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Flight MH370 a year on: Will we EVER find out what happened to the missing plane?

By John Kelly
Mirror UK

7 March 2015

It has been a year since Captain Zaharie Shah steered his mighty Boeing 777 into the night sky with 227 passengers and 12 crew, who have never been seen again

In a routine he had performed ­countless times before, Captain Zaharie Shah steered his mighty Boeing 777 into the night sky.

All must have seemed normal to the 227 passengers and 12 crew on the Beijing- bound aircraft – but something was wrong.

Shortly afterwards, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared.

One year on, what happened still remains a mystery. Continue reading “Flight MH370 a year on: Will we EVER find out what happened to the missing plane?”

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MH370 pilot’s family lash out as Malaysia prepares to release report on plane’s disappearance

Lindsay Murdoch
Sydney Morning Herald
March 7, 2015

The family of MH370 pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah has lashed out at people who blame him for the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 239 people on board 12 months ago.

“Disgusting … no-one, be you politician, scientist, aviation expert, plane crash investigator, pilot, retired pilot, media or whoever, none of you have the right to blame Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah for any wrongdoing,” Sakinab Shah, the 53-year-old pilot’s elder sister said in a statement to mark Sunday’s anniversary.

Ms Sakinab’s comments come as Malaysia is set to release a report on the investigation into the disappearance of MH370 on Sunday that could shed new light on one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history.

The findings of an investigation team comprising experts from seven countries have been shrouded in secrecy as the anniversary prompted renewed speculation and more wild theories about how one of the world’s most sophisticated aircraft could disappear while flying over the South China Sea en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing early on March 8, 2014.

The report will detail the findings of extensive investigations into the plane, its flight path, crew and passengers and the data that led experts to conclude the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean west of Perth.

A key focus of the investigation has been whether someone deliberately switched off the plane’s transponder and communications equipment as the plane was leaving Malaysian air traffic control and entering that of Vietnam. Continue reading “MH370 pilot’s family lash out as Malaysia prepares to release report on plane’s disappearance”

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5 theories about what happened to MH370

Nick Vivion
USA TODAY
March 7, 2015

It’s been one year since the tragedy of missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 unfolded in disbelief. How could an airliner in today’s jet age simply disappear without a trace? Of course, like any widespread mystery, there are many theories about what happened on that fateful day. Here’s a rundown of what could have happened to MH370:

Sabotage, or the “rogue pilot” theory

This has become the predominant theory due to recent analysis by former Boeing 777 pilot Byron Bailey. According to the Telegraph, he suggests that the pilot was able to deftly thread through country borders in order to avoid raising suspicion with nearby flight controllers, leading Bailey to conclude:

It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to work out who did it. Nearly all my colleagues in the aviation industry realised within days of the crash that only a pilot could have done this.

Facts that support this deliberate diversion theory include that someone turned off the plane’s transponder and disabled the communications system within the cockpit. This is a sophisticated move that most agree could only be done by a trained pilot rather than a malfunction or amateur hijacking. The question of motivation is still left unanswered, but it could have been simple suicide, says science writer Ewan Wilson. A 777 pilot, Bailey also points out that a suicide attempt by the pilot would void any life insurance payments to family, which would be a real incentive for such an elaborate scheme. Continue reading “5 theories about what happened to MH370”

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A year later: Why did we find AirAsia jet but not MH370?

Lindsay Deutsch
USA TODAY
March 7, 2015

Three commercial plane crashes and recoveries dominated the news last year. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine. AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed into the Java Sea during bad weather. And Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 — well, what happened in the skies with that jet remains shrouded in mystery.

Officials are still searching a vast area for any sign of MH370 one year after the crash on March 8, 2014. So what makes Flight 370’s case so different from Flight 8501, which was on a similar flight path?

Several factors contributed to why the debris from the AirAsia plane was located, rather than remaining the subject of conspiracy theories: Continue reading “A year later: Why did we find AirAsia jet but not MH370?”

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Setahun sudah MH370

Nomy Nozwir
The Malaysian Insider
7 March 2015

Minggu ini genap setahun saya menulis dalam ruang kolum The Malaysian Insider, saya masih ingat pada mula-mula kejadian pesawat malang MH370, dari Kuala Lumpur menuju Beijing, telah hilang entah ke mana.

Bagi saya, peristiwa kehilangan pesawat ini adalah satu momen yang cukup besar kepada sejarah negara ini, sama seperti peristiwa 13 Mei 1969 atau pemecatan Anwar Ibrahim sebagai Timbalan Perdana Menteri.

Pejam celik pejam celik, sudah setahun peristiwa besar dalam sejarah negara kita itu sudah berlalu.

Peristiwa itu kita dapat menyaksikan seluruh rakyat Malaysia, tidak mengira agama, kaum, dan semangat kepartian bersatu berharap pesawat malang itu dapat ditemui.

Majlis solat hajat, kempen bakar lilin dan tandatangan sebagai satu tanda rakyat ini bersimpati atas mangsa yang berada dalam kapal terbang itu, serta berharap kapal terbang itu dapat dijumpai.

Sehingga hari ini, usaha untuk mencari pesawat itu masih diteruskan, dengan langkah-langkah aktif dilakukan oleh tentera laut Australia mencari kawasan seluas-luasnya di Lautan Hindi, serta penat lelah para pencari masih belum hilang. Continue reading “Setahun sudah MH370”

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Why we must keep searching for MH370

– Guy Gratton
The Malaysian Insider
7 March 2015

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 a year ago has led to one of the largest search exercises in history. The 140-tonne aircraft and all its 239 passengers and crew remain missing, and the search continues across 17,000km² of ocean up to 5km deep. For comparison, we knew within 20km where the 50,000 tonne Titanic sank in 1912, in water 4km deep – and even then it took 73 years to find it.

A steel ship is much easier to find than an aluminium aircraft because it has a far larger effect on the earth’s magnetic field and so is easier to detect. More obviously, locating something as big as a cruise liner based on a fairly good knowledge of the location is much easier than finding a much smaller aircraft in a large area of the Indian Ocean.

Why don’t we know where MH370 went, wasn’t it being tracked? Near to major cities and population centres, state air traffic control uses primary radar – which locates objects using reflected radio waves. But radar’s range is only a few hundred miles, and while airliners carry their own radar this is calibrated for detecting storms and mountains, not other aircraft. Continue reading “Why we must keep searching for MH370”

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Why police presence at EC public hearing, asks DAP

by Desmond Davidson
The Malaysian Insider
7 March 2015 8:11 PM

Sarawak DAP has accused the Election Commission (EC) of breaking its rigid “closed door” rule in the public objections to its proposed redrawing of the electoral boundary in Miri with the presence of four police personnel, believed to be from the Special Branch Unit.

DAP Senadin branch chairperson, Eunice Lim questioned why the cops were allowed to take part but barred the public and media from the series of hearings in Kuching and other major towns in the state.

“Why were the SB officers allowed inside the hearing?” she asked.

“Their presence create a sort of fear to those who were making their presentation,” Lim said, referring to an incident last Thursday.

“I did not realise their presence when I was making my presentation,” she said.

“We only came to know about it when my colleague (Piasau assemblyman Alan Ling) spotted the officers sitting with the EC officers before making his own presentation.” Continue reading “Why police presence at EC public hearing, asks DAP”

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#KitaLawan protest attracts the angry, the creative and the nonchalant

by Anisah Shukry
The Malaysian Insider
7 March 2015 8:51 PM

Amid the chants of ‘Reformasi’ and ‘Undur Najib’‎ at today’s #KitaLawan rally outside Sogo in Kuala Lumpur, one tiny, elderly woman could be seen shuffling among the crowd, angrily smacking the banners held up within her reach.

“Stop it!” she cried in Malay, her dark, wrinkled face pulled into a scowl, as she tried to grab a nearby protester. “You’re being a menace!”

Other rally-goers grinned and nudged each other as she prowled around in her baju kurung, her eyes darting back and forth, an odd figure among the sea of Malaysians dressed in black gathered today to protest opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s imprisonment.

Today’s demonstration drew a mixed crowd of Malaysians, with the numbers surpassing the previous rallies held by the same organisers every weekend for the entire month.

With the exception of the woman, the mood among the thousands who turned up today was largely festive, and their spirits remained unperturbed even as the evening wore on and it began raining intermittently. Continue reading “#KitaLawan protest attracts the angry, the creative and the nonchalant”

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MH370 next of kin recall their disbelief at news of missing plane

by Melati A. Jalil
The Malaysian Insider
7 March 2015

United in sorrow, the next of kin of crew members on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 gathered tonight for strength and solidarity as they recounted the disbelief and terror they felt one year ago upon hearing that the plane carrying their loved ones had vanished.

“Oh My God, oh my God, oh my God, what’s going on, what’s going on,” was the first thing Melanie Antonio said when she first heard the news of the Beijing-bound jetliner’s disappearance on March 8, 2014.

Antonio, the wife of chief steward Andrew Nari recalled the shock and the speechlessness she felt that morning.

