Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son-in-law and upcoming politician Khairy Jamaluddin's name cropped up in the Dewan Rakyat today during a heated debate on AirAsia and MAS.

Angry parliamentarians were arguing if the government appeared to be favouring the low-cost carrier as opposed to the national carrier.

Khairy's ( left ) name was dragged in by Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Bandar Kuching) towards the end of the debate during the ministerial winding-up by Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy.

"I have heard rumours that the major shareholder behind AirAsia is (allegedly) linked to the prime minister's son-in-law. Can the minister tell us if there is any truth to this?" he asked.

Chong's question irked government backbenchers, who responded by calling it a 'wild accusation'.

"Based on the equity structure here, I don't have the names of the shareholders, I will give you a written reply. However, since AirAsia is a public listed company, you could easily get the concerned details," responded the minister.

During the winding-up earlier, several BN backbenchers also demanded for more transparency concerning the operations of AirAsia, including the disclosure of its shareholders.

Malaysian company

Vocal backbencher Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) asked Chan whether AirAsia, being a private company, would fall into the hands of foreign investors in the future.

To this, Chan said: "According to the licencing rules, AirAsia is owned by a majority of Malaysians and thus we can say AirAsia is a Malaysian company."

At this juncture, ex-deputy education minister Mahadzir Mohd Khir (BN-Sungai Petani) raised a thorny question.

"Why does it looks like the government is defending AirAsia? Who owns AirAsia? Don't tell me that you (Chan) also have a stake in the company?" he asked.

Chan, who appeared annoyed, told the veteran politician to retract the remark, which he did.

An online search revealed that AirAsia's largest shareholder was TuneAir Sdn Bhd, which owned a 44.8 percent stake. However, it could not be ascertained who were the individuals behind this company.

No interference

Meanwhile, during the debate earlier, backbenchers also questioned the rationale behind the sweeping rationalisation plan unveiled three days ago, where MAS will have to axe a third of its workforce and hand over all but 19 of its domestic routes to Air Asia under the plan.

The loss-making national carrier will also lose its government subsidies under the three-year turnaround plan aimed at returning it to profitability by 2007. Under the new structure which takes effect Aug 1, AirAsia will take over 96 of MAS' domestic routes.

The transport minister told the House that the government had not interfered in the deal struck between MAS and AirAsia.

This reply however failed to pacify the MPs.

Ronald Kiandee (BN-Beluran) interjected and said the government should have interfered in the deal.

Responding, Chan said the two airlines enjoyed the flexibility to fix the air fares for domestic routes but the government will monitor the fares if it is raised to a level that will burden the public.

As Chan was about to conclude his winding-up, three opposition parliamentarians - Lim Hock Seng (DAP-Bagan), Chow Kon Yeow (DAP-Tanjong) and Chong - protested that the minister had not answered their questions raised during the debate.

"Where is the answer to my questions in relation to Penang ferry and the civil aviation department? I was only allocated 10 minutes to debate, after debate, no answer is given, that is useless!" shouted Lim from across the floor.

Chan then said he will provide a written reply to the questions which he had not answered.

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