Month: April 2014

Following the revelation last week by former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Tun Musa Hitam that the then Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was in Malaysia during the bloody Memali Incident on November 19, 1985, and not in China as it has been believed in the past three decades, I had called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to ascertain the truth as Mahathir had absolved himself of the death of 18 people, including four policemen, in the Memali tragedy.

Another reason I had given for a RCI to revisit the Memali Incident is because the protagonists of the Memali Incident like former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, former Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Musa Hitam, former Inspector-General of Police, Tun Hanif Omar, former Acting Inspector-General of Police,Tan Sri Dato’ Mohd Amin bin Osman, the then Information Minister Tan Sri Rais Yatim, Deputy Home Minister at the time, Tan Sri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, the then UMNO Secretary-General Tan Sri Sanusi Junid, the OCPD Baling during the Memali incident, Tunku Muszaffar Shah and a follower of Ibrahim Libya who is now Senator Muhamad Yusof Husin from Baling, Kedah are still alive and can testify on the avoidable tragedy.

In fact, the eye-witness testimony of the Baling OCPD at time of Memali Incident, Tunku Muszaffar Shah, is itself an extra potent reason why there should be a RCI to revisit the 1985 tragedy which cost 18 lives so that the real truth could be uncovered for the nation and people. Continue reading “The eye-witness testimony of the Baling OCPD during the Memali Incident and the need to end political interferences in national institutions are extra potent reasons why there should be a RCI to revisit the 1985 tragedy which cost 18 lives”

The Malay Mail Online
April 2, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — Growing acrimony in China over Malaysia’s handling of the MH370 crisis could jeopardise Chinese buyers’ appetite for property development here, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The news comes as rancour in Beijing over the Malaysia’s continued inability to find the missing Malaysia Airlines plane that carried 153 Chinese nationals among the 239 people on board has already torpedoed the Visit Malaysia Year 2014 promotions in the country.

Families of the Chinese passengers on the doomed flight and their countrymen became hostile towards Malaysia following its announcement on March 24 that satellite data showed the plane “ended somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean”.

The absence of physical evidence of the flight led some families to label the Malaysian government “murderers” for implying that all those aboard were dead.

“For now, marketing homes in Malaysia is going to be a bit awkward. It’s just like how we don’t market homes in Japan to Chinese customers,” an anonymous Beijing-based real estate consultant told the WSJ.

But the expected drop-off will not only hit Malaysian property developers; Chinese real estate firms who invested heavily in the market here could now end up with lots for which they might find fewer buyers. Continue reading “After tourism, MH370 fallout in China set to hit Malaysian property”

The Malaysian Insider
April 02, 2014

Newly found cracks on the klia2 apron and building have cast doubts on the RM4 billion budget airport terminal’s safety, weeks before it is due to begin operations and at a time of global scrutiny after flight MH370 vanished, aviation industry sources say.

The sources passed a set of 13 photographs taken yesterday to The Malaysian Insider, revealing cracks on the apron and also rectified cracks on walls of the two-storey budget terminal.

“The photos tell the story of whether klia2 is ready or not to be used,” an aviation source told The Malaysian Insider.

This is the second set of photographs sent to The Malaysian Insider about the condition of the new terminal, which can cater for up to 45 million passengers through its 64 gates.

It is understood that klia2 operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has assured the government that it would carry out remedial works that would not affect the terminal’s opening and operations from May 2. The opening date has been delayed at least five times. Continue reading “More cracks found in klia2, a month before starting business”

By Alex Watts, Sky News
01 April 2014

The mystery of what made flight MH370 crash thousands of miles off route in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean has filled news websites and TV bulletins for the past three weeks.

But despite the huge interest and speculation, are we any nearer to finding out what happened to the doomed Boeing 777 than when it vanished from radar on March 8?

What we do know is both the plane’s transponder and Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), an in-flight digital system that helps track planes after they have gone out of radar coverage, were disabled or stopped working less than an hour into the flight.

The Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 239 people then flew west for at least five hours before crashing somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

Six theories remain for why the plane disappeared – cabin depressurisation, toxic fumes, fire, hijacking, pilot murder-suicide, or simultaneous failures. Continue reading “Six Reasons To Explain Mystery Of Flight MH370”

By Noelle Swan, Staff writer / April 1, 2014
The Christian Science Monitor

The search for Malaysia Flight 370 is complicated by the wide spread of ocean garbage, much of which looks just like plane crash debris in satellite images.

