This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on October 23, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s outgoing chief executive officer (CEO) Peter Bellew has rebutted the comment made by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that his resignation was due to interference from current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Bellew, who tendered his resignation on Oct 8 after 14 months in office, said he had to hold the press conference to clear the air simply because in the last 48 hours, there had been rumours and speculations that his resignation was caused by Najib’s interference, including the purchase of aircraft from Boeing.

“There are reports that I am leaving because of aircraft orders. That is completely untrue. 100% incorrect. Not a shred of truth in that statement. There was no political interference in Malaysia Airlines’ decision to buy Boeing or Airbus.

“Malaysia Airlines needs more wide-body planes and less narrow-bodies. The chairman (Tan Sri Md Nor Md Yusof) and I brought the MoU (memorandum of understanding) to the prime minister in Washington, and he witnessed the MoU signing. It all came from Malaysia Airlines,” Bellew told the media yesterday.

According to him, the carrier has yet to place a firm order for the 787 Dreamliners, which in his view the wide-body aircraft offers the flexibility of being able to cater to the five- to seven-hour journeys as well as the seven- to 13-hour journeys.

Bellew’s remark was in response to Dr Mahathir’s allegation that Najib had interfered with the running of Malaysia Airlines by bypassing the board of directors and management. He also commented that Malaysia Airlines did not need the aircraft that it intended to purchase from Boeing recently.

Bellew said the former prime minister’s comment is “completely wrong”. “I have not had any interference from anyone on anything. No interference. I just want to ‘balik kampung’ (reason for his resignation) ... back to the people I love,” he said.

“No one connected with him [Dr Mahathir] has ever been in any contact to check [with Bellew],” he added.

This is the second time that Bellew has said he faced no interference when he was at the helm of the national carrier. He last Wednesday issued a press statement in his personal capacity to acknowledge that there was “zero interference” from Khazanah Nasional Bhd on managing and revamping Malaysia Airlines. Khazanah is the sole shareholder of the national carrier.

The Irishman, who will be joining Ryanair as chief operating officer (COO) when he returns home, noted that he was not instructed by any authority to hold the press conference. “There is [a] request from the media. And people who know me well know that it is difficult to tell me to do anything, except for my wife,” replied Bellew when asked if he were told to meet the media yesterday.

In his speech, Bellew also highlighted that the problems in Malaysia Airlines dated back to the 1990s when Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli bought over the national carrier in a privatisation exercise by the government when Dr Mahathir was the prime minister.

“The damage goes back to 1994 and debt,” commented Bellew.

“Tun Mahathir highlights in his own book his failures in MAS (Malaysia Airline System Bhd) that led to this downfall. In fact, across 200 pages of his own book he completely contradicts himself,” said Bellew while holding up Dr Mahathir’s memoir titled A Doctor in the House.

Bellew pointed out that the former prime minister mentioned in his memoir that the government had rejected Tajuddin’s proposal on share swap deal to acquire MAS then.

As a result, the businessman had to take up large borrowings to finance the acquisition. But, on the other hand, Dr Mahathir also wrote that had he known Tajuddin had to borrow “a lot of money” to buy the shares in MAS, he would have put a stop to the acquisition.

Bellew is the second foreign CEO who has stepped down from the post in less than two years. His predecessor Christoph Mueller joined Malaysia Airlines in May 2015 and stepped down in September last year. Bellew, who was then the COO, took over the helm in July last year.

Bellew has seen through the massive 6,000 job cut and the renegotiation of contracts with the suppliers — the crucial part of the plan to revamp the ailing national carrier.

Last Friday, Malaysia Airlines redesignated its COO Captain Izham Ismail as its new group CEO.

The airline said Izham’s appointment is in line with the succession plan under its 12-point MAS Recovery Plan, which provides for the development and succession of Malaysian leadership talent.