This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 10, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Former transport minister Anthony Loke took to Facebook yesterday to question the removal of Afzal Abdul Rahim and Ragunath Kesavan as authority members of the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM).

The duo were appointed during Loke’s tenure, who relinquished his role after the Perikatan Nasional coalition took over last month.

Letters seen by The Edge Financial Daily showed that the services of Afzal and Ragunath were terminated effective immediately as part of a review process by the transport ministry of all chairmen and boards of directors of statutory bodies and agencies within its purview. The letters, dated April 2020, were signed by Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.

In his Facebook page, Loke said both Afzal and Ragunath are professionals and not members of any political parties related to the Pakatan Harapan coalition.

“While I can understand that it is the prerogative of the sitting minister to appoint or remove any board members of statutory bodies under the ministry, can’t they differentiate between professional and political appointees? For the record, I did not remove any professionals or non-politicians appointed by my predecessor during my tenure in the transport ministry. I let them serve until the end of their term,” he said.

Loke added: “Afzal is the CEO [chief executive officer] of TIME dotCom [Bhd], independent board member of CIMB Group [Bhd] and a licensed FAA (US Federal Aviation Authority) commercial pilot. When I first met him, he was very critical about CAAM’s efficiency but very passionate about aviation-related issues. I then invited him to join the board of CAAM to turn his criticism to constructive suggestions to improve CAAM.”

He noted that Afzal had agreed to the appointment but on condition that he would serve on a pro bono basis. “He (also) refused to accept any allowances from CAAM.”

Loke noted that Ragunath came in later as the authority needed someone with a strong legal background and the latter was the former Bar Council chairman. “I appointed him although I know that he was a strong critic of the then PH [Pakatan Harapan] government.”

When contacted, Afzal confirmed that he has received his termination letter from Wee on Wednesday. “I wish CAAM and the MoT [ministry of transport] all the best moving forward,” he said.

CAAM is in the midst of regaining the Category 1 status from the FAA. The US aviation regulator had downgraded CAAM to Category 2 status in November last year, following its failure to meet a safety oversight audit in April 2019.

Under Loke’s tenure, a decision was made to merge CAAM with the Malaysian Aviation Commission. However, this is pending an Act of Parliament to unwind.