Update #1 – according to sources, Prime Minister Najib Razak will be the Minister-in-Charge of SPAD!!!
TRANSIT notes a report in the Star newspaper today that states that Syed Hamid Albar, has been appointed as the Chairman of SPAD effective June 3.
The formal announcement of the appointment of Syed Hamid as Chair, and Muhd Nor Nor Ismail Mohd Kamal as CEO was made on 6 June. Other commissioners are yet to be determined.
According to the statement,
A programme management office under the Transport Ministry will work with an interim SPAD national key result area (NKRA) team.
The SPAD NKRA team is tasked with delivering five initiatives that do not come under any agency — bus right-of-way, bus stops, performance management, network restructuring and ticketing integration.
You may also wish to read the following articles:
Syed Hamid Albar is head of public transport commission (The Star);
Syed Hamid is transport panel chief (NST)
Syed Hamid gets SPAD job
5 June 2010
By LESTER KONG
lester@thestar.com.myPETALING JAYA: Former Home Minister Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar is the chairman of the new Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD).
A source close to him confirmed that his appointment as SPAD chairman was effective June 1.
However, it is learnt that the Prime Minister’s Office will issue a press statement tomorrow on the appointment.
“Yes, it is true but I think you better wait for the announcement on Sunday.
“I was told the Prime Minister will announce on the setting up (of the Commission) too,” the source said last night, adding that a press conference on the matter would also be held next week.
When contacted, Syed Hamid declined to confirm nor deny the appointment but said, “Just wait and see.”
The Kota Tinggi MP was Foreign Minister from Jan 1999 to March 2008 and was Home Minister until April 2009.
Syed Hamid, a United Kingdom-trained lawyer, failed in his bid for one of three Umno vice-president posts in last year’s party elections.
The SPAD chairmanship had been the object of a struggle between various figures, according to insiders and news reports.
The names of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk S.K. Devamany and Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board (CVLB) chairman Datuk Halimah Sadique had been bandied about.
The Land Public Transport Bill tabled in Parliament on April 12 aimed to rationalise public transportation under a single authority called SPAD, which will be established by the Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat Bill, tabled the same day.
The first bill is expected to absorb the CVLB and the Department of Railways into SPAD.
Both bills are now before the Senate.
Pan Malaysian Bus Operators Association president Datuk Ashfar Ali said he welcomed the decision to appoint Syed Hamid.
“He is the right choice. As an experienced senior politician, he knows the right buttons to push to get things done at the federal and state levels,” he said.
Ashfar added that because Syed Hamid had not been involved in the transport industry, he would be able to provide “fresh outlook and ideas” to the land public transport industry.
TRANSIT Says
We welcome Syed Hamid to the world of public transport in Malaysia. Hopefully he knows what he is stepping into.
Transit Malaysia 
4 replies on “Syed Hamid Albar is Chairman of SPAD (Update #1)”
[…] NOTE 1: The Land Public Transport Commission was officially created on 1 June 2010, with Syed Hamid Albar as the first Chair. See our posting here which describes our preferred candidates, and vote in our […]
Time for TRANSIT to offer their service to SPAD..
errrrr…..we’ll see what SPAD has to say. They are probably busy with a lot of procedural and other duties over the next 2-3 months.
But they are welcome to join us in the discussion on transitmy.org.
Regards, Moaz for TRANSIT
can we have a new spud instead of an old one? recycle, recycle, recycle….that’s why nothing is moving forward in this nation.