“They said the flight had lost contact and I said, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, what’s going on, what’s going on… seriously that’s what I said because I was shocked,” she told The Malaysian Insider tonight at the One Year Remembrance of MH370 Cabin Crew Families event in Petaling Jaya.

There were 12 crew members, including the pilot and co-pilot, on board the plane that lost contact with civilian radar over the waters off Vietnam as it headed towards Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. The plane then did an air turn back before flying southwards to the Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have ended, and where a massive undersea search is ongoing.

Kelvin Shim, whose wife Christine Tan was the lead stewardess, said he told himself that what he was experiencing could not be true. Continue reading “MH370 next of kin recall their disbelief at news of missing plane”

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It doesn’t make sense, says Maira Elizabeth Nari

Arfa Yunus
The Rakyat Post
Mar 7, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, March 8, 2015:

“I think he is still alive, they all are, but I have a feeling that they are never coming back”.

Those were the words of MH370 chief steward Andrew Nari’s daughter, Maira Elizabeth Nari, who up until now still believes that the passengers and crew of the ill-fated flight are still alive.

Speaking to The Rakyat Post, Maira expressed her anger and said that the mystery involving the Boeing 777-200ER did not make sense and believed that “something fishy is going on”.

“How can a big plane just disappear? Maybe it is being kept somewhere. I am at this point where I don’t even know what to say or think anymore.” Continue reading “It doesn’t make sense, says Maira Elizabeth Nari”

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Pained by loss, MH370 kin questions Putrajaya’s timing of report release

BY MAYURI MEI LIN
The Malay Mail Online
March 7, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — The government’s decision to release an interim report on the first-year anniversary of the missing Flight MH370 tomorrow has drawn flak from at least one family member of the ill-fated plane’s passengers.

Grace Subathirai Nathan, whose mother Anne Catherine Daisy was among the 239 passengers and crew who vanished on March 8 last year, said she was notified earlier today that the report would be released just before the families are to hold a remembrance function for their loved ones.

“We are in so much pain at this time that we still have no news of our loved ones,” the 26-year-old lawyer told Malay Mail Online in a text message through WhatsApp.

“What is the value of releasing this report on the 8th minutes before the official start time of our NOK event?” she asked, using the acronym meaning next-of-kin.

“Can’t they release it on the 9th?” she added. Continue reading “Pained by loss, MH370 kin questions Putrajaya’s timing of report release”

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DAP whip in the Sabah State Assembly, Dr. Edwin Bosi will move a motion in Sabah Stafe Assembly next month to propose a Sabah State Assembly Select Committee headed by Speaker Salleh to hold public inquiry to review 52 years of Sabah in Malaysia

DAP whip in the Sabah State Assembly, Dr. Edwin Bosi will move a motion in Sabah Stafe Assembly next month to propose a Sabah State Assembly Select Committee headed by Speaker Salleh Keruak to hold public inquiry to review 52 years of Sabah in Malaysia.

This will provide all Sabahans an opportunity to ventilate and articulate their hopes, expectations ad dream of Sabah in Malaysia, and an important aspect of such a review must be the three fundamental guarantees engraved in the Keningau Batu Sumpah – freedom of religion, land rights and adat istiadat of native Sabahans.

Edwin’s motion will be follow-up to the recent suggestion by Salleh that he Federal Government gove partial autonomy to Sabah and Sarawak, as both states lacked independence in decision-making, and make both feel they are partners in Malaysia and not servants of West Malaysian colonialists. Continue reading “DAP whip in the Sabah State Assembly, Dr. Edwin Bosi will move a motion in Sabah Stafe Assembly next month to propose a Sabah State Assembly Select Committee headed by Speaker Salleh to hold public inquiry to review 52 years of Sabah in Malaysia”

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Muhyddin’s seven-para statement has smashed Najib’s six-para PMO Statement on Cabinet position on RM42 billion 1MDB scandal into smithereens

Within 42 hours of the meeting of UMNO Divisional chiefs in Kuala Lumpur at 3 pm tomorrow Sunday), the Deputy Prime Minister and UMNO Deputy President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has thrown a bomb to shatter the facade of UMNO and Cabinet unity which the Prime Minister’s Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s PMO Communications Unit had carefully crafted with a six-paragraph statement after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday on the RM42 billion 1MBD scandal.

Muhyiddin’s seven-paragraph statement late last evening has smashed Najib’s six-para PMO Statement on the Cabinet position on the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal into smithereens. Continue reading “Muhyddin’s seven-para statement has smashed Najib’s six-para PMO Statement on Cabinet position on RM42 billion 1MDB scandal into smithereens”

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Are 1MDB’s woes revealing a fractured Najib government?

