Business

Saturday August 29, 2009

Good response to Jala’s appointment

By IZWAN IDRIS


PETALING JAYA: The appointment of Datuk Seri Idris Jala as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department has met with positive response.

“He will be an excellent results-oriented minister and will set a new standard for all ministers,’’ AirAsia Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said in an SMS to StarBizWeek yesterday. “Great move by our Prime Minister.”

Fernandes and Jala had crossed swords more than once as chiefs of AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines respectively.

The two men are among eight prominent Malaysians on the board of trustees of the newly set up 1Malaysia Foundation.

On Thursday, Najib announced Jala’s appointment as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu).

Pemandu is the organisation set up earlier this year to oversee the implementation of the government key performance indicator (KPI) initiatives.

Earlier this month, Najib said the days of introducing and explaining the rationale behind the national key results areas (KRAs) and KPIs were over and that it was now “time for action.’’

FlyFirefly Sdn Bhd managing director Eddie Leong said Jala was best suited for the job.

“He is very focused on results and knows how to motivate his team to achieve the set goals,’’ he told StarBizWeek yesterday.

In a StarBizWeek interview earlier this year, Idris said he presented his turnaround blueprint to the board of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) on his first day on the job as CEO.

He made the MAS business turnaround plan (BTP) public soon after, and risked a very public failure. His plans worked, and the airline exceeded the BTP’s seemingly lofty targets a year ahead of schedule.

“Idris is perceived to have done a great job in MAS, having engineered a turnaround of the national airline from the brink of collapse in 2005,’’ RHB Research Institute said in note yesterday.

“His four-year stint would have been impeccable had he been able to outsmart other airlines, steering MAS clear of fuel hedge losses that ran into billions of ringgit,’’ it added.

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