Anthony Loke (left) and Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.
PETALING JAYA: The current and former transport ministers should work together to address the high cost of plane tickets, says Anthony Loke's former political secretary.
Datuk Dahlan Maamor, who served under Loke from 2018 to 2020, said that Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, who is Ayer Hitam MP, had good intentions in raising the matter.
"Both sides have responded to defend their points of view.
"What is wrong for the minister to call Dr Wee up to have a cup of coffee and discuss their views seeing as they both are in the unity government family. What is so hard for there to be peace and to accept Dr Wee's comments," he said on Facebook on Monday (April 17).
Dahlan said that if the comments were wrong then Loke should answer back in a courteous and friendly tone.
"Do not bring political rivalry into issues of public welfare," he said.
On Sunday (April 16), Dr Wee had said he had received complaints about the high price of a one-way flight ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau on the airasia Super App.
The fare displayed on the app for an economy-class flight ticket on April 20 was RM3,138.
However, the Malaysia Airlines app listed it as a business-class ticket.
Loke said that the average ticket price for an economy class direct flight to Sabah ranged from RM200 and RM800, depending on when tickets are purchased.
On airline tickets sold by third parties through online travel agents (OTA), Loke said this was done by several platforms.
However, he acknowledged that this could lead to confusion among consumers as these OTAs were selling flight tickets at a higher price.