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
6 March 2015

The Cabinet might have tried to put up a united front over debt-heavy 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) financial woes but it took Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin just 48 hours to crack that façade.

His seven-paragraph statement tonight made three points not found in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) statement on Wednesday which said, “Cabinet expressed confidence that no wrong-doing has been committed within 1MDB, and their desire for the company to be allowed to implement the proposed outcomes of its strategic review.”

Muhyiddin’s points were simple for a company that reportedly sits on a RM51 billion asset base that can cover its RM42 billion debts.

For him, there should not be any bailout of 1MDB if it involves public funds, the Auditor-General must verify 1MDB’s accounts from 2009, and that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should carry out an independent probe. Continue reading “Are 1MDB’s woes revealing a fractured Najib government?”

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Call on Speaker Salleh to support a DAP motion in April Sabah State Assembly to set up a Sabah State Assembly Select Committee to hold public inquiry to review 52 years of Sabah in Malaysia

Recently, the Sabah State Assembly Speaker Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak suggested that the Federal Government consider giving partial autonomy to Sabah and Sarawak, as both states lacked independence in decision-making.

He said Sabahans and Sarawakians must be made to feel they are partners in Malaysia and not servants of West Malaysian colonialists, and the matter should be dealt with quickly before state elections are held in the next few years.

He said the present system of the federal government practically running the two states did not go down well, as the states were supposed to enjoy a certain level of autonomy.

He said Sabah and Sarawak did not really want independence, as proposed by some.
“What is of concern to Sabah and Sarawak is the federalisation of the state government and the loss of its autonomy in deciding some matters,” he said.

He said the federal government not only decides on development expenditure but also controls how, what and when development is implemented.
“This causes delays, wastage and overlapping of functions between the state and federal agencies. Many times the state is left out entirely in the decision-making process,” he said in an article on his blog.

Salleh’s admission about the legitimacy and gravity of grievances and unhappiness by the people of Sabah and Sarawak about their “step-children” treatment by the Federal Government is commendable, although his call for “partial autonomy” only address the symptom but not the root of the problem in both Sabah and Sarawak. Continue reading “Call on Speaker Salleh to support a DAP motion in April Sabah State Assembly to set up a Sabah State Assembly Select Committee to hold public inquiry to review 52 years of Sabah in Malaysia”

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Pakatan Rakyat leaders must be vigilant on the watch-out for UMNO/BN agent provocateurs who are trying to wreak maximum damage to destabilise, divide and destroy Pakatan Rakyat unity to distract attention from mounting UMNO/BN woes

Pakatan Rakyat leaders must be vigilant on the watch-out for UMNO/BN agent provocateurs who are trying to wreak maximum damage to destabilise, divide and destroy Pakatan Rakyat unity to distract attention from mounting UMNO/BN woes.

The responsibility of UMNO/BN agent provocateurs for the recent assaults on PAS leaders, like PAS MP Dr. Hatta Ramli and Dr. Dzukefly Ahmad have not and cannot be ruled out – which is why Pakatan Raykat leaders should be very careful about what they say and do in public.

It is very unfortunate that the Kelantan PAS Deputy Mentri Besar and Deputy Commissioner (I) Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah had adopted such a negative attitude as to say that the door was closed to DAP in its bid to stop PAS from bringing its hudud Bill to the Kelantan State Assembly, and that there will be no more talk with DAP, claiming that he had explained the reasons behind the Kelantan hudud amendment to DAP’s top leaders at least four times.

He even asked: “What more do they want?”
Continue reading “Pakatan Rakyat leaders must be vigilant on the watch-out for UMNO/BN agent provocateurs who are trying to wreak maximum damage to destabilise, divide and destroy Pakatan Rakyat unity to distract attention from mounting UMNO/BN woes”

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The six-paragraph PMO statement on Wednesday on Cabinet meeting on RM 42billion 1MDB scandal signifies the arrival of “The Whale” in Malaysian politics overshadowing not only the 10-Minister PM Department but the 35-Minister Cabinet

The London Sunday Times expose on Sunday, which shook the Najib administration to its very roots with reports of joint Sunday Times-Sarawak Report investigations into the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal and revelation that they have obtained access to thousands of 1MDB transactions and email which 1MDB had attempted at the end of last year to wipe out from all its computers, employee laptops and servers, started with the story of “The Whale”.

In its report “Harrow playboy linked to troubled Malaysian fund”, Sunday Times London of Sunday, 1st March 2015 which launched its series of investigation exposes on 1MDB scandal (which has forced the Malaysian authorities to seriously think of an “exit strategy” for Najib in 1MDB) opened as follows:

“IN THE summer of 2009, a Malaysian nicknamed ‘the Whale’ appeared on the New York nightclub scene. He would travel with a large entourage in a fleet of Cadillacs and his party would spend tens of thousands of dollars a night in the company of socialites such as Paris Hilton.

