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Malaysia Airlines struggling with press

Grant Bradley
The New Zealand Herald
Mar 12, 2014

Malaysia Airlines faces an uphill public relations battle as it struggles to get on the front foot after the disappearance of MH370.

The airline’s response to the loss of its aircraft in the first three days was described as a mess, partly because of inexperience in dealing with Western journalists, said veteran aviation industry commentator Geoffrey Thomas.

Furious relatives among the 227 passengers reportedly complained they had been “treated worse than dogs”, at one point storming out of a hotel room where they had been taken in Beijing and starting a petition to demand more information.
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Media briefings by Malaysia Airlines had initially been fleeting, with spokesmen not taking questions.

Thomas, the editor-in-chief of AirlineRatings.com, said the lack of international experience among Malaysia Airlines’ public relations was a problem. “Their PR department has been missing in action. It’s when something like this happens you really need them,” he said.

The airline’s representatives were accustomed to dealing with a more compliant local media, not journalists from around the world who were more demanding. Continue reading “Malaysia Airlines struggling with press”

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Legal limbo hampers probe into missing MAS jet

Siva Govindasamy, Alwyn Scott and Tim Hepher, Reuters
Malaysiakini
Mar 11, 2014

Investigators trying to solve the disappearance without trace of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner face an extremely rare challenge that could hinder their efforts: they lack the powers of a formal air safety investigation.

Four days after Flight MH370 went missing in mid-air with 239 people on board, no nation has stepped forward to initiate and lead an official probe, leaving a formal leadership vacuum that industry experts say appears unprecedented.

Malaysian officials are conducting their own informal investigations, in cooperation with other governments and foreign agencies, but they lack the legal powers that would come with a formal international probe under UN-sanctioned rules.

Those powers include the legal rights to take testimony from all witnesses and other parties, the right to have exclusive control over the release of information and the ability to centralise a vast amount of fragmentary evidence.

A senior official familiar with the preliminary Malaysian probe said Malaysian authorities could not yet convene a formal investigation due to a lack of evidence on where – namely, in which national jurisdiction – the Boeing 777-200ER jet crashed.

He said this was not hampering their work, that preliminary investigations had begun and that they were working with their neighbours, US officials and the jet’s maker Boeing. Continue reading “Legal limbo hampers probe into missing MAS jet”

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As leads fail to pan out, search for MH370 stretches from Sumatra to Hong Kong

The Malaysian Insider
March 11, 2014

Searchers are scouring more than 500,000 square nautical miles from the shores of Sumatra to Hong Kong to look for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 today as lead after lead failed to pan out over the past three days since the passenger jet vanished.

The flotilla of naval ships and some three dozen aircraft will comb both sea and the jungle-clad Malaysian-Thai border for the lost Boeing 777-200ER jet with 239 people onboard.

One thing the search and rescue team know is that the twin-engine aircraft is not in the air as it had only 7½ hours of fuel left when it vanished 40 minutes into the six-hour flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Saturday.

The teams trying to find the passenger jet, which has a 61m wingspan, will scour data for radar signatures while seeking to detect pinging from black boxes as the search for visible wreckage proves elusive, Bloomberg reported last night.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) and Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) said yesterday that none of the debris found were linked to the plane while an oil slick close the flight path proved to be bunker fuel, not jet fuel.

American experts said the first 72 hours was crucial for anyone to survive a plane crash but authorities are hopeful as nothing has turned up to suggest MH370 has met a watery end. Continue reading “As leads fail to pan out, search for MH370 stretches from Sumatra to Hong Kong”

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Former NST editor laments ‘lax’ security at KLIA, blaming ‘third world mentality’

The Malaysian Insider
March 10, 2014

Has Malaysia paid a high price with its Third World standards and attitude towards security and asset management issues, was the question posed by a veteran newsman when commenting on the missing Malaysia Airlines Beijing-bound flight MH370.

Former New Straits Times editor-in-chief Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said that while waiting for news on the missing MH370, it cannot be denied that the control and security checks at Malaysian airports, including the Kuala Lumpur International Airport can be said to be “relaxed” compared with those in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.

He noted that even the mammoth Dubai airport had tighter control and security checks.

“Have we paid a high price for the attitude and third-world mentality towards security and asset management?

