COMMENT | Some of us cannot decide on which is the more nauseating of the two videos which the AirAsia founder, Tony Fernandes, made over the past week.

Is it his pre-GE14 video, where he sung praises of the former Malaysian prime minister Najib Abdul Razak?

Or was it his video, post-GE14, where Fernandes played the victim of political interference? He said, “I had to protect my baby, but I still love the rakyat. I apologise for buckling under pressure, as I had no choice, and was forced to show support for Najib.”

Today, Fernandes makes himself to be a victim. Haven’t the rakyat been the victims, for many decades, of this sort of political machinations?

Fernandes let Malaysia down, spectacularly. He picked the wrong horse, and was hammered in the court of public opinion.
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We are just ordinary Malaysians trying to bring down a corrupt regime, but many of us are wage earners, or plain simple folk, and a rebuttal, from a powerful individual like him, would have had a massive boost to our morale.

Fernandes may have a business to run and be responsible for thousands of employees. He forgets, that ordinary Malaysians face similar dilemmas. Their lives have been held hostage by Umno-Baru’s regime.

Many Malaysians have been arrested, jailed for sedition, subject to lawsuits, and like Zunar, had their lives turned upside down. Many do not have the clout, nor the resources, to fight political bullies.
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Tony went over the top in his praise for Najib. He painted an aeroplane blue, accompanied Najib on his flight, and his cabin crew were decked-out in blue.

His message was political but in his apology, he claimed he was neutral.

Yesterday’s apology from Fernandes prompted one social observer to say: “It has always been about Tony. He is backtracking to protect his reputation.

“If he claimed that he was under pressure from Najib, before GE14, how do we not know he is under pressure from Pakaran Harapan, now?

“He failed the integrity test. He abused our trust, claiming that he needed to protect ‘AirAsia, his baby’.

“Malindo Air, which also arranged extra flights for GE14, did not make a grovelling video praising Najib.

“Tony failed the rakyat, in their greatest hour of need. His new motto should be. ‘Now, everybody can lie.’ In the end, he just protected himself.”

AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes has apologised for a stunt in which he ferried former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak aboard a BN-themed flight.

Fernandes said he thought the move would appease the government, who had been pressuring him and AirAsia over their move to provide affordable flights on election day May 9, and also over AirAsia X chairperson Rafidah Aziz’s vocal support for Pakatan Harapan.

“Foolishly I thought by doing the video, which I felt was fairly neutral and factual, and the plane from Kota Kinabalu would appease the government and protect the jobs of allstars (AirAsia staff) and more importantly, the very essence of allowing more than 80 million people to fly every year with low fares.

“Under the intense pressure, I buckled. It wasn’t right, I will forever regret it… I apologise once again for the pain and the hurt I caused,” he said in a video posted on his Facebook page today.
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