Joe Fernandez
Sabahans from all walks of life appear to be behind Tony Fernandes and AirAsia in his current stand-off with the authorities over shifting to Terminal 1 in Kota Kinabalu from his current location at the no-frills Terminal 2.
The move, among others, entails a higher passenger service charge of RM51 for the airline compared with the present RM25.
They suspect that “their Tony” is coming under pressure from the powers-that-be to take some of the lustre off his runaway success with AirAsia, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak.
They don't want to go back to the "bad old days" when they were held to ransom by Malaysia Airlines.
The business community is particularly concerned over the increasing pressure reportedly being brought to bear on AirAsia in Kota Kinabalu, Sibu and Sydney, to name a few destinations.
A senior member of the business community in Kota Kinabalu summed up the fears and hopes of Sabahans when he opined that "we should be able to continue enjoying flying with AirAsia at an affordable price to Peninsular Malaysia and elsewhere".
He, like others, was commenting on a media statement earlier this week from the United Borneo Front, an NGO, supporting AirAsia's refusal to move from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1.
Another businessman hopes that Fernandes was misquoted when he jokingly told the local media - "I will chain myself (to the railings at Terminal 2) and the FRU (Federal Reserve Unit will have to take us" – and created uproar at the Malaysian Airports Berhad (MAB) which owns both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.
"I hope that he was misquoted. Anger is a condition in which the tongue works faster than the mind," said the businessman who remains incognito.
Like his peers, this businessman can "feel his (Fernandes') rage". "I don't blame him. He's convinced by his cause," said the businessman. "Tony is a professional businessman and internationally-renowned for his budget airline."
The businessman is convinced that the AirAsia chief knows what he's talking about. Otherwise, AirAsia won't have leap-frogged its rivals into a leading position, he added. "Maybe his blunt and candid style is both his strength and drawback."
'Sheer blackmail'
A third businessman questions the logic of spending RM250 million on Terminal 2 only to virtually force AirAsia out to make way for a cargo terminal, which will be killed by the National Cabotage Policy (NCP).
"What a waste of money?" he asked. "If we had known this earlier, we could have just built a huge godown for cargo instead of spending all that money on the concrete, the first-glass glass and concrete panels, the air-conditioning and expensive tiling."
He thinks that the rationale put forward by AirAsia for not moving to Terminal 1 makes "a lot more sense" than that being flogged by the MAB among others.
"I don't care of AirAsia has given a letter of undertaking (LOU) to move to terminal 1 by June 1," said the third businessman. "The LOU is, to me, an indication of some kind of pressure or coercion."
If the move makes sense, he pointed out, there won't be any need for a LOU since all parties would know what they would have to do. He called for the cancellation of the LOU since it is "tantamount to sheer blackmail" and therefore invalid.
He can't see why AirAsia should agree to a LOU which was clearly not in the interest of the airline, the passengers, the tourism industry and Sabah.
A fourth businessman hopes that Sabahans would not have to go back to the old days when village folks had to sell their buffaloes "just to go to Kuala Lumpur". Generally, a buffalo sells for somewhere between RM2,500 and RM3,000 each and is a popular dowry among the Dusun.
"If AirAsia is forced to move to Terminal 1, it will definitely increase the cost of flying and this will affect tourism, students and parents, among others, besides the business community," he said. "Already, the KK-Jakarta-KK three-in-a-group return ticket for only RM547 has been suspended."
He hopes that worse will not follow or "it may be the end of the present low-cost flights to, in and out of Sabah and Sarawak".
Conspiracy theory
One conspiracy theory floating around is that the federal government is not happy with AirAsia "most likely because of its involvement in Formula One racing through Team Lotus as the Lotus Company belongs to the dying Proton".
"Why is it that every time there is something good going on in the economy, somebody comes along to spoil it?" asked one trader in Kota Kinabalu who believes in the conspiracy theory. "The spoiler is almost always the government."
Like other believers in the conspiracy theory, he suspects "some element of grudge and jealousy somewhere".
"Maybe certain parties are unhappy because they are not getting something from AirAsia's success," he swears. "So, they are making all sorts of excuses to pressure Tony to go to the negotiation table behind closed doors."
Malaysia Airlines is also seen as the villain in the growing public support in Sabah for Air Asia.
"It looks to the man in the street that Malaysia Airlines wants to put a break on AirAsia because of its loss of market share," said another trader flogging the conspiracy theory.
"The government is being very unfair in pressuring AirAsia to do things which will damage its business and will directly affect the traveling public."
He's one of those who doesn't see why AirAsia should be forced to move to Terminal 1 "in the national interest" and stop thinking too much about profits. He is at a loss over what this 'national interest' means.
The government, he stressed, should not continue to make things difficult for AirAsia "as it will affect the people and its own image".
The UBF, in its statement, considers the move to force AirAsia out of Terminal 2 as part of the federal government's determination to continue with its "oppressive National Cabotage Policy", which resulted in prices of goods in Sabah and Sarawak to be higher than the Peninuslar.
The NGO wants AirAsia to stay put at Terminal 2 "to help keep prices down in Sabah and Sarawak". UBF wants the federal government to give full open skies rights to Sabah and Sarawak.
It also wants, at the same time, the NCP to be abolished to bring prices down for a '1Nation, 1Price' Malaysia and to help facilitate the industrialisation and economic development of the two most poverty-stricken states in the country.
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