KUCHING, July 9 — Sarawak Transport Minister Datuk Sri Lee Kim Shin led a delegation to meet top officials of Khazanah Nasional Berhad in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The primary objective of the meeting was to brief Khazanah on the proposed takeover of MASwings Sdn Bhd by the Sarawak government as a follow-up from the meeting with federal Minister of Transport Anthony Loke in Putrajaya on June 30.
“The meeting also discussed the existing air connectivity issues affecting Sarawak, especially direct international flights.
“Sarawak presently has only three direct international routes, namely Singapore, Bandar Seri Begawan and Jakarta. Therefore, there is a need for concerted effort to establish more direct international routes to promote tourism, trade and investment.
“In this connection, our Sarawak government has therefore decided to set up its own airlines through the acquisition of MASWings,” said the Ministry of Transport Sarawak (MOTS) in a statement.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), the parent company of MASWings, and the Sarawak Government was also proposed.
The main objective of the MoU is to kick start in-depth discussions, establish clear parameters, define the scope, set timelines and facilitate a smooth process for the acquisition.
Lee also expressed appreciation to Khazanah Nasional Berhad for its support of Sarawak government’s aspirations to establish its own airline.
The Sarawak delegation included State Attorney-General Datuk Sri Talat Mahmood, State Financial Secretary Datuk Sri Wan Lizozman Wan Omar, Deputy State Secretary (Economic Planning and Development) Datu Muhammad Abdullah Zaidel, Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) chairman Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abdul Aziz Husain, MOTS permanent secretary Datuk Alice Jawan Empaling, Senior State Counsel Datu John Wayne Chamberlin and Economic Planning Unit Sarawak director Lester Matthew.
In attendance for Khazanah Nasional Berhad were managing director Datuk Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir, head of public markets Datuk Hisham Hamdan, chief financial officer Faridah Bakar Ali, head of transport and tourism Wong Shu Hsien and director of investments Adeline Khoo. — Borneo Post
