Restoring the Joy of Air Travel in Malaysia

Dato Yong Soo Heong

NST 

Thursday December 12th 2024

Air travel in Malaysia once evoked excitement. Affordable fares and convenient schedules allowed Malaysians to explore the country and venture abroad to neighbouring countries with ease. Flying was more than a means of transport — it was part of the adventure.

Sadly, that golden era feels like a distant memory. Today, limited aircraft, a shortage of spare parts, and a lack of skilled maintenance personnel have left the aviation industry in turbulence. The result? Skyrocketing fares, frustrating delays, and disheartened passengers.

Take, for instance, the recent ordeal of a football team from Penang. Their journey to Kuching turned into a 21-hour nightmare, leaving the players physically and mentally drained — and costing them their match. Team manager Jeffrey Chew Gim Eam voiced his frustration:

"In 21 hours, one could have flown to London and watched a Liverpool match. Instead, we were stuck between Penang, Kuala Lumpur, and Kuching."

Legislating rent-seeking

In mid 2023, Prof Yeah Kim Leng, a member of ACFIN, was reported by The Star saying a rent seeking legislation is needed "to weed out economic corruption" in the hundreds of billions of ringgit lost to the shadow economy.

Rafizi Ramli reiterated the same message in Februrary 2024 with the announcement that a law to restrict rent-seeking activities could be brought to Parliament by the end of this year.

In Edge Weekly's December 2nd to 8th 2024 issue, Tong Kooi Ong delve on the question of rent-seeking in his column, "Is rent-seeking' corruption? And unorthodox suggestion to fight corruption". 

Perhaps, it is indicative that rent-seeking legislature is coming soon to a political theater near you.  

Did Mahathir committed treason out of spite against Najib?

The claim that Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad committed treason in relation to the Pulau Batu Puteh (Pedra Branca) issue is a highly charged political allegation. It is oftenly used partisan narratives in Malaysia's political landscape. 

Pulau Batu Puteh is a small island situated at the eastern entrance of the Straits of Tebrau. In 2008, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the island belonged to Singapore, while two nearby maritime features (Middle Rocks and South Ledge) had differing sovereignty allocations. 

Malaysia's case was argued under the administration of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. In 2017, during Najib Razak's administration, Malaysia sought a review of the ICJ decision based on new evidence. 

Upon returning to power, Mahathir withdrew the application for review in 2018 without even attempting and looking at the work done by former Attorney General Tan Sri Apandi Ali. Mahathir claimed the legal advice was that the case had little chance of success. 

He argued pursuing the case further would have been futile and risked damaging Malaysia's credibility. 

The fallacy of Democrasy, and Freedom of Speech

There is a quote:

Freedom of speech is a human right and the foundation upon which democrasy is built. Any restriction of freedom of speech is a restriction on democrasy.

Deeyah Khan

Its a profound quote from an activist and believer in the democratic ideals for freedom of speech and human right. Nothing wrong with the statement and in fact, it is not disputable. 

However, such narratives expressed overzealously could fall flat in the face later. Without having to touched on the hypocrasy of the loudest propagator of such narrative; namely the United States, there are local examples recently.

One is the Minister of Communcations from PKR, Fahmi Fadzil for abusing freedom of speech in Parliament last week to divert attention and adding on with more slanderous remarks. 

Another is a humourous hypocrasy from DAP's Malay Professor, Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi.