KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 — Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar today questioned the need to appoint foreigners to key positions in Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) and urged for answers from Putrajaya on why this has been allowed.

The national carrier is currently undergoing extensive operational restructuring after it was privatised and taken over by sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad.

Khazanah’s RM6 billion restructuring plan includes a capital injection, streamlining of the workforce, a review of routes and renegotiation of supply contracts.

"MAB's new chief executive officer (CEO) Christoph Mueller has appointed foreigners to head important and strategic positions in MAS," Nurul Izzah said in the Dewan Rakyat today.

She said MAB's chief operations officer (COO), engineering division head, revenue department head as well as several others, including all of its consultants, are all foreigners.

"So my question is, how can we allow this? We are talking about a time when Malaysia Airlines was managed like it was before," she said, claiming that this may led to funds wastage.

"It was created to empower our Malaysian workforce… now it seems as if we do not have any expertise, when it was us who were the leaders of a top airline in the Southeast Asian region," the PKR vice-president said in her speech during debates on the Supplementary Supply Bill.

"So, my queries must be answered, because if there is no objection from the government on this, then we are going to see a trend where wastage is the key prerequisite for the government," she added.

The national carrier was delisted in August 2014 after Khazanah offered to buy out minority shareholders for a total of RM1.38 billion to restructure then Malaysia Airlines System (MAS), which suffered two air disasters that year.

The sovereign wealth fund later unveiled a 12-point turnaround plan for the carrier, titled “Rebuilding A National Icon — The MAS Recovery Plan”, which includes transferring all MAS assets to the new entity.