Some are sick, twisted and vicious

January 30, 2009

TONY Fernandes may be synonymous with Air Asia and credited with revolutionising budget air travel in Southeast Asia, but in cyberspace, comments about him have been vicious and personal.

NEW PLANS: Mr Tony Fernandes seen here with reporters near the site of the proposed new budget terminal south of downtown KL earlier this month. PICTURE: AFP

And 'fatso' is the most common slur.

Such comments hardly fazed him, said Mr Fernandes in a candid interview with liberal news portal Malaysiakini.

Instead, the 'sick and twisted' blogs have inspired him to trim down, he joked.

Controversy is no stranger to this 46-year-old, who is frequently spotted in photographs donning his red Air Asia cap.

Recently, he sparked a hot debate when he announced Air Asia's plans of building and operating a new budget RM1.6 billion ($669,000) terminal in Labu, a sleepy town 50km south of downtown Kuala Lumpur, reported The Straits Times recently.

And the loudest critics to this plan has been former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who slammed the government for approving it and demanded to know why an expansion of the space next to KLIA won't do.

In the first of a two-part interview with the news portal, he said: 'Dr Mahathir gave us the (airline) licence and we owe him a lot for giving us the licence.

'I don't think he detracts against us ... But he hasn't heard all sides of the story. I don't have access to him and he doesn't see our problems.

'In his blog, he has congratulated AirAsia for having received such high numbers of passengers... (and) on our presentation (on Labu). He still has questions, and his and a lot of other people's views are 'why can't it be built here (KLIA)?' And we're trying to argue that the 'why', (and) articulate it.'

'Hopefully we will be given a chance to show our side of the story.'

But beyond Dr Mahathir, Mr Fernandes also hopes to engage bloggers whose attacks against Air Asia have become personal and are not objective.

He said the main reason for harsh salvos online is due to Air Asia's 'guilt by association' or 'purported closeness' to certain politicians.

That, he said, has spawned stories that allege he snagged prized deals and gained easy success.

To all this, he says: 'I'm 'collateral damage', aren't I?

'There's just a vicious community of bloggers out there who just spout hate. I've tried to engage them. I've even invited them here.'

The criticisms became rife recently, when bloggers latched on to Air Asia's sponsorship of a team of amateur footballers under MyTeam, to play Manchester United's reserve team at Old Trafford.

MyTeam - brainchild of Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, an MP and PM Abdullah Badawi's son-in-law - is a football reality TV show in search of amateur footballers with the potential to play for the national team.

MyTeam was a hit and its success got Mr Khairy elected as deputy president of the Football Association of Malaysia in Sept 2007.

Biggest mistake

Said Mr Fernandes: 'The biggest mistake of my life, and to be fair to (Khairy), is (when his) team came to propose sponsoring the MyTeam (football project). '

He added: 'How fantastic - taking guys from the rubber estates, from kampungs, from new villages - to London to play Manchester United. This airline is all about making dreams come true. We've also sponsored Manchester United. How great!'

But then, it backfired when rumours spread that Mr Khairy and other influential politicans owned 40 per cent of AirAsia.

To this, he said: 'I hate to sound like a politician, but put a Bible, Quran, whatever, in front of me and I'll swear on it and say no. I only did the MyTeam thing with him (Khairy). Malaysia has become a bit sick and twisted, if you read some of the blogs.

'There are so many dodgy deals and concessions out there, but none of them get hammered. But after this (AirAsia's sponsorship of MyTeam) had gone public, we got hammered. '

Critics have been unfair in their biased assessements, and he argued that he has had to labour his way to get his business to where it is now.

If he had been a crony to influential officials, his airline would not have lost several lucrative contracts to MAS, he said.