PETALING JAYA: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Sunday suggested that Boeing and the Central Intelligence Agency should be questioned over the missing Flight MH370.
"Someone is hiding something. It is not fair that Malaysian Airlines (MAS) and Malaysia should take the blame," he said in his blog Chedet.cc.
In his 11-paragraph long post, Mahathir expressed his viewpoints and theories on the situation and stressed that something was out of place and that the media would not post anything about Boeing or CIA.
"They can land safely or they may crash, but airplanes do not just disappear. Certainly not these days with all the powerful communication systems which operate almost indefinitely and possess huge storage capacities,” Mahathir said.
Stating that he believes the tracking system on the plane was intentionally disabled, Mahathir questioned on where was the data of the plane, which was supposed to have been recorded by the satellite.
"MH370 is a Boeing 777 aircraft. It was built and equipped by Boeing, hence all the communications and GPS equipment must have been installed by Boeing.
"If they failed or have been disabled, Boeing must know how it can be done and surely Boeing would ensure that they cannot be easily disabled as they are vital to the safety and operation of the plane," he said.
He added that in 2006, Boeing received a US patent for a system that, once activated, removes all control from pilots to automatically return a commercial airliner to a pre-determined landing location.
He cited Flightglobal.com article by John Croft dated Dec 1, 2006, stating that the ‘uninterruptible’ autopilot would be activated – either by pilots, on board sensors or even by radio or satellite links by government agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency, if terrorists attempt to gain control of the flight deck.
"Clearly Boeing and certain agencies have the capacity to take over 'uninterruptible control' of commercial airliners of which MH370 is one," he said.
Mahathir said attempts to detect the plane by looking for debris and oil slick was a waste of money, adding that this was not an ordinary crash and that the plane was somewhere, maybe without MAS’ markings.
"Boeing should explain about this so-called anti-terrorism auto-land system.
"I cannot imagine the pilots made a soft-landing in rough seas and then quietly drown with the aircraft," he added.
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Showing posts with label MH370. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MH370. Show all posts
Sunday, 18 May 2014
Wednesday, 16 April 2014
MH370: Are foreign media abusing freedom?
By Norshazlina Nor'azman, Sin Chew
KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Bernama) -- Till today the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines' (MAS) Flight MH370 remains the main story in the newspapers, news portals and television.
Both the local and foreign media, provided wide coverage from day one up to the present search in the south of Indian Ocean.
They have been trying their best to outdo one another in reporting on the latest developments on the jetliner carrying 239 passengers and crew that went missing on March 8 while en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
Nonetheless, some of the foreign media went overboard by painting a negative picture on Malaysia especially through the lopsided and speculative reports.
Speculative powers
Malaysians could only read, listen and watch in anguish many of the news reports especially by the foreign media that was critical of the of the airline, its crew and the country's leaders.
As the days passed more stories that were spiteful appeared and one good example would be the US based Fox News Channel's news that linked Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah and his co-pilot Fariq Ab Hamid with terrorism, sabotage and hijacking.
While search and rescue efforts were still on, CNN's security analyst Peter Bergen prematurely concluded that the plane's disappearance had something to do with terrorism or pilot suicide.
Britain's tabloid the Daily Mail even went further in its speculation that Capt Zaharie had sabotaged the plane as he was unhappy with the Appeal Court's decision hours earlier on de facto opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim over a sodomy charge.
The Daily Mail too in another article stated that Capt Zahari went into recluse several weeks before the tragedy, indirectly pointing that he could be behind the plane's disappearance.
And there was this news carried by the foreign media that a Chinese national Liu Guiqui, the mother to one of the passengers on the ill-fated flight, was manhandled by police after she gate crashed into the press conference room. The misreporting was so appalling that Liu herself found it fit to rubbish the report in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV).
Soon after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that based on satellite ping analysis flight MH370 had ended in the Indian Ocean, CNN hit out at MAS' for informing the fate of the passengers to the families through SMS.
The report drew public wrath on MAS that had made all attempts to communicate directly with the next of kin and made the company appear as if it was totally irresponsible.
And the list of wrong reporting or unsubstantiated speculations and claims on MH370 continues.
Abusing media freedom
The media reports were obviously unfair and lacked integrity, and what more when it was the wanton abuse of freedom of the press.
A lecturer at the Universiti Teknologi MARA's (UiTM) campus in Shah Alam, Associate Professor Dr Ismail Sualman noted that the foreign media had a tendency to sensationalise the missing flight MH370.
