Indefatigable Bersatu youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal has continued to pound PM Anwar’s unity government with more artillery shell; clearly, he is not done with the contentious sale of 30% of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad’s (MAHB) shares to a group in which BlackRock, allegedly a Zionist supporter, may have substantial control.
In a recent Facebook post, the vocal Machang MP who was once a deputy youth and sports minister in Muhyiddin Yassin’s government has called on the Madani government to stop its “auta” (nonsensical) defence of the New York city-based investment giant.
The articulate UK-educated MP also angrily brushed off the similarity cited by investment, trade and industry minister Tengku Zafrul between BlackRock and Apple, saying that the comparison was not fair as the latter’s products were owned and used by many citizens here!
However, Wan Fayhsal did not hint if he was one of them - and neither did he say anything about part of the profits from the sale of those products here going back to the US company, which may then be invested in the Zionist state.
More alarmingly, he alleged that the US investment firm could eventually end up controlling the management and operations of all the country's airports!
In the same hard hitting social media post, Wan Fayhsal further insinuated that the government should defend and not pawn its strategic assets and sovereignty, adding that it should stop bamboozling the rakyat and start sourcing for other “ethical” investors.
Nevertheless, he did not touch on the difficulty in attracting foreign investors in the current climate and neither did he elaborate on the “type” of investors that Malaysia should consider admitting into the country since most investors will tend to have some links with Israel or its supporters given the interconnected nature of the global economy.
Meanwhile, according to Sinar Daily last Friday (June 7) Wan Fayhsal seemed to be giving out some “free lessons on economy” to the Madani government, claiming that the government has a shallow understanding of the implications of the decision to allow the international investment firm with alleged links to Israel to own shares in MAHB.
Incidentally, Wan Fayhsal had once allegedly proposed back in 2020 that Bank Negara Malaysia should print more money and directly hand cash to Malaysians as a solution for the country’s economic predicament.
Anyway, to reiterate, while the Bersatu youth leader has been aiming his guns at BlackRock, the majority owners of the controversial new takeover will actually be a consortium led by Khazanah Nasional Bhd (Khazanah) via its wholly owned subsidiary UEM Group Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) who together will own a majority 70% stake in MAHB.
Meanwhile, the balance 30% stake will be held by a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) and funds managed by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). Note: BlackRock was reported to have expressed interest in acquiring GIP to enhance its infrastructure fund capabilities; however, the deal was said to be still under discussion and has not been finalised.
In short, Malaysian investors will collectively own 70 percent of MAHB, while Adia and GIP will hold the remaining 30 percent; still, he had claimed that by acquiring 30 percent of MAHB through GIP, BlackRock could potentially decide who to appoint in management positions.
Wan Fayhsal, who once called for a law to be passed that only a Malay-Muslim can be the nation’s prime minister has also lambasted the reasoning that BlackRock's acquisition would boost MAHB's revenue, pointing out that it was already profitable.
However, he admitted that what may be true is it's plummeting standing in terms of competitiveness when compared to other airports in the world - for example Singapore's Changi.
As for Pakatan Harapan Youth information chief Ammar Atan calling him “hypocrite” earlier because it was Perikatan Nasional that was in power in 2021 when BlackRock was involved in managing funds under EPF for the Syariah private equity SMA fund, Wan Fayhsal argued that they may not have known back then that BlackRock invested in Israel and was also involved in helping Israel kill Palestinians; Fayhsal added that if not, surely he would have objected to it!
However, he did not elaborate on how the PN government back then had seemingly “overlooked” that, considering that Malaysia had cut off all ties with the Jewish state since 1974, and moreover, the latter has been implicated in the oppression and massacre of Palestinians for ages.
Interestingly, last Friday (June 7) Wan Fayhsal had also submitted two urgent motions to be debated in parliament. One was to call on the government to rescind its decision to sell the shares to GIP; and the second was to change the name of Israel to the “Occupied State of Palestine” (OSP).
All these may prompt some to ask: does Wan Fayhsal's proposals merit serious consideration or has he been shooting from the hip again, with more of his half baked ideas? Anyway, that's for the jury out there to decide.
At this stage though, it appears unlikely PM Anwar will be pulling the plug on the MAHB deal, considering the huge RM3bil investment involved; he may also want to send out a vivid signal to the international business community that the country is still very much investor-friendly in spite of its strident, non-compromising stance on the Palestinian cause.
Information Source: Wan Fayhsal Facebook, Astro Awani and Sinar Harian.
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