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Be aware of your rights as air travellers

2 Sep, 2017

Ben and his family travelled by air from Malaysia to India for a holiday. On their arrival, Ben found that his family’s luggage did not arrive.

Previously, he might have struggled to figure out how to deal with this issue. But since the establishment of the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM), this might be a thing of the past…

Go through this checklist when you’re buying an air ticket

26 Aug, 2017

Ben and his family travelled by air from Malaysia to India for a holiday. On their arrival, Ben found that his family’s luggage did not arrive.

Previously, he might have struggled to figure out how to deal with this issue. But since the establishment of the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM), this might be a thing of the past…

When you fly, you have rights

11 Mar, 2017

Ben and his family travelled by air from Malaysia to India for a holiday. On their arrival, Ben found that his family’s luggage did not arrive.

Previously, he might have struggled to figure out how to deal with this issue. But since the establishment of the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM), this might be a thing of the past…

Malaysians travelling by air need to know their consumer rights

4 Mar, 2017

Previously, Malaysian passengers who travelled by air had no specific protection. Complaints or disputes were channelled to the Consumer Tribunal and various consumer associations.

That changed when the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) was established last March. Finally, there is a mechanism in place to protect aviation consumers – in Malaysia, 89 million passengers flew in and out of airports last year…


Adam Ahmad Abdullah

Economics, Senior Manager




  • Adam possesses 12 years of experience in equity analysis, economics research, financial modelling and forecasting.
  • Having acquired his first class degree from the Imperial College, London, in Applied Business Management, he is a member of a task force that developed master plans for an asset management division of a large mutual trust fund in Malaysia and for the fund as a whole.
  • Adam has also published multiple bi-annual reports on the outlook of the Malaysian civil aviation sector.



Adeline Ong May Lin

Communications, Associate Director




  • Adeline is a communications specialist with over 25 years of experience in media and public relations. She currently heads the Communications team at MAVCOM, where she originates and implements positioning strategies for the Commission and manages the Commission’s media and stakeholder relation initiatives.
  • Prior to her current position at the Commission, she was with Citibank Malaysia, where her last position there was as Vice President for the Corporate Affairs department, where she was responsible for handling Corporate Citizenship and Media Relations.
  • Adeline has experience in setting up the media division in three organisations she previously worked with, where she provided strategic direction and ensured streamlining of messages for communication and investor materials. She also has had regional exposure – both in the private and public sectors.
  • She is also a former writer at the Business Times and The Edge Financial Weekly, while also having international exposure as a freelance writer based in Spain. Adeline has won many awards including the British High Commission’s Chevening Award, Italian Foreign Ministry’s scholarship for the study of the Italian language, and Rotary International’s Group Study Exchange to South Africa.



Aiman Izuan Othaman

Consumer Affairs, Associate




  • Aiman was previously an Assistant Lecturer at Management and Science University (MSU). Prior to becoming a lecturer, he was also a substitute teacher at a school for Orang Asli.
  • Prior to teaching, he was awarded as Best Student for all of the Degree Programmes enlisted under the School of Education and Social Sciences at MSU. Aiman holds a Diploma in Education (TESL) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Education (TESL) with Honours from the same university.
  • A natural leader, he was appointed President of the TESL club from 2016-2017, even chosen as Director of the KL Hop-On Hop-Off project for the club.



Ashvinder Singh

Economics, Associate




  • Ashvinder specialises in Economics at MAVCOM and was a former risk analyst at PETRONAS.
  • He achieved his Undergraduate Degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Nottingham (Malaysia Campus) as well as a Postgraduate Degree in Political Science and Political Economy from the London School of Economics.
  • He was awarded a distinction for his Masters’ dissertation on democracy and trade liberalisation in the world between 1974 and 2014.



Ashween Raj KV Mohan Raja

Finance, Corporate Services, Associate




  • Ashween graduated with a Bachelor’s in Accounting (Hons.) from the University Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) and is currently undergoing the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualifications.
  • Ashween has experience in developing and enhancing end-to-end Standard Operating Procedures, as he successfully implemented the Regulatory Services Charge (RSC) to generate income for MAVCOM and helped set-up the overall Finance functions for the Commission. He is also in charge of the management of monthly financial reporting, accounts receivables, accounts payables and procurement.



Ch’ng Dao Zhen

Aviation Development, Associate




  • Ch’ng possesses regulatory experience in both capital markets and the aviation industry.
  • Having graduated with a major in Economics and succeeded all levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) examinations, Ch’ng contributed towards the development of Malaysia’s first regulated airport charges framework. In addition, he successfully lobbied for the inclusion of key venture capital initiatives in the national Budget.



Elena Abdul Rahim

Corporate Services, Executive Secretary




  • Elena acquires 16 years of experience in the corporate secretarial field, mainly serving Senior Management and is able to plan senior management’s schedules meticulously.
  • Elena is highly experienced in handling sensitive and confidential matters and is highly efficient in performing overall office administrative work, adaptable and excelling in performing various job streams from end-to-end.



Fariz Zulfa Mohd Mustafa

Communications, Associate




  • Fariz has five years of experience in the public relations and corporate communications field, with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. He was previously a public relations and corporate communications specialist attached to DRB-HICOM, Telekom Malaysia and Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Berhad (PUNB).
  • Fariz has a strong media and communication professional background and graduated from New York University (NYU) with a Master of Science (M.S.) focused in Public Relations and Corporate Communications and with First Class Honor’s.
  • Fariz has lived abroad for 12 years, studying in various international schools in Paris, Dubai, Tokyo and New York.



Fazlin Hassan Naziri

Economics, Manager




  • Fazlin has 13 years of technical and commercial experience across industries such as utilities, telecommunications, and aviation. She led several projects which provided specialist economic input to the Ministry of Transport Malaysia (MoT) on airfare pricing and connectivity in Malaysia.
  • Fazlin graduated from Imperial College London in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.



Hana S. Harun

East Malaysia Office, Manager




  • Hana has ten years of experience in the tourism industry with the Sabah Tourism Board and four years in Borneo conservation with the World Wide Fund (WWF) Malaysia.
  • She graduated with a MHSc. in Communications (Public Relations) from the International Islamic University Malaysia and possesses a BSc in Communications (Advertising) from the University of New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.
  • Some of her notable achievements include the Heart of Borneo initiative which was signed by Governments of Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. She led the team involved in the digitisation of marketing and communications for Sabah’s tourism industry. Aside from that, Hana conducted advocacy work for the East Malaysian aviation industry where she was involved in regulatory affairs. In MAVCOM, she is also a part of the team which oversees the Airports Quality of Service Framework, as well as the administration of the Rural Air Services for the communities in Sabah and Sarawak.



Nur Hazira Md Alimuddin

Human Capital Management, Corporate Services, Associate




  • Hazira is responsible for administering compensation and benefit plans, payroll and employee records, and to assist in overall administration and operational Human Resources processes within MAVCOM.
  • Hazira holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from University of Malaya and was awarded the Best Overall Cadet Officer Award for the University of Malaya’s Reserve Officer Training Unit (ROTU) Navy in 2016.
  • She was also commissioned as Acting Sub-Lieutenant of the Royal Malaysian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RMNVR) by His Royal Highness, the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah, representing the Yang di-Pertuan Agong at the 35th Royal Commissioning Ceremony of the ROTU Cadet Officers in 2016.



Hazman Hafiz

Economics, Associate




  • Hazman holds five years of working experience in the aviation and financial industry. He first started his career teaching for two years at a rural school in Malaysia.
  • Hazman has a bachelor’s degree in engineering (first-class honours) from the University of Malaya in 2012. He also holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in education from Northern University of Malaysia in 2014 and a Diploma in Civil Aviation management from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) which he received in 2019.
  • In 2013, he became a Teach for Malaysia Fellow in and is a Public Service Department Scholar.



Abdul Kadir Mohamed Abd Salam

Finance, Corporate Services , Senior Manager




  • Kadir was part of the pioneer team involved in the establishment of MAVCOM in 2016, in terms of setting up the operational infrastructure, obtaining launching grant and developing internal policies and procedures.
  • He oversees the overall financial management and financial reporting of MAVCOM, including successful implementation of Regulatory Service Charge (RSC) as main source of income for the Commission. Kadir also prepares and reviews the annual business plan, budget and corporate KPI for MAVCOM.
  • Previously, Kadir handled management reporting and performance analysis at CIMB Group and financial audit and advisory services at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Malaysia.
  • Kadir is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) and possesses a BA in Accounting and Financial Management from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.



Karen Leiking

East Malaysia Office, Senior Manager




  • With 24 years of experience in the airline and tourism industry, Karen was heavily involved in the team managing crises at Malaysia Airlines, where she was responsible for producing the log for the Malaysia Airlines Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) during the unprecedented tragedies of MH370 and MH17. During her time in Malaysia Airlines, she was also appointed as Project Manager for the aircraft Entry into Service (EIS) operational readiness programme.
  • Her extensive experience placed her in a secondment programme as Project Lead in the Restructuring Management Office (RMO) for Malaysia Airlines. She also project managed the implementation of various initiatives supporting the Business Turnaround Plan and Business Transformation Plan during her involvement at the Turnaround Management Office (TMO) for the company.
  • Karen’s professional network extends travel industry stakeholders, as she spearheaded various community related engagements with Community Leaders in Sabah and Sarawak pertaining to the Rural Air Services (RAS) programme. She also successfully coordinated Sabah’s marketing activities and participation at various international travel trade shows and exhibitions – mainly at the two of the world’s largest travel fairs, which are the International Tourismo Borse (ITB) in Berlin and the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, United Kingdom.
  • Karen possesses a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) in the field of Travel Industry Management from the Hawaii Pacific University.



Melati Abdul Hamid

Economics, Senior Manager




  • Prior to joining MAVCOM, Melati had more than eight years of experience in the Attorney General’s Chambers of Malaysia, handling matters relating to public international law, free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties negotiations, domestic and international dispute settlement, constitutional law, competition law, criminal justice, as well as, legal and policy research.
  • Melati graduated from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) in Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours in 2006. She subsequently graduated from Harvard Law School obtaining a Master of Laws in 2007. She later acquired her postgraduate Diploma in Economics for Competition Law in 2019 from King’s College London. Melati is admitted to practice law in the State of New York since 2010.
  • Melati has obtained prestigious awards throughout her career. In 2014, she was presented with a Pingat Perkhidmatan Cemerlang by the Prime Minister’s Department of Malaysia. In 2009, 2010 and 2013, she received the Anugerah Perkhidmatan Cemerlang from the Attorney General’s Chambers of Malaysia.
  • She obtained the Fulbright scholarship from 2006 to 2007 as well as the IIUM Gold Award for Comprehensive Excellence in 2006. Melati was awarded as Best Oralist in the Championship Round of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in Washington D.C., United States of America, in 2005.



Intan Nadia Jalil

Economics, Associate Director




  • Nadia spearheaded a two-year project to develop the first Economic Master Plan for the Malaysian Civil Aviation Sector for the Malaysian Ministry of Transport (MoT). The Master Plan provides strategic direction for the regulation and economic development of the Malaysian aviation sector.
  • Nadia participated in international fora such as the membership of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Working Groups, responsible for updating the Organisation’s Air Navigation Services Economics Manual, and the Policies on Charges for Airports and Air Navigation Services. She was also involved in the Zico Advisory inaugural ASEAN 40 Under 40 (2018) – in recognition for “commendable work as a leading young policy economist in Malaysia.”
  • As World Bank Malaysian Economist from 2012 to 2014, Nadia co-authored the Malaysia Economic Monitor, a biannual publication examining recent economic developments and outlook, as well as analysing long-term structural themes. She presented analysis and briefings on the Malaysian economy to World Bank senior management and clients, including the Chief Economist and Managing Director to the World Bank.
  • Nadia holds a Master’s Degree in Regional and Urban Policy Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2010, a BA in Economics from the University of Cambridge in 2003, and a Diploma in Civil Aviation Management from International Air Transport Association (IATA) in 2018.



Nafisah Abdul Nasir

Aviation Development, Associate




  • Nafisah is skilled in ensuring operational plans are well executed and possesses over 15 years of experience in commercial aviation operations, particularly in areas of schedule and network planning, as well as flight landing permit processes.
  • She has in depth working knowledge of market intelligence and analysis tools such as the PC Airflite system by SABRE (scheduling tools) and AirportIS by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
  • Nafisah possesses a BBA (Hons.) in Finance from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam, an Investment Analysis Diploma from UiTM, Johor, and an Aviation Management Diploma from the IATA Training Centre.



