Opposition MP seeks to refer transport minister to privileges committee for allegedly misleading Parliament over MAHB sale
KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal has filed a motion to refer Transport Minister Anthony Loke to Parliament’s rights and privileges committee after claiming the latter had misled the Dewan Rakyat about the sale of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhds (MAHB) to a foreign firm.
The Bersatu politician also accused the DAP secretary-general of issuing malicious statements against him when he raised the issue last March.
“My struggle has been proven to be true! Only the DAP-PH fanatics deny it! The Prime Minister must have the courage to cancel this sale,” Wan Ahmad Fayhsal posted on his X account yesterday.
The notice of motion was submitted yesterday to Dewan Rakyat secretary Nizam Mydin Bacha Mydin.
Back in March, Loke told the Dewan Rakyat “that there has been no official announcement indicating our intention to sell [MAHB] to Global Infrastructures Partners (GIP)”.
GIP is a logistics investment fund owned by one of the world’s biggest asset managers, BlackRock.
BlackRock is the biggest shareholder of Lockheed Martin, a US aerospace and defence company.
The asset manager is now the target of boycott calls because of its ownership of arms companies that supply weapons to Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians.
Loke has maintained that he did not mislead Parliament and instead said last Friday that it was Wan Ahmad Fayhsal who did so when the latter made an “assumption” that MAHB would be sold to GIP.
Malaysia has no diplomatic ties with Israel and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s government has expressed support for the publicly-led boycott of companies said to be linked to the Zionist administration.
MAHB is the country’s biggest airport operator. Last week, the listed company confirmed reports about Khazanah Nasional and the Employees Provident Fund’s plan to privatise it through a consortium that could involve GIP.
Khazanah Nasional Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund currently holds 33.2 per cent and 7.0 per cent of MAHB, respectively.
News reports suggest the two entities will use the consortium to buy up to 70 per cent of MAHB if the deal goes through, while the 30 per cent stake in MAHB would be sold to GIP.
Presently, MAHB manages 39 airports throughout Malaysia, including five international airports, 17 domestic airports and 17 Short Take-Off and Landing airports called STOLports for short.
Additionally, it owns and manages one international airport in Istanbul, Turkiye.
