Dr M: AirAsia boss had to be pro-BN, or risk hounding by taxman

AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes has obtained the sympathy of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for coming under pressure to please the previous BN administration before the 14th general election.
In an interview with The Edge, Mahathir claimed it was better for companies and individuals at the time to be seen as being BN-friendly, or risk being targeted by the Inland Revenue Board.
“I know that the government applied pressure. For example, if a company or an individual appears to be friendly towards us (Pakatan Harapan), the income tax department will ask them to pay extra tax.
“So when you are faced with this threat, it is better to be friendly with the government. So they (AirAsia) changed their red to the (BN) blue in order to please the government.
“I sympathise with many people who were pressured by the government in many ways,” said Mahathir when asked to react to Fernandez’s pre-GE14 video that commended then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak for putting the people first.
The video was uploaded two days before the May 9 polling day on the NegaraKru YouTube channel, which also featured other personalities lauding the Najib administration's policies.
At the time, Najib also returned to Kuala Lumpur from his two-day visit to Sabah in an AirAsia jet featuring BN's election slogan “Hebatkan Negaraku.”
Photographs from inside of the A330-300 aircraft also showed that the flight attendants clad in blue uniforms, which is BN's official colour, as opposed to their usual red.
The video had drawn immense flak, forcing Fernandes to release an apology video, and with Bersatu’s Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman and AirAsia X chairperson Rafidah Aziz coming to his defence.

However, the apology landed Fernandes in hot soup with the Aviation Commission (Mavcom), which denied his claim they tried to force him to cancel 120 flights AirAsia provided to enable Malaysians to travel home to vote. - Mkini