Consumer group joins opposition to abolition of Mavcom

The Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP) has criticised Putrajaya's decision to disband the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom), saying it comes at atime authorities need to better protect passengers' rights in light of the rising number of complaints against airlines.

CAP said Mavcom had been looking after the welfare of passengers by handling complaints from baggage issues to flight delays and cancellations.

"In the past year, we have seen an increase in incidents where airlines supposedly cancel flights, only to put the original seats up for sale again after passengers have reluctantly chosen alternative, less ideal flight times suggested by the airline company," said CAP president Mohideen Abdul Kader.

He pointed to cases where passengers whose flights were cancelled by the airlines themselves were denied refunds and forced to accept credits instead of cash, presumably referring to the avalanche of complaints against AirAsia.

"This practice unfairly impacts passengers who may not be able to use these credits before they expire, effectively burning their hard-earned money," he said.

Mavcom's dissolution last month through a vote supported by government MPs in the Dewan Rakyat has raised questions over the oversight of Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB) just as the company was caught in the middle of controversy over the sale of 30% of its shares to a firm owned by US fund manager BlackRock, which is facing allegations of involvement in Israeli war crimes.

The government said Mavcom would be merged with the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), the agency under the transport ministry headed by Anthony Loke.

Opposition MPs said this would remove the check-and-balance system as Mavcom, unlike CAAM, reports directly to Parliament.

Mohideen said that the points raised by the opposition against the merger are valid.

He questioned Loke's claim that the merger with CAAM was necessary to reduce red tape and improve the aviation service.

"However, nothing much was said about airline consumer protection. Only that CAAM will be taking over the functions of Mavcom which include handling consumer complaints," he added.

Aviation experts have also criticised the move.

Germal Singh Khera said he had doubts about CAAM's independence in overseeing MAHB operations as the authority was under the transport ministry.

"I am not really sure if it does have any independence although the transport ministry said they will guarantee the independence of CAAM. It looks like it does not have any independence," Germal, a former development director at Mavcom, told MalaysiaNow.

Another aviation expert said that with the privatisation of MAHB, the company is no longer accountable to anyone except its board of directors.

"CAAM only deals with the safety and technical aspects of airlines. So I wonder what the motivation for this (selling MAHB shares) is. They are just bulldozzing it," said Shukor Yusof.

During a heated debate on Mavcom in the Dewan Rakyat last month, opposition MPs grilled Loke on the plan to dissolve the commission which had been mooted as early as 2019.

They said the plan raised questions as Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a company owned by BlackRock, was joining a consortium to manage MAHB, which manages airports nationwide.

Opposition MPs said Mavcom was the last bastion to prevent the sale of MAHB shares to GIP.

Opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin said CAAM and Mavcom could be given their own powers and there was no need to merge the two entities.

"Why is this being done so hastily and haphazardly? There is something wrong," he said.