The lecturer with the Communications and Media Studies faculty noted that the foreign media were ready to overstep the journalistic ethics boundary all in the name of so called transparency.
He opined that much of dramatic speculation and theories were to get the scoop, to enhance the circulations and ratings without bothering of their implications.
"If this is all about the freedom of the media, that its nonsense! These media are totally irresponsible and unethical as they are ever ready to spin stories knowing well they are not true.
"There is no point in clamouring for the freedom of the press when they cannot provide fair and true coverage," he said to Bernama.
This should not be happening
Media speculations are harmful not only for the next of kin's emotion but also diverts the attention of the investigators, and search and rescue teams though their stories are just based on assumptions.
Ismail noted that the media often gets their facts wrong and were quick to point fingers without checking further.
He also found it shocking that a renowned news network like CNN could get its facts wrong like Kuala Lumpur in Indonesia and that the Malaysian prime minister's name is Najib Rahman.
"Mistakes like this coming from the so called credible news network are unbelievable and shocking... they are just no more than spin doctors," he said.
Malaysia doing its best
Whatever said and done by the media, the fact remains that Malaysia has given utmost priority to the welfare and the feelings of the family members of crew and passengers, something that cannot be seen elsewhere in such tragedies.
"This is unlike in the foreign countries, the government only emphasizes on search and rescue mission beforehand, before looking into the family's welfare.
"I feel Malaysia is really good in this aspect," he said.
Despite the unwelcome remarks from the foreign media and some next of kin, Malaysia took everything in humility and continued to seek a closure over the MH370 episode.
Actively deflecting criticisms
Meanwhile, he said that the local media has to be proactive in refuting the negative and inaccurate reports issued by the foreign media.
The move is highly pertinent in preserving the nation's image, apart from disseminating credible information over the incident.
"The local media has to work harder in uniting the Malaysians across the political divide and provide full moral support for the leaders in facing testing times like this," he said.
KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Bernama) -- Till today the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines' (MAS) Flight MH370 remains the main story in the newspapers, news portals and television.
Both the local and foreign media, provided wide coverage from day one up to the present search in the south of Indian Ocean.
They have been trying their best to outdo one another in reporting on the latest developments on the jetliner carrying 239 passengers and crew that went missing on March 8 while en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
Nonetheless, some of the foreign media went overboard by painting a negative picture on Malaysia especially through the lopsided and speculative reports.
Speculative powers
Malaysians could only read, listen and watch in anguish many of the news reports especially by the foreign media that was critical of the of the airline, its crew and the country's leaders.
As the days passed more stories that were spiteful appeared and one good example would be the US based Fox News Channel's news that linked Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah and his co-pilot Fariq Ab Hamid with terrorism, sabotage and hijacking.
While search and rescue efforts were still on, CNN's security analyst Peter Bergen prematurely concluded that the plane's disappearance had something to do with terrorism or pilot suicide.
Britain's tabloid the Daily Mail even went further in its speculation that Capt Zaharie had sabotaged the plane as he was unhappy with the Appeal Court's decision hours earlier on de facto opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim over a sodomy charge.
The Daily Mail too in another article stated that Capt Zahari went into recluse several weeks before the tragedy, indirectly pointing that he could be behind the plane's disappearance.
And there was this news carried by the foreign media that a Chinese national Liu Guiqui, the mother to one of the passengers on the ill-fated flight, was manhandled by police after she gate crashed into the press conference room. The misreporting was so appalling that Liu herself found it fit to rubbish the report in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV).
Soon after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that based on satellite ping analysis flight MH370 had ended in the Indian Ocean, CNN hit out at MAS' for informing the fate of the passengers to the families through SMS.
The report drew public wrath on MAS that had made all attempts to communicate directly with the next of kin and made the company appear as if it was totally irresponsible.
And the list of wrong reporting or unsubstantiated speculations and claims on MH370 continues.
Abusing media freedom
The media reports were obviously unfair and lacked integrity, and what more when it was the wanton abuse of freedom of the press.
A lecturer at the Universiti Teknologi MARA's (UiTM) campus in Shah Alam, Associate Professor Dr Ismail Sualman noted that the foreign media had a tendency to sensationalise the missing flight MH370.
The lecturer with the Communications and Media Studies faculty noted that the foreign media were ready to overstep the journalistic ethics boundary all in the name of so called transparency.
He opined that much of dramatic speculation and theories were to get the scoop, to enhance the circulations and ratings without bothering of their implications.
"If this is all about the freedom of the media, that its nonsense! These media are totally irresponsible and unethical as they are ever ready to spin stories knowing well they are not true.