Rosida Ismail

Aviation Development, Senior Manager




  • Rosida has over 14 years of extensive experience in expediting a wide spectrum of public affairs strategies, policy formulation as well as governments and functions for stakeholder engagement. She specialises in securing buy-ins from the executive and legislative branch, aviation-related regulators as well as top-level decision makers, coupled with exceptional negotiations skills and project management acumen. Known also for her extensive public speaking experience, Rosida possesses a vast professional network with global diplomatic corps, civil aviation regulators, industry players as well as Ministers and legislative makers.
  • Rosida graduated with a BSc. in Science from the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. She obtained her Post Degree Diploma in Public Management from the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN), and graduated with a MSc. in Air Transport Management from Cranfield University, London, United Kingdom.
  • Rosida has been awarded the Dean’s List by University Malaya in 2006, the Anugerah Perkhidmatan Cemerlang (Excellence Award) by the Ministry of Transport (MoT) in 2008, and the Hadiah Latihan Persekutuan (Scholarship) by the Malaysian Government in 2011 and 2012.
  • She has published numerous journals which include “The South China Sea: The Struggle for Power – a Book Review – Journal for Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, Kuala Lumpur (2015)”, “ASEAN Open Skies – Aviation Development in 2015: Blue of Cloudy Skies? – Annals of Air and Space Law: Vol XL (2015), McGill University (2016)”, “Collaborating to open the skies with China – challenges and opportunities – European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance (2017)”, and “The skies the limit! Open skies with limitation – European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance, Vol 4, Issue 1 (2017)”.



Saiful Bakhtiar Osman

Information and Communications Technology, Corporate Services, Manager




  • Saiful has more than 19 years of experience in IT Security, data centre management, servers and network, project management, application development, IT standards and best practices.
  • He is a certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Microsoft Certified System Administrator (MCSA), and ITIL Certified Practitioner (v2 and v3). In Project Management, he is a Certified PRINCE2 Project Manager and a Certified SCRUM Master (Agile project management methodology). Saiful is also a Certified ‘Graduate Technologist’ under Malaysia Board of Technologists [Act 768] and a Registered Member of the National ICT Association (PIKOM).
  • Saiful has been involved in various fora including being a panelist for ISACA’s “Cybersecurity, IT Assurance & Governance (CIAG)” forum in 2019. In 2018, he became a panellist at the “CIO Summit Asia-Malaysia 2018” organised by Dot Connector in Shanghai, a speaker at IDC’s “Business Innovation Forum” and at IDC’s “CIO Summit 2018”. In 2017, he was appointed as moderator at IDC’s “CIO Summit 2017” and at CIO Asia’s “CIO Conference 2017”.
  • Saiful holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology (Hons.) and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). In 2019, he was awarded the prestigious International Data Group’s (IDG) Top 50 CIOs for ASEAN award and the ‘Information Visionary’ Award for the FlySmart Complaints Management System (CMS) at IDC’s Digital Transformation Summit.



Sarah Izzati Seeni Mohamed

Aviation Development, Associate




  • Sarah possesses a Masters in Business Administration (Finance) from Multimedia University and a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting & Finance) from University of Auckland.
  • She has five years’ experience as an Administrative and Diplomatic Officer in several Ministries including the Public Private Partnership Unit of the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Transport Malaysia.
  • Her core competencies include regulatory and government relations, aero-political, public affairs, policies formulation, contract negotiation and stakeholder management.
  • Sarah helped develop the first electronic landing permit application system for all flights entering Malaysia’s airspace as well as operating to/from all airports in Malaysia to streamline landing permit processes across several relevant industry bodies.



Mohamed Sathik Ali Mohd Meera

Aviation Development, Manager




  • Sathik specialises in aviation and regulatory affairs, having over 19 years of in-depth experience across commercial aviation, airline operations, quality assurance and regulation.
  • He led the development of Malaysia’s first e-licensing and monitoring portal on a salesforce.com platform for the local aviation industry over six months and within budget.
  • Sathik also conducted quality assurance checks on airline operations and processes as well as recommend systemic process improvements.
  • He has experience in performing economic evaluations for the issuance of commercial licences and Air Traffic Rights for aviation service providers in Malaysia and achieved a KPI of less than 90 days processing in 2019.



