How low can Nurfam go on the MH 370 issue?

How low can you go to kick a decent man when he’s down?

That is the question that must be asked of The National Union of Flight Attendants (Nufam). The union has asked for the resignation of Malaysia Airlines CER Ahmad Jauhari on the flimsy reasoning that theMH370 incident will have a large impact on the airline.

 

 

They have not put forth any convincing argument that Jauhari had been incompetent or unfit to lead Malaysia Airlines throughout the drawn out search for MH 370. Yet they have the temerity to ask for his resignation.

Kesatuan mahu CEO MAS letak jawatan

Kesatuan Kebangsaan Anak Kapal Kabin Penerbangan Malaysia (Nufam) menuntut ketua pegawai eksekutif Malaysia Airlines Datuk Ahmad Jauhari Yahaya meletak jawatan atas kes kehilangan MH370 yang masih berlarutan.

Nufam, yang sering bertelingkah dengan Ahmad Jauhari berhubung isu pekerja, yakin bahawa peletakan jawatan CEO tersebut akan memulihkan kembali keyakinan rakyat kepada syarikat penerbangan tersebut.

“(Nufam) percaya ini adalah tindakan sepatunya pada masa ini kerana kejadian ini turut membawa impak besar kepada industri penerbangan di negara ini.

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Unspun has argued before that Malaysia Airlines under Jauhari’s leadership did the right thing when faced with the crisis-like situation caused by the disappearance of MH 370 (see here) . Perhaps not ideally fast Jauhari nonetheless took the responsibility of speaking at the press conference to announce that MH370 had gone missing, he expressed empathy, shared information and promised to do everything he could. Anyone who is cued to human expression could see that although strained he was ernest, sincere and open in how he handled matters.

MAS also turned on their dark site, and switched their social media assets to crisis mode, an indication that the staff had prepared and trained for such eventualities.

Events after the press conference were a different matter. The search and rescue efforts came under the responsibility of the Government, specifically the Department of Civil Aviation and was taken out of MAS’s hands. That was when things started to go seriously wrong.

Transport Minister Hishamuddin was defensive and unempathetic, as well as appearing reluctant to share information or account for the government’s actions; the DCA chief was uncomfortable wight he media and couldn’t even tell a black footballer from a couple of Iranian where looks were concerned; the Police chief was downright arrogant and the government kept contradicting itself.

Anyone with an iota of critical thinking should be able to discern that MAS did not do a bad job and it could not do anything about the Government ball sing thing up.

So why is Nufam picking on Jauhari instead of Hishamuddin who, as the head of the search efforts must surely the the one to be held accountable if anyone is? Is it because Jauhari has no political clout like Hiham? Is it because he is not related to the PM? Or comes from the Umno Bhramin class? Or that he had been firm against their attempts at pay hikes?

Now is not the time for any organisation to exploit cynical for their own agendas. Not when the pain for the families of the MH370 passengers is still so acute and many of them are still grieving and mourning. There will be a time for reckoning, and when that time comes Nufam, if it is ernest in seeking justice or the well-being of the aviation industry, should have enough integrity and courage to place blame where it is deserving, instead of picking on someone who is vulnerable.