“’The Whale’ is said to have celebrated his 28th birthday with a four-day event in Las Vegas that included a party at a pool surrounded by caged lions and tigers. Manhattan was abuzz with questions over his identity and the source of his wealth.

“It emerged that the ‘mystery man’ of the nightclubs was the Malaysian tycoon Taek Jho Low, who had been educated at Harrow School and the Wharton School in Pennsylvania. He claimed his success was due to being in the ‘right place at the right time’. Continue reading “The six-paragraph PMO statement on Wednesday on Cabinet meeting on RM 42billion 1MDB scandal signifies the arrival of “The Whale” in Malaysian politics overshadowing not only the 10-Minister PM Department but the 35-Minister Cabinet”

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MH370 families vow not to give up hope until there is proof

The Malaysian Insider
5 March 2015

Just three days to the first anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, families of the missing passengers and crew have vowed not to give up hope until there is physical evidence of the aircraft.

In a statement today, Voice370 – a group made up of wives, husbands, children, parents and other close relatives of the missing passengers and crew – also called on Putrajaya to commit to the search for the missing plane and their loved ones until they are found.

“Despite the complete lack of wreckage found or physical evidence of a catastrophic event, the Malaysian government has officially declared that the airplane crashed, leaving no survivors, and it has ended the rescue phase of the search effort.

“We do not accept this finding and we will not give up hope until we have definitive proof of what happened to MH370,” it said. Continue reading “MH370 families vow not to give up hope until there is proof”

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Country should make reparations and restore justice and honour to former High Court judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Idid, the country’s first judicial whistleblower who was victimized and punished instead of being rewarded for his act of supreme loyalty to his oath of office as a judge

The country should make reparations and restore justice and honour to former High Court judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Idid Syed Abdullah Idid, the country’s first judicial whistleblower who was victimized and punished instead of being rewarded for his act of supreme loyalty to his oath of office as a judge.

If Syed Ahmad Idid’s whistleblowing in March 1996 had been heeded, resulting in thorough investigations and root-and-branch reform of the judiciary 19 years ago, Malaysian judges, lawyers and citizens would have been able to stand tall in the world today because we would have a judiciary nationally and internationally respected for its independence, integrity and quality!

Now, Malaysian judiciary in 2015 is back in the dock of public opinion, both inside the country and internationally, over the independence, integrity and professionalism of its judiciary and its commitment to a just rule of law because of four cases this year, viz: Continue reading “Country should make reparations and restore justice and honour to former High Court judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Idid, the country’s first judicial whistleblower who was victimized and punished instead of being rewarded for his act of supreme loyalty to his oath of office as a judge”

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The Cabinet meeting and outcome on 1MDB yesterday seemed to have been scripted and choreographed by Najib’s “master publicist” Paul Stadlen with one objective in mind – to avoid accountability for the RM42 billion MDB scandal in the whole month of Parliament beginning on Monday

The Cabinet meeting and outcome on 1MDB yesterday seemed to have been scripted and choreographed by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s “master publicist” Paul Stadlen with one objective in mind, to avoid accountability for the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal in the whole month of Parliament beginning on Monday.

If true, this must be the first time a Cabinet anywhere in the world is led by the nose like a flock of sheep by a “master publicist” to play out the script choreographed even before the Cabinet meeting, which does not redound to the credit of Malaysia’s Ministers, whether their intelligence or integrity.

The cabinet decided, after 1MDB and its auditors provided a briefing on the company’s current situation and responded to a series of questions posed by Cabinet Ministers, including the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, that the debt-laden state investment firm 1MDB has done nothing wrong.

Did all the 35 Cabinet Ministers yesterday know what they were doing and fully understood the going-ons in 1MBD in the past six years when they issued a clean bill of health and integrity to 1MDB?

Were they presented with any Cabinet papers on the 1MDB to read and study before the Cabinet meeting?

Were they given access to the “thousands” of 1MDB transactions and email which London Sunday Times and Sarawak Report have said they have obtained access to, despite abrupt attempts by 1MDB at the end of last year to call in all of its computers, employee laptops and servers to wipe them clean of such transactions and emails? Continue reading “The Cabinet meeting and outcome on 1MDB yesterday seemed to have been scripted and choreographed by Najib’s “master publicist” Paul Stadlen with one objective in mind – to avoid accountability for the RM42 billion MDB scandal in the whole month of Parliament beginning on Monday”