MALAYSIAN politicians are notorious for overstaying their welcome. At 98, twice former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has shown no signs of calling it a day in politics by probably quietly harbouring hopes of a third stint.
Similarly, other big names like Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, UMNO president Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang or even DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng do not look like that they are prepared to call it a day despite having dominated the political landscape for decades.
As a result, political rejuvenation becomes next to impossible and this would to a large extent, explain the rut the country now faces.
But the inability to let go is not the sole domain of politicians. Some corporate leaders whose companies are not doing so well are also not budging from their plush posts.
Yesterday (April 24), Capital A Bhd, the operator of low-cost carrier AirAsia, announced that the company’s board has extended Tan Sri Tony Fernandes’ contract as CEO for another five years (also his capacity as a strategic adviser to the airlines business which is poised to be merged into AirAsia X Bhd).
This has effectively put paid to his plans to call it a day in the company he co-founded with Datuk Kamarudin Meranun (now Capital A’s non-independent executive chairman) in 2001.
While it is not uncommon for founders to remain at the helm until they are physically incapacitated, Capital A is not your average corporation.
At the height of the COVID-19 spell in July 2020, Bursa Malaysia declared Capital A as a Practice Note 17 (PN17) or financially distressed company. Since then, the politically-connected Fernandes has pledged to turn the company around yet almost four years down the road, it has yet to wriggle itself out of the damming classification.
Difficult to let go
And just like politicians who kept putting off their retirement purportedly to “finish the job”, Capital A further attributed its decision to retain Fernandes to his role as in sync to the quest to “drive growth and financial returns”.
Its independent non-executive director (INED) Datuk Fam Lee Ee, a former MCA activist, was quoted in the media saying, “His (Fernandes) role encompasses steering Capital A towards unlocking enhanced shareholder value through the execution of profitable transactions across the group’s entities within Capital A.”
While the statement sounds like justifications for politicians hanging on to power, it shouldn’t come as a surprise given Fernandes’ background. He has a track record in political posturing by backing now incarcerated Datuk Seri Najib Razak during the 2018 general election.
When the Najib-led Barisan Nasional (BN) was toppled in the polls, Fernandes quickly changed his tune to say that he was pressured into appearing in a campaign video backing the scandal-tainted former Pekan MP.
While Fernandes is not likely to swap his plush office chair with one in the legislature anytime soon, his decision to stay on despite many unresolved problems reminds one of how politicians can be so detached from the “real” world.
Besides the prolonged but unfruitful attempt to lift Capital A from the PN17 classification, the company still faces a barrage of criticisms over its failure to refund passengers tickets purchased for cancelled flights during the pandemic lockdown period.
On top of that, the company’s year-to-date share price has plummeted from a 52-week high of RM1.12 to 70 sen at the time of writing – a 37.5%. decline.
Aren’t these warning signs for the captain of the ship to pass the stewardship to someone younger and probably more capable to steer the vessel out of the storm? Why stick with the old guard?
Is the 59-year-old Fernandes lured by the lucrative remuneration? In 2022, he took home some hefty RM7 mil in salaries and allowances while in 2020, he was listed by Forbes as among the 50th richest Malaysians with a net worth of US$335 mil (RM1.6 bil).
But all these now is water under the bridge as since yesterday (April 24), Fernandes is set to continue piloting the company for another five years.
Whether he will steer Capital A away from turbulence into a soft, smooth landing which would earn applause from passengers in his plane or – God forbid – into a crash landing which will somehow wreck his plane, remains very much to be seen.
Below is how a long-time market observer read the latest development in Capital A:
The board should have at least waited till after Capital A has secured its PN17 exit before extending Tony’s CEO tenure … there’s a lot of fluff as to what INED Datuk Fam has said for he has somehow given an endorsement when he should have – by right – restricted himself to a watchdog role for Capital A’s minority shareholders.
The current Capital A share price is a reflection of what the investors including the minority shareholders feel …
The INED can praise you or you can self-praise yourself but at the end of the day, is the market convinced that you’re out of the rut, that you can settle your debts, that you’re reliable or that when the next disaster or downturn comes, you won’t shortchange both shareholders and passengers by not having fully refunded them for flight cancellation dated back to the pandemic lockdown days?
You need to build the trust factor if you’re really keen make a “Hollywood debut’, ie to list Capital A in the US stock markets. – April 25, 2024
