Machang MP urges Senate to send Mavcom-CAAM merger bill to PSSC

Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal has urged the Dewan Negara to send the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Dissolution) Bill 2024 and Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia Act 2017 (Act 788) to a Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC).

This comes after the bills to merge Mavcom and CAAM were passed by the Dewan Rakyat on July 26.

Speaking in a press conference today, Wan Fayhsal said it was his last-ditch effort to push for the bills to be sent to a PSSC.

The Bersatu Youth chief also reiterated his concerns that the merger would result in Mavcom losing its power as the economic regulator of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB).

“To us (Perikatan Nasional lawmakers), that was a really hasty move. It can cause polemic and governance issues on the sale of MAHB shares to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Blackrock.

“The dissolution of Mavcom will paralyse the checks and balances process as well as the privatisation of MAHB.

“Mavcom is a checks-and-balances body involved in the privatisation of MAHB,” he told reporters after handing over a memorandum to PN Senator Razali Idris outside Parliament today.

Also present was pro-Palestine activist M Mythreyar, who began a hunger strike to protest the sale of MAHB shares to GIP, a Blackrock-linked company.

On June 26, the opposition block, in a press conference held at the Parliament after the bill was passed, called for the bill to be referred to the PSSC.

While pointing out that the opposition is not against the idea of the merger, Jerantut MP Khairil Nizam Khirudin stressed that the PSSC should conduct a thorough investigation first and its report to later be debated in the Dewan Rakyat.

Separately, the Dewan Rakyat on July 17 voted to suspend Wan Fayhsal from parliamentary duties for six months.

He was disciplined for quoting an anonymous unverified letter that named an officer in the Employees Provident Fund as the purported “mastermind” of the plan to privatise MAHB and portrayed the officer in a negative light.

The MAHB shares controversy erupted on May 15, when Khazanah Nasional Berhad announced that the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and GIP - through GIP Aurea Pte Ltd - would form a consortium to acquire shares in the airport operator.

The decision courted flak from various quarters after it was found that Blackrock, a company deemed to have ties with Israel, is acquiring GIP.

However, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim defended the decision, saying Malaysia’s economy would be impacted if it were to cancel ties with all Israel-linked companies.

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