Leong Chuo Sheng

Aviation Development, Manager




  • A part of the Aviation Development division, Sheng oversaw Air Traffic Rights, Filing of Services, Economic Licencing and Public Service Obligations. He was also attached to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) and Korean Air as an Industry Affairs specialist and as a Passenger Marketing officer respectively.
  • Sheng has also published a paper entitled, “Attitudes and Behaviours as Explanatory Variables to Airport Leakage” and presented it at the 2nd Annual Education and Research Symposium – Aviation Industry Association of New Zealand, from 28 to 29 July 2010.
  • Sheng is currently undergoing his Master of Sciences (MSc) in Air Transport Management at Cranfield University, United Kingdom. Previously, he graduated from Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand, acquiring a Bachelor’s Degree in Aviation Management (Hons.) in Aviation Management with First Class Honours.



Sitti Nadhirah Md Rusli

Economics, Associate




  • Before joining MAVCOM, Nadhirah was a Research Assistant for the Business and Economics Division at the Malaysia Competition Commission, and prior to that, she was an intern at the Khazanah Research Institute. She was also a Shell Malaysia scholar, a scholarship programme which provided a unique entrance into the energy industry and allowed Nadhirah to pursue her educational aspirations.
  • Nadhirah holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics (Hons.) from the International Islamic University Malaysia, and possesses a Master’s Degree in Economics with Distinction from the University of Malaya.



Sugumari Pakerysamy

Consumer Affairs, Associate




  • Sugumari possesses a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London.
  • She specialises in areas of complaints management and resolution, quality assurance, as well as root cause analysis.
  • In MAVCOM, she is a part of the consumer affairs team which assists in complaints resolution at an average of 95 per cent closure of cases on a monthly basis.
  • Sugumari has actively participated in all consumer awareness campaigns for MAVCOM’s consumer sub-brand, FlySmart, to raise awareness on air travel rights.



Suhunaraj Shanmugam

Consumer Affairs, Senior Manager




  • Suhu is an experienced legal officer with 15 years of experience in industries ranging from aviation, financial services and the oil and gas industry. He has held major positions of responsibilities such as regional legal counsel for Middle East, Africa, and South East Asia.
  • Suhu specialises in intellectual property law, graduating with a Master’s Degree from the University of Leeds, and has nine years of experience in intellectual property law.
  • He also has international experience in handling legal aviation cases at the European Court of Justice.



Thomson Emmanuel Wong Whye Soon

Consumer Affairs, Associate




  • Thomson specialises in digital media planning, business strategy, paid media strategy and planning. He is the caretaker of MAVCOM’s consumer sub-brand – FlySmart, to champion air passengers’ rights in the aviation industry, where in 2019, 60 per cent of travellers in Malaysia became aware of their air travel rights.
  • Thomson holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons.) in Global Economics.



Wan Yusniza Wan Yahya

Aviation Development, Associate Director




  • Yusniza led various strategic initiatives such as the development of Malaysia’s first aeronautical charges framework as a funding model for the airports industry. She also led the consultation and engagement of over 80 stakeholders since the initial development of the framework in 2017 through the publishing of four consultation papers and regular consultations.
  • Yusniza successfully created an evaluation process and supervised a team of ten in the evaluation and commercial licensing of over 70 companies. In addition, she provided specialist input to the Government of Malaysia over economic and commercial matters regarding the aviation industry.
  • A Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder since 2009, Yusniza also possesses a BEng (Hons.) specialising in Materials with Management from Imperial College, London.



Norzahin Mazlee

Communications, Manager




  • Zahin has over six years of experience working and leading various initiatives within the spectrum of marketing and communications across industries such as healthcare, banking and maritime.
  • She is tasked to be the caretaker of the MAVCOM website and has led the production of three Annual Reports for MAVCOM.
  • Zahin was chosen amongst her peers to enrol in the Fast Track to Degree Programme for the Bachelor of Advertising (Hons.) at University Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam, where she graduated with First Class Honours and received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award.
  • She has also managed various events involving transport authorities, including the coordination of four convocation ceremonies for Malaysian Maritime Academy Sdn. Bhd.