“Is this the repercussion for the corruption, abuse of power and negligence which have reportedly happened repeatedly in KLIA?” he asked in his latest blog posting, adding his voice to the growing criticism over poor airport security at the country’s main gateway. Continue reading “Former NST editor laments ‘lax’ security at KLIA, blaming ‘third world mentality’”

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A nation responds to loss of MH370

by Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
March 10, 2014

COMMENT The loss of MH370 will be a defining moment in the country’s history. While attention rightly focuses on comforting families, finding the plane and what has caused this tragedy, the event has shown the depth of caring among Malaysians.

Across faiths, ethnic groups and borders, Malaysians have reached out to each other and to friends. Pride has been put aside in accepting international help and social media on the whole has shared more messages of hope than division. In the shared sadness of loss, the tragedy had revealed and reinforced a strong sense of community.

The image of an interfaith prayer led by former PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was perhaps the most powerful moment over the weekend, as it reflected what had been happening in society itself as Malaysians from all walks of life reached across their differences for those affected by the missing plane. It did not matter what word was being used, as the sentiment was the same.

Crises like these reveal character. They tell us who can handle pressure, test leaders and what are the real priorities. The character that was revealed is a society that cares for each other.

Despite all of the anger and stupidity surrounding recent events – from red paint throwing to unjust legal decisions – the ties among Malaysians are strong and resilient.

The silent majority of people who go about their lives, take planes, go on vacation and work, came out this weekend in the phone calls made to each other, recollections of classmates and on Facebook. This same silent majority is the one who is fed up with politicians abusing power and attacking each other, and wants more emphasis on solving the country’s problems and more dignity in political engagement.

They put Malaysia, its citizens and visitors first. If anything, this is a silver lining of the tragedy. Continue reading “A nation responds to loss of MH370”

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Caucasian Names … Asian Faces … No, They’re Blacks! What’s Going On?

by Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo! News
11.3.2014

The Government is being hit by criticism again, and this time not just from Malaysians but foreigners as well.

Its handling of the case of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane MH370 bound for China from Kuala Lumpur is appalling. Instead of answering questions, it is provoking people to ask even more. Is it being cagey to cover up its own embarrassment for carelessly allowing the two men using stolen passports to board the plane? Or perhaps even more?

At a press conference held last Sunday, a New York Times reporter asked the Director-General of the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, what the Malaysian authorities saw on a CCTV recording of the two impostors and the D-G replied he couldn’t disclose this because of “security reasons”. Was it really just that?

As it turned out, we were told the next day that although the stolen passports carried Italian and Austrian names, the impostors looked Asian!

It even prompted Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to hit out at immigration officers in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) for what appears a stupid blunder. “I am still puzzled how come (immigration officers) cannot think, an Italian and Austrian (passengers) but with Asian facial features,” he reportedly said.

Frankly, I was surprised he said that because it only made his own side, i.e. the Government, look awful. Continue reading “Caucasian Names … Asian Faces … No, They’re Blacks! What’s Going On?”

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Timeline: The search for MH370

Malaysiakini/Reuters
Mar 10, 2014

Here is a timeline of events in the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner which vanished from radar screens on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing early on Saturday:

Saturday, March 8

– Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Flight departs at 12.21am (1421 GMT Friday), and is due to land in Beijing at 6.30am (2230 GMT) the same day. On board the Boeing 777-200ER are 227 passengers and 12 crew.

– Airline loses contact with plane between 1-2 hours after takeoff. No distress signal and weather is clear at the time.

– Missing plane last has contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu.

– Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam says plane failed to check in as scheduled at 1721 GMT while flying over sea between Malaysia and Ho Chi Minh City.

– Flight tracking website flightaware.com shows plane flew northeast over Malaysia after takeoff and climbed to altitude of 35,000 feet. The flight vanished from website’s tracking records a minute later while still climbing. Continue reading “Timeline: The search for MH370”

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Woke up with heavy heart like majority of Malaysians as MH370 tragedy enters third day with nothing to go on about the mysterious disappearance of the aircraft and 239 persons on board

I woke up this morning with a heavy heart like the majority of Malaysians with the news that over 50 hours have passed since MH370 was reported lost from radar and there is nothing to go on as to what happened to the 239 passengers and crew of the Boeing B777-200 aircraft on its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

There has been no confirmed signs of wreckage or debris, no distress signal from the aircraft before it lost contact with ground control, and no clear indication that the plane had experienced any technical failure in mid-air.

Hopes of Malaysians and people around the world who prayed for the safety and a miracle to ensure that the 239 people on board MH370 could survive their mysterious disappearance have become more and more tenuous.

This has brought home the stark reality that something terrible had in fact happened to the aircraft and the 239 passengers and crew although the international search and rescue (SAR) operation for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane with 239 on board has intensified. Continue reading “Woke up with heavy heart like majority of Malaysians as MH370 tragedy enters third day with nothing to go on about the mysterious disappearance of the aircraft and 239 persons on board”

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MH370’s disappearance exposes global air safety flaws, says paper

The Malaysian Insider
MARCH 10, 2014

The mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 over a busy part of Southeast Asia has exposed flaws in global air safety, from usage of stolen passports and outdated black box technology, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported today.

It said that as a search for clues to the fate of the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft resumed in the waters off Vietnam, air safety and anti-terror authorities on two continents appeared equally stumped about what direction the probe should take.

The passenger jet was cruising over the Gulf of Thailand with 239 people on board when it suddenly dropped off air traffic radar screens, less than an hour after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur, early Saturday morning. None of the Beijing-bound plane’s transmitters appeared to signal distress before shutting down.

In a massive international investigation, no early theory has emerged about what transpired on the airplane, which was traveling in good weather at cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. The known sequence of events includes elements that seem different from anything in the annals of recent jetliner accidents, the business daily said.

“For now, it seems simply inexplicable,” said Paul Hayes, director of safety and insurance at Ascend Worldwide, a British advisory and aviation data firm. Continue reading “MH370’s disappearance exposes global air safety flaws, says paper”

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As search expands, MH370’s disappearance remains puzzling

The Malaysian Insider
MARCH 10, 2014

It was a clear night and the weather was good. Oil rigs and fishing boats blinked lights like a string of pearls across the shallow Malay Basin northeast of Kota Baru. And Flight MH370 flying above in the night sky disappeared.

For a third day in a row, more ships and aircraft are searching for the missing Boeing 777-200ER which was carrying 239 people when it lost contact with air traffic controllers at 1.30am Saturday.

No one has reported a mid-air explosion and US authorities have also discounted that from data obtained from satellites and radars in the area, which is one of the busiest parts of the South China Sea.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that for many, the mystery over the disappearance of Flight MH370 is deepened by its occurrence in what is quickly becoming one of the world’s most militarised zones, with hundreds of millions of dollars being expended to detect fighter jets, missiles, submarines and other threats. Continue reading “As search expands, MH370’s disappearance remains puzzling”

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Where in the world is flight MH370 and other questions

The Malaysian Insider
March 10, 2014

An extensive air and sea search resumed for the third day this morning for Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, as more questions arose over its last known location and the identity of some of its passengers on board the Boeing 777-200ER that vanished early Saturday morning.

Vietnamese authorities found fragments believed to be the composite inner door and tail section of the 11-year-old passenger jet, 50 miles south-southwest of Tho Chu island.

Malaysian authorities also found oil slicks some 20 nautical miles from MH370’s last known position when it disappeared from radar screens without even a distress call or signal.

Officials investigating the disappearance of flight MH370 with 239 people on board are narrowing the focus of their inquiries on the possibility that it disintegrated in mid-flight.

The MAS jet vanished after climbing to a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing in the early hours of Saturday, but search teams have not been able to make any confirmed discovery of wreckage in seas beneath the plane’s flight path almost 48 hours after it took off.

“The fact that we are unable to find any debris so far appears to indicate that the aircraft is likely to have disintegrated at around 35,000 feet,” said the official, who is involved in the investigations in Malaysia. Continue reading “Where in the world is flight MH370 and other questions”

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MH370 pilot an aviation tech geek, spends off days on flight simulator at home

The Malaysian Insider
March 10, 2014

The pilot of a Malaysia Airlines jet that went missing on Saturday enjoyed flying the Boeing 777 so much that he spent his off days tinkering with a flight simulator of the plane that he had set up at home, current and former co-workers said.

Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, captain of the airliner carrying 239 people bound for Beijing from the Malaysian capital, had always wanted to become a pilot and joined the national carrier in 1981.

Airline staff who worked with the pilot said Zaharie knew the ins and outs of the Boeing 777 extremely well, as he was always practicing with the simulator. They declined to be identified due to company policy.

“He was an aviation tech geek. You could ask him anything and he would help you. That is the kind of guy he is,” said a Malaysia Airlines co-pilot who had flown with Zaharie in the past.

Zaharie set up the Boeing 777 simulator at his home in a suburb on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital where many airline staff stay as it provides quick access to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Pictures posted by Zaharie on his Facebook page show a simulator with three computer monitors, a tangle of wires and several panels. Continue reading “MH370 pilot an aviation tech geek, spends off days on flight simulator at home”

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Conspiracy theories abound as search for MH370 enters third day

by Clara Chooi
The Malay Mail Online
March 10, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — Over 50 hours have passed since MH370 was reported lost from radar and still, there is little to go on.