"There is no point in clamouring for the freedom of the press when they cannot provide fair and true coverage," he said to Bernama.
This should not be happening
Media speculations are harmful not only for the next of kin's emotion but also diverts the attention of the investigators, and search and rescue teams though their stories are just based on assumptions.
Ismail noted that the media often gets their facts wrong and were quick to point fingers without checking further.
He also found it shocking that a renowned news network like CNN could get its facts wrong like Kuala Lumpur in Indonesia and that the Malaysian prime minister's name is Najib Rahman.
"Mistakes like this coming from the so called credible news network are unbelievable and shocking... they are just no more than spin doctors," he said.
Malaysia doing its best
Whatever said and done by the media, the fact remains that Malaysia has given utmost priority to the welfare and the feelings of the family members of crew and passengers, something that cannot be seen elsewhere in such tragedies.
"This is unlike in the foreign countries, the government only emphasizes on search and rescue mission beforehand, before looking into the family's welfare.
"I feel Malaysia is really good in this aspect," he said.
Despite the unwelcome remarks from the foreign media and some next of kin, Malaysia took everything in humility and continued to seek a closure over the MH370 episode.
Actively deflecting criticisms
Meanwhile, he said that the local media has to be proactive in refuting the negative and inaccurate reports issued by the foreign media.
The move is highly pertinent in preserving the nation's image, apart from disseminating credible information over the incident.
"The local media has to work harder in uniting the Malaysians across the political divide and provide full moral support for the leaders in facing testing times like this," he said.
Tuesday, 15 April 2014
PM raps opposition leader on MH370 remark
PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak (pix) today rapped a statement by an opposition leader who claimed he could solve the mystery of the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 in one second.
He said the disappearance of the flight MH370 had entered its 39th day and needed the support of countries within and outside the region due to the complexity (of the search) and its unprecedented challenges.
"The remark of the opposition leader is illogical and regarded the people of Malaysia as stupid," he said at the monthly meeting of the Finance Ministry here, today.
On April 5, a Chinese newspaper published an interview by the Southern Weekly magazine with opposition chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim which quoted him as saying that if he were the Prime Minister, he would take one second to solve the issue of the missing MH370.
The flight MH370 with 239 people took off on March 8 from the KL International Airport at 12.41am and went off the radar screens an hour later while flying over the South China Sea. The aircraft should have landed in Beijing, China at 6.30am on the same day.
The mission to find the aircraft involved numerous countries, initially in the South China Sea and later - after the aircraft was detected diverting from its original route - along two corridors, namely, the northern corridor from the borders of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan until northern Thailand and the southern corridor from Indonesia to the Southern Indian Ocean.
Following an analysis of satellite data of a United Kingdom satellite telecommunication company, Inmarsat and the Air Accident Investigation Branch summarised that flight MH370 flew along the southern corridor and its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth.
On March 24, Najib announced that flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.
The head of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, Air Chief Marshal (Retired) Angus Houston today said nine military aircraft, two public aircraft and 11 ships helped in the mission to look for MH370.
Furthermore, the Australian Maritime Security Authority planned to conduct an air search involving 62,063 square kilometres and the location of the target was 2,170km northwest of Perth. – Bernama
He said the disappearance of the flight MH370 had entered its 39th day and needed the support of countries within and outside the region due to the complexity (of the search) and its unprecedented challenges.
"The remark of the opposition leader is illogical and regarded the people of Malaysia as stupid," he said at the monthly meeting of the Finance Ministry here, today.
On April 5, a Chinese newspaper published an interview by the Southern Weekly magazine with opposition chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim which quoted him as saying that if he were the Prime Minister, he would take one second to solve the issue of the missing MH370.
The flight MH370 with 239 people took off on March 8 from the KL International Airport at 12.41am and went off the radar screens an hour later while flying over the South China Sea. The aircraft should have landed in Beijing, China at 6.30am on the same day.
The mission to find the aircraft involved numerous countries, initially in the South China Sea and later - after the aircraft was detected diverting from its original route - along two corridors, namely, the northern corridor from the borders of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan until northern Thailand and the southern corridor from Indonesia to the Southern Indian Ocean.
Following an analysis of satellite data of a United Kingdom satellite telecommunication company, Inmarsat and the Air Accident Investigation Branch summarised that flight MH370 flew along the southern corridor and its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth.
On March 24, Najib announced that flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.
The head of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, Air Chief Marshal (Retired) Angus Houston today said nine military aircraft, two public aircraft and 11 ships helped in the mission to look for MH370.