It’s a wing.… It’s a seat cushion.… It’s an icebox lid?

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has turned up a lot of debris. Unfortunately, so far at least, none of it appears to belong to the missing Boeing 777.

Vast quantities of trash bobbing around the ocean have made the Sisyphean search for wreckage from Flight 370 all the more complicated.

In the weeks since the March 8 disappearance of the plane, searchers have darted about the Indian Ocean, following evolving analyses of radar data and potential clues offered by satellite imagery.

Unfortunately, garbage floating on the ocean waves looks an awful lot like plane debris, says Malcom Spaulding, a former oceanography professor at the University of Rhode Island who has been involved in search and rescues since the 1970s.

“We essentially have had satellite-based images that give us tantalizing information that there might be a debris field,” says Mr. Spaulding. “But we don’t know whether anything in the debris field is associated with the accident.” Continue reading “Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Search reveals extent of ocean garbage”

BBC News
1 April 2014

British submarine HMS Tireless has joined the hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The Ministry of Defence said the Trafalgar class submarine had arrived in the southern Indian Ocean and would help search for the plane’s black box recorder.

It will soon by joined by Royal Navy coastal survey ship HMS Echo. Continue reading “MH370: UK submarine joins search for missing plane”

Chris Brummitt and Gillian Wong, Associated Press | April 1, 2014 10:19 AM ET
National Post

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — It may mean little to investigators that the last words air traffic controllers heard from the lost jetliner were “Good night, Malaysian three-seven-zero,” rather than “All right, good night.” But to Malaysian officials whose credibility has been questioned almost from the beginning, it means a great deal.

Malaysian officials said more than two weeks ago that “All right, good night,” were the last words, and that the co-pilot uttered them. They changed the account late Monday and said they are still investigating who it was that spoke. The discrepancy added to the confusion and frustration families of the missing already felt more than three weeks after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared.

“This sort of mistake hits at the heart of trust in their communications. If Malaysia is changing what the pilot said, people start thinking, ‘What are they going to change next?” said Hamish McLean, an expert in risk and crisis communication at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia.

“Information is in a crisis is absolutely critical. When we are dealing with such a small amount of information its needs to be handled very carefully,” he said.

Authorities have been forced on the defensive by the criticism, the most forceful of which has come from a group of Chinese relatives who accuse them of lying about — or even involvement in — the plane’s disappearance. In part responding to domestic political criticism, defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein has taken to retweeting supportive comments on Twitter. He has twice in recent days proclaimed that “history would judge us well” over the handling of the crisis. Continue reading “Flight MH370 Malaysian officials struggle with credibility after changing last words heard from lost aircraft”

The Malay Mail Online
April 1, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Malaysia may be grappling with the crisis of flight MH370 but international rebuke, particularly from China, over its handling is not fully deserved, the Financial Times said.

In a commentary here, the business daily’s Singapore-based senior editor Jeremy Grant suggested that even China — Malaysia’s biggest critic since the Boeing 777-200ER’s mysterious disappearance on March 8 — would not likely have fared better.

He reminded China of its previous debacles in the face of public crises, such as the melamine-contaminated milk scandal in 2008 that had turned into a public relations nightmare for the republic.

In another fiasco, the Chinese authorities were accused of muzzling the media and attempting to cover-up the tragic high-speed rail crash in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, which killed 38 people and injured 192.

Despite its previous performance, China is now putting Malaysia under the spotlight over similar accusations. Continue reading “Not even China could run MH370 gauntlet unscathed, FT says”

The Malay Mail Online
April 1, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Commercial satellite firm Inmarsat has dismissed allegations of “evasiveness” in its absence from technical briefings on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, saying existing rules precluded its active participation in place of British authorities.

The firm whose satellite provided the crucial information of the plane’s calculated position came in for accusations of furtiveness after a “Malaysian official” was reported as saying that it had declined an invitation to join a “high-level” briefing organised by the Malaysian government for families of Chinese passengers from MH370 in Beijing.

Speaking to UK newspaper The Guardian, Inmarsat vice-president for external affairs Chris McLaughlin denied they had turned down the invitation, saying that it was not the private firm’s place to be invited to begin with.

