Column - Remembering a titan

IN the course of one's life one meets many people on a hail-fellow well-met basis. If we are very blessed, we meet someone who reshapes our destiny. The late Tan Sri Saw Huat Lye was such a titan.
The dissolution of Malaysia-Singapore Airlines in 1971 was an amputation, not a mere parting of the ways.
Singapore was the main hub of MSA's operations and it took over both its infrastructure, the fleet of long-haul aircraft, international booking offices, and the traffic rights for those routes.
MSA's assets operations, and manpower all located in Singapore became vested in SIA as a going concern and an instrument of its government's policy.
What MAS was left with, were the F27 Fokker Friendships, a couple of Twin Otters, and BN2 Norman Islanders, but no infrastructure.
But instead of being doomed to be a feeder territory for the hub, Malaysia was now free to develop its own independent aviation industry.
Under Tun Sardon Zubir, then minister of transport, and our first chairman Tan Sri G. K. Rama Iyer, the first three years of MAS was a period of consolidation of our domestic services.
To the fleet of short-haul aircraft we added nine new B737 -200's to provide our public the cheapest ever internal air-mile worldwide.
To start up our long distance flights to UK and Australia we also bought two second-hand B-707's from Qantas.
By 1975 Tan Sri V. Manickavasagam Pillai had taken over as minister of transport and the late Tun Raja Mohar Raja Badiozaman succeeded Rama Iyer as chairman of MAS.
Our foremost challenge now was to go international. It was a truly daunting task.
SIA had teamed up with Qantas and British Airways to box us in from Australia to the UK.
Cathay Pacific and JAL blocked us from the East. Thai Airways and SAS were sited to the North. We were truly hemmed in.
Aerial combat is usually termed a "dogfight" because dog eats dog.
Airlines fight to protect their right to carry passengers at home or abroad to the exclusion of other airlines.
Cut throat price wars, fringe benefits like subsidised flights from the hinterland to the hub, free accommodation plus other fringe benefits are all part of the lure.
Although traffic rights to take passengers from one country to and from another country, and from that country to a third or fourth country along the way to the ultimate destination (called "freedoms") are notionally given by the government of those countries, (bi-laterals) in actual fact a case has to be first established with the national flag carrier based in those countries.
In other words, having a big new plane serving the best food with the most beautiful air hostesses was a non-starter unless we could first negotiate our traffic rights into those territories with an adequate passenger load and cargo.
Besides, those big planes cost millions in US dollars. The challenge was paying back the loan.
This is done in annual instalments spread over say 20 years and should be paid from the income generated after paying off fuel bills, operation costs and wages. All this meant very careful forecasting of projected earnings and expenditure.
It was into this scenario that I was appointed a board member of MAS in 1975 and first met Saw.
Only five foot six and about 140 lbs with a very soft voice, Saw was the anti-thesis of the usual, big, brawny and bossy airline man.
This first impression was immediately dispersed when he started discussing the issues we had to confront.
During my tenure on the board till 1983 the other board members were our chairman, deputy chairman Tan Sri Sulaiman Sujak, Tan Sri Ishak Tadin then the secretary-general from the Ministry of Transport. From the Treasury we had the late Tan Sri Malik Merican and Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, and independent directors Tun Dzaiddin Abdullah, Tan Sri Azman Hashim and Datuk Yap Lim Sen.
Patriotism was of a different order then. Our director of engineering Datuk Resham Singh and his associate Sitham Nadarajah and our director of customer services Lee Shu Poh all left Singapore to serve MAS.
From within the MCS we had the indefatigable Tan Sri Aziz Abdul Rahman as company secretary, Kamaruddin Isa in charge of financial affairs, and his associate Poopalasingam, Datuk Abdullah Mat Zaid in human resources, Bernard Thomazios for commercial affairs.
Capt Hassan, Capt Khary, Capt Ali and Capt Gurchuran Singh, all Datuks were our senior pilots.
Our senior station managers were Chan Chat Lai, Peter Ling, Azlan Hussain, among others.
Selana Othman gave us her stunning designs for the uniforms of our air hostesses and even the unique pattern of our Noritake crockery with its multi-coloured Kelantan kite design.
These are some of the names that come to mind who went to making up the diverse talents who were harnessed to make the airline one efficient flying machine.
At our animated discussions, on the board our chairman was a genius in achieving consensus.
We only took a vote twice in the 10 years I was on the board.
What changed me forever when I came within the aura of Saw and the late Raja Mohar was the power of teamwork.
Beyond my chambers and the court room and as part of the team I had to help drive hard bargains with some of the most sophisticated businessmen and bureaucrats when we were negotiating contracts for aircraft or for traffic rights especially into London.
The frequency of its services, its mechanical reliability, the allure of its cabin crew, the in-flight service, the internal décor of the cabin, and the quality of its cuisine, all added up to give the airline its unique charisma and appeal.
Saw was the man who held this team together, and inspired it to greater heights.
In addition to his personal touch with every one in the organisation right down to the tea ladies, he gave us an unerring sense of purpose by his corporate philosophy of management by objective.
Today, the public thinks that MAS only survived by its bail-outs.
As long as Saw and Aziz and their stalwarts were there the airline lived up to its name.
The loss of MH 653 at Tanjong Kupang in 1979, and a disastrous strike which saw the impounding of one of our DC-10's in Sydney were two black spots during our tenure but then "true gold is not afraid of fire".
This article is not meant to be a lament of what happened to MAS after it was privatised and handed over on a platter to an anointed plenipotentiary.
The dark shadow those shambles have cast over the survival of the airline must never be allowed to eclipse the superlative achievements of Saw and Aziz and their stalwarts while they were at the helm.
I cannot say much of Saw's stint in Malaysian Helicopter Service after he left MAS.
I found myself again with Saw on the Board of the Guinness Anchor Foundation.
What we took on now was the task of cleaning up our rivers and also distributing scholarships to the needy.
Saw and I met again in Selayang Hospital for eye treatment.
Unfortunately, Saw also became afflicted with a brain tumour to which he eventually succumbed.
The years Saw served as CEO of MAS witnessed his finest accomplishments.
In parallel with the shine he gave the airline he was also a true friend to all who walked the talk with him. A man of vision, of dedication and of courage he imbued all of us with the same spirit.
He will remain in our memories a great family man, a towering corporate leader.
May his soul rest in peace.
Datuk Mahadev Shankar is a prominent Malaysian lawyer and former Malaysian Court of Appeal Judge. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com