk Azmi Murad, who was present during the incident, denied any harassment or intimidation took place but admitted they removed the posters.

“They were putting the posters in public areas and we took them down. Imagine if anyone could just walk in and start putting posters everywhere,” he said.

AirAsia has taken a full-page advertisement in The Star, urging the public to call MAHB and give their opinion on the increase in airport tax.

“AirAsia views this increase as not justified as the current airport facilities are not up to par,” said the advertisement. - end.

PART 2

Morale of the story from Part 1 is that if you pay the right amount of money, even a reputable newspaper like The Star would be singing your song and dancing to your tune. 


Just pay for a full-page advertisement in The Star if you suddenly wake up in the morning and feel like instigating the people against the Government. The Star will most likely do it for you. Just PAY THEM. 

Well, if The Star (on Page44 today) could publish a 'message' that brands national leaders and Umno delegates as blood sucking leeches, could we expect them to be fair to a GLC that was implementing a Government decision?

p/s Maybe Tan Sri Bashir should consider FULL PAGE ADVERTISEMENTS ... not in The Star though!