MATTA president Datuk Tan Kok Liang said, “As Malaysia’s leading travel association, we look forward to continue working closely alongside the new government especially in tourism, which is a key sector in our nation’s economy, being the second highest contributor in terms of foreign exchange earnings and third in terms of contribution to the gross national income.”
The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) has welcomes Dr. Mahathir Mohamad as Malaysia's seventh prime minister.
MATTA president Datuk Tan Kok Liang said, “As Malaysia’s leading travel association, we look forward to continue working closely alongside the new government especially in tourism, which is a key sector in our nation’s economy, being the second highest contributor in terms of foreign exchange earnings and third in terms of contribution to the gross national income.”
Meanwhile, Air Asia group chief executive Tony Fernandes has been forced to make an apology after trying to “please and placate” defeated PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the days leading up to last week’s general election, which saw Dr Mahathir elected in a shock result.
In a Facebook video, Fernandes apologised for buckling under intense pressure from the Najib administration to support the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
Fernandes assigned an AirAsiaX plane to ferry Najib to Kota Kinabalu and back during the election campaign, painted the plane with the BN logo and changed the cabin crew uniforms from Air Asia red to BN blue,
Fernandes apologised on Sunday for a video that appeared to endorse ousted leader Najib ahead of the May 9 general election. Fernandes called the video "a grave error of judgement" and said that he would "forever regret it”.
Fernandes also said that the former administration was pushing him to remove Rafidah Aziz, chairman of long-haul carrier AirAsia X, and cancel 120 extra flights that were created especially for Malaysians to return home to vote.
Rafidah has since has a private word with Fernandes. “His mistake was not telling me about the plane. He got a private whacking from me already for that. Nothing personal…only for that error in judgement, or as I told him, his ‘stupidity’.”
James Chin, an expert on Southeast Asia politics at the University of Tasmania, told CNBC, "Tony is trying to recover from the damage done to both his personal and the AirAsia brand. It was a mistake to do the plane stunt — most Malaysians feel like he overdid it."