Holding Mahb Responsible For Klia System Failure

---

A Kadir Jasin
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيم
PREAMBLE: Views expressed herein are entirely mine. I am writing in my personal capacity as a blogger. It has nothing to do with whatever position I may hold.
KLIA system failure: Not the VMY 2020 preview that we expectI HOPE and pray that Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB) is not jinxed and I am not the “Sang Kelembai”.

The major system failure at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is unfortunate and shameful.

Surely it is not the preview of the Visit Malaysia Year 2020 that we want the world to see and the certainly not the kind of outcome we expect from the recent pledge MAHB made to the government.
Less than two weeks ago – on Aug. 13 – the MAHB held a grand gathering to belatedly celebrate KLIA’s 21st anniversary.
It was graced by no less than the Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, himself. I was there. Thank you for the invitation.

At that event, the MAHB gave a glowing review of the airport’s past and offered an even more glowing preview of its future.

I shared my thoughts on that event in the posting of Aug. 14 entitled “Twenty One Years of KLIA and Looking Ahead”. If you wish you can read HERE.
I hope I am not the mythical “Sang Kelambai” that caused the Aug. 22 system failure which, in the initial stages, was dismissively described as disruptions by the MAHB.
Courtesy of MAHB: Rivals came together in time of crisisIn the Malay mythology, “Sang Kelembai” has the power to bring forth bad things to humans, animals and objects alike by merely mentioning their names. They mostly turned into rocks.
Speaking of rocks, this incident could put MAHB’s monopoly of the country’s airport industry on a rocky road. There are bound to be challenges to its hegemony.
With 39 airports in the country under its belt, MAHB could have been fed (or bitten) more that it could chew.
I was rather apprehensive when the government privatised Senai International Airport in Johor to MMC Corporation Berhad back in 2009.
I had not used the airport since then but last Saturday I flew in and out of it for a brief visit to Johor Bahru. I must say that my impression of the privatised Senai is positive.
The airport looks more like a shopping mall than a drab brick and mortar airport. Last year it was listed as the fifth busiest after KLIA, Kota Kinabalu, Penang and Kuching. It handled 3.5 million passengers.
I would like to challenge all those who think they can do a better job than MAHB to put in their bids to make a commercial success out of any of the money-losing (albeit subsidised) airports in the country.
They shouldn’t just talk. They should put their money where their mouths are.
As for the MAHB staff, especially top managers, they should collectively take responsibility for the incident and if they are rewarded based on performance, they should just kiss goodbye to this year’s performance bonus.
Wallahuaklam. Thank you.

---