“We haven’t been invited. Why would we? The Air Accident Investigation Branch are the proper people to speak. Inmarsat is a technical adviser to the AAIB.

“That is not us being evasive, that is the Chicago convention protocol,” McLaughlin told the UK daily.

The Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation regulates rules regarding aviation and establishes how air accident investigations are conducted. Continue reading “UK satellite firm swats off suspicions over MH370 briefing snub”

The 25th day of the missing Malaysian Airlines (MAS) MH370 starts with another emotional roller-coaster not only for the loved ones of the 239 passengers and crew onboard the Boeing 777 airliner, but for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, territory or politics.

This is the medley of shame, sadness and anger felt by most Malaysians when they learn of the correction issued by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) just before midnight confirming that MH370’s last radio communication was “Good night Malaysian 370” and not “All right, good night” as earlier reported.

The Chinese broadcaster CCTV had on Sunday reported that the last words from the cockpit of MH370 before it disappeared from civilian radar were actually “Good night, Malaysian 370”, and not “all right, good night” as the Department of Civil Aviation had previously claimed.

The final sign off, said as the plane left Malaysian airspace and was about to enter that of Vietnam at 1.19 am on March 8, is much more formal than the words that were originally reported.

I believe I share the feelings of the overwhelming number of Malaysians when I cringe at the DCA’s clarification, feeling shame, sadness and even anger that we have made another mistake which should not have occurred, as it reflects most adversely on the competence of our system of governance and therefore on our national pride.

The past 25 days have exposed at least half-dozen mistakes and weaknesses, viz: Continue reading “Correction of the last words from the cockpit of MH370 – why it is even more imperative for an opposition-headed Parliamentary Select Committee on MH 370 before Parliament adjourns on April 10!”

by Eileen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
April 01, 2014

Pakatan Rakyat MPs are seething at Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s decision to attend the Asean Defence Ministers meeting in Hawaii, instead of briefing them tonight on the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

Describing it as the “height of irresponsibility and an utter contempt of parliament”, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said they wanted Hishammuddin to brief them, and not his officers.

“This is proof that the Barisan Nasional government is not serious, especially on the roles that MPs can play on this matter,” Lim said in a press conference at the Parliament lobby today. Continue reading “Opposition angry Hishammuddin will not be around for MH370 briefing”

The Malaysian Insider
April 01, 2014

Aviation industry experts now want Malaysia’s air traffic controllers to reveal their response when flight MH370 vanished early March 8, after the authorities finally said last night that the plane’s pilots said “Good night Malaysian three seven zero” and not “All right, good night”.

The change in the conversation transcript is the latest in a series of changes in information about the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER (9M-MRO) which disappeared with 239 people while en route to Beijing 24 days ago.

“Subang air traffic control (ATC) has not said what it did when the plane vanished after it signed off from Malaysian airspace. Did they launch an immediate search and rescue?

“If the lack of military response is anything, it raises a lot of questions about the ATC’s standard operating procedure (SOP),” an aviation expert told The Malaysian Insider, citing International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations require immediate alerts to relevant search and rescue units. Continue reading “Will Subang ATC now reveal initial response when MH370 went missing?”

The Malay Mail Online
April 1, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Searchers wasted three days looking for MH370 wreckage in the wrong part of the Indian Ocean because of poor coordinating among countries working on locating the missing aircraft, the Wall Street Journal wrote today.

Citing opinions from those familiar with the probe, the business paper said the international team of experts involved in investigations have all been performing their roles but are working separately from one another, each in their own area of expertise.

One person, according to WSJ, said that although investigators have been dutifully sharing information with their international partners in the Malaysian-led probe, “Malaysian officials didn’t feel it was their role to ensure that foreign experts were sharing refined data among themselves”.

“They don’t have the necessary structure for inter-agency coordination. It has exposed their lack of preparation to deal with such a disaster,” the paper quoted James Keith, former US ambassador to Malaysia, as saying previously.

Last Friday, the search for MH370 abruptly shifted to an area 1,100 kilometres northeast of where search planes and ships were initially looking for the missing jetliner’s wreckage in the Indian Ocean, far southwest of Perth, Australia. Continue reading “Report: Poor coordination wasted time in Indian Ocean hunt for MH370”