Intensive, round-the-clock efforts by an army of rescue workers from at least seven countries, manning as many as 72 vessels by air and by sea have failed to turn up a single indication that the Boeing B777-200 aircraft carrying a staggering 239 people had crashed.

There has been no confirmed signs of wreckage or debris, no distress signal from the aircraft before it lost contact with ground control, and no clear indication that the plane had experienced any technical failure in mid-air.

During take-off at 12.41am on Saturday, weather conditions appeared normal.

The aircraft, described as one of the “safest”, was said to be equipped with the ASD-B flight transponder, which transmits data on its altitude, speed and direction back to air traffic controllers every second.

It also has the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT), which can be manually activated by the pilot or should transmit information on the aircraft’s location in the event of a crash.

As such, if the plane was experiencing problems in mid-flight, it should have been able to transmit a distress signal back to ground control. The fact that this did not happen has led to speculation on the behaviour of the aircraft at the time it went missing. Continue reading “Conspiracy theories abound as search for MH370 enters third day”

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Malaysia in 2030

Liew Chin Tong
The Malaysian Insider
October 16, 2013

In discussing the issues we face in 2013, it will be instructive for us to find new perspective by looking beyond the horizon to consider the possibilities that 2030 holds.

Both Tun Abdullah Badawi who was Prime Minister from October 2003 till April 2009 and Dato’ Seri Najib Razak who took over from him since then have missed the boat to reform Malaysia. Likewise, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Vision 2020 is just a distant dream, a castle in the sky.

Post-13th General Election, discussions about Malaysia’s future is no longer depending on Barisan Nasional. The government-in-waiting Pakatan Rakyat and the rakyat (people) need a broader horizon as a reference for this kind of conversation. Continue reading “Malaysia in 2030”

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Why MAS Share Is On Cheap Sale?

by Koon Yew Yin
16th Aug 2013

As a long term serious investor, I have a closer look at the cheap share price of MAS. Why is it selling at 33 sen. about one third of its par value?

Many market analysts have already covered MAS and Idris Jallal has said that the company should be sold off as soon as possible. My intention of writing this piece is to help the BN Government decide to put in the final nail to bury MAS to save tax payers’ money. Obviously the Government did not see my previous article “Why MAS Is Still Flying” which I published about a year ago. It is important and worthwhile to include some of the points I mentioned earlier in my previous article.

The latest 1st quarter 2013 ending March shows that MAS lost Rm 279 million. In 2012, 2011 and 2010 the company lost Rm 433 million, Rm 2.424 billion and Rm 234 million respectively.

As usual, there are the incorrigibly optimistic cheerleaders for the airline who are unable to see the writing on the wall. These ‘experts’ are still touting that the company is in recovery mode and will soon be returning to profitability.

The market however sees the prospects for the airline differently. During the past few days the airline share has been trading around 35 sen level. This is about the lowest share price that the airline share has recorded during the past many years. Without the support of government-linked funds and left to market forces alone, it is possible that the share price of MAS will drop even more. Continue reading “Why MAS Share Is On Cheap Sale?”

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Was the Belaga boat disaster on the agenda of the Federal Cabinet yesterday and did the Cabinet take any decision to rectify the 50-year failure in equitable development in Sarawak by ensuring road access to Kapit and Belaga?

The questions that should be uppermost in the minds of Malaysians when the Dayaks celebrate Dayak Gawai is whether the Belaga boat disaster on Tuesday, with 179 survivors while 11 others are still missing, was on the agenda of the Federal Cabinet yesterday.

The second question is whether and what did the Cabinet decide to rectify the 50-year failure in equitable development in Sarawak by ensuring road access to Kapit and Belaga.

If the answers are negative to one or both, the third question is what difference has the appointment of seven full ministers and four deputy ministers from Sarawak to the Federal Cabinet made to the thrust of national socio-economic and infrastructure development so as deliver belated socio-economic justice to the rural populace in Sarawak?

In fact, if the tragic Belaga boast disaster had happened before May 5 – the polling day of the 13th general election – either the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister would have visited Belaga with 24 hours to personally convey the condolences of the Federal Government, as compared to the indifference shown by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, who have not said a single word on the Belaga boat disaster in the past two days.

It is heart-wrenching that despite the express boat tragedy in the middle of the Balui River which is feared to have claimed 11 lives, the Kapit jetty yesterday was as crowded as ever with people desperate to go home for the Dayak Gawai harvest festival this weekend.
Continue reading “Was the Belaga boat disaster on the agenda of the Federal Cabinet yesterday and did the Cabinet take any decision to rectify the 50-year failure in equitable development in Sarawak by ensuring road access to Kapit and Belaga?”

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Wrong to bulldoze the AES

— The Malaysian Insider
December 10, 2012

DEC 10 — The Automated Enforcement System (AES) is supposed to help cut down the number of accidents and road fatalities by making motorists slow down for fear of being caught and having to pay punitive fines.

Everyone gets that bit. Especially when there are enough reports of corrupt policemen or enforcement officials out there. Which leads to continuing mayhem and a loss of revenue for the government.

But that isn’t the reason to bulldoze the AES as the answer to ensuring laws are observed and those captured on film pay their fines and hopefully not continue speeding in the future.

The reasons are simple. Till today, the government can’t explain why the service has been privatised. Continue reading “Wrong to bulldoze the AES”

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Getting to the Bottom of the Automatic Enrichment Scandal (AES)

By Koon Yew Yin

Slowly but surely, the ugly side of the AES is emerging and revealing itself to be yet another scam of the Barisan regime. This one aimed at enrichment of a small group has been cleverly camouflaged in the name of public interest.

Fortunately, this time around the scope for undeserved enrichment is so overwhelming and the disregard for prudent principles of transparency and accountability so obvious that even some UMNO leaders are protesting. These late protestors from Barisan are way behind the curve on the issue and are jumping on the bandwagon of opposition political and public protest to prevent damage to their own election prospects but it is an indicator of how unacceptable the current AES proposal is. Continue reading “Getting to the Bottom of the Automatic Enrichment Scandal (AES)”

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Resistance grows within BN against AES profits

By Leslie Lau and Md Izwan
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 06, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 — A whopping 2.72 million speeding tickets will have to be issued in each of the next five years for the two concession holders of the controversial Automatic Enforcement System (AES) cameras to just recoup their reported RM700 million investments.

And considering the authorities had only collected an average of about 25 per cent of all traffic summonses a year — which increased to 65 per cent only after a general discount was offered last year — the two companies will have to issue far more summonses to account for the poor collection.

Such calculations have led to apprehension on the part of a growing number of Barisan Nasional (BN) politicians who are concerned about the profit motive that is built into the concession agreements.

“The privatisation of the AES could be seen as attempting to make profits because some (cameras) are placed in inappropriate places,” Umno’s Seri Gading MP Datuk Mohamad Aziz told The Malaysian Insider.

The two firms awarded the contract to implement the enforcement system — ATES Sdn Bhd and Beta Tegap — will spend between RM300 million and RM400 million each to set up traffic cameras at 831 “black spots” nationwide.

Both ATES and Beta Tegap are entitled to RM16 per valid summons for the first five million issued. They will then split the remaining revenue evenly with the government up to a cap of RM270 million each.

The firms will each receive 7.5 per cent from the remaining revenue and the government will keep the rest. Continue reading “Resistance grows within BN against AES profits”

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Kong Cho Ha would have no choice but to resign as Transport Minister if there is a majority of at least 112 out of 222 MPs supporting the suspension of AES

In the past 24 hours, two UMNO MPs have broken ranks and swung their support for Pakatan Rakyat’s call for the immediate suspension of the Automatic Enforcement System (AEA) for traffic offences, pending full study of various public interest issues related to its implementation.

The first to do so is the UMNO Youth leader and MP for Rembau Khairy Jamaluddin who, after a meeting of the UMNO Youth executive council yesterday, called for the government to defer the implementation of AES as a review of the system was necessary to rectify weaknesses in it.

Today, a UMNO MP for Sabah, Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin, who is also Deputy Chairman of Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BNBBC) also crossed the political divide to back the PR call for suspension of AES.

The Pakatan Rakyat state governments of Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan have already suspended approval for the implementation of the AES until conclusion of full study and a proper consultation process with all the relevant stakeholders.

The question now is whether there is any MCA MP, Deputy Minister or Minister who dare to break ranks to call for immediate suspension of AES to produce the first fruit of MCA’s two-year-old “high profile politics” or whether all the boasts of “high profile politics” are just bunkum. Continue reading “Kong Cho Ha would have no choice but to resign as Transport Minister if there is a majority of at least 112 out of 222 MPs supporting the suspension of AES”