Furthermore, the Australian Maritime Security Authority planned to conduct an air search involving 62,063 square kilometres and the location of the target was 2,170km northwest of Perth. – Bernama
Robot Submarine Dives in Frustrating Hunt for Missing Airliner
Dan Lamothe of Foreign Policy is an award-winning military journalist and war correspondent. He has written for Marine Corps Times and the Military Times newspaper chain since 2008, traveling the world and writing extensively about the Afghanistan war both from Washington and the warzone.
He also has reported from Norway, Spain, Germany, the Republic of Georgia and while underway with the U.S. Navy. Among his scoops, Lamothe reported exclusively in 2010 that the Marine Corps had recommended that Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer receive the Medal of Honor. This year, he was part of a team of journalists that exposed senior Marine Corps leaders' questionable involvement in legal cases, and then covering it up. A Pentagon investigation is underway in those cases.
He has written a piece on MH370: Robot Submarine Dives in Frustrating Hunt for Missing Airliner. CLICK HERE to read it.
He also has reported from Norway, Spain, Germany, the Republic of Georgia and while underway with the U.S. Navy. Among his scoops, Lamothe reported exclusively in 2010 that the Marine Corps had recommended that Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer receive the Medal of Honor. This year, he was part of a team of journalists that exposed senior Marine Corps leaders' questionable involvement in legal cases, and then covering it up. A Pentagon investigation is underway in those cases.
He has written a piece on MH370: Robot Submarine Dives in Frustrating Hunt for Missing Airliner. CLICK HERE to read it.
Sunday, 6 April 2014
Cops Trawl CCTV Recordings for Clues
KUALA LUMPUR: Criminal investigators looking into the possibility of foul play by those on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may have found some leads to narrow down their probe in that direction.
They had, over the last few weeks, sifted through hundreds of closed-circuit television footage, not only from cameras in most corners of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) from which the Boeing 777-22ER twinjet took off, but mined those taken at a toll plaza 8.8km away, where most passengers would have passed to reach the airport.
Also mined were videos taken from the stretch of road leading to KLIA.
The New Sunday Times was made to understand by sources that all those who boarded the plane had their movements recorded by CCTVs right up to the time they showed up at gate C1, in the West Zone of the airport's Satellite Building, where the plane was supposed to take off at 12.35am. It eventually took off at 12.41am.
The team carrying out this probe is separate from the International Investigating Team (IIT), which comprises agencies with expertise in satellite communications and aircraft performance.
Also roped in the IIT are the United Kingdom's Inmarsat, Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), and Rolls-Royce, China's Civil Aviation Administration and Aircraft Accident Investigation Department (AAID) as well as the United States' National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Federal Bureau of Investigation and Boeing.
The IIT has among others been working to analyse data, including those obtained from radar and satellites, in narrowing the search area, which has since been centred in the Indian Ocean.
Police on Wednesday said they had "obtained some clues" on what might have happened to the flight, based on the statements recorded from more than 170 people. This number is climbing.
It was the same day that they cleared all 227 passengers of the flight. They, however, did not give the same clearance to the aircraft's crew.
Their probe had focused on four possible areas: hijack, sabotage personal problems and psychological problems.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had said police were looking at the crew of the flight, as the main "subjects of investigations".
Those they had interviewed included the passengers' family members as well as the crew's, including those of pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and co-pilot Fariq Abul Rahman, 27.
While some details of the IIT's investigations had been released to appease family and media demand for information, the police said they would not divulge anything from their ongoing probe for fear that it could jeopardise their investigations.
"What is of paramount importance here is about getting to the bottom of this all.
"The police wouldn't, at any cost, risk this by making public at this point any findings that they had come to," sources said.
They are investigating the case under Section 130 (C) of the Penal Code, which deals with hijacking, terrorism and sabotage offences as well as the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act and Aviation Offences Act.
Among visuals extracted from the CCTV recordings were that of a senior crew member who had a cigarette before the six-hour flight to Beijing.
This visual was taken from the only available smoking area of the airport, located in its Satellite Building's East Zone.
After checking in, some two hours before the flight, many of those on board the plane had at some point made contact through their phones. Some of the passengers took the opportunity to shop for souvenirs.
Among those traced through the recordings were the two Iranians who went on board using assumed identities.
The duo, identified later as Pouria Nourmohammadi Mehrad, 19, and Seyed Mohammed Reza Delavar, 29, were described by Interpol as migrants being smuggled into Europe.
Investigators combing the recordings, first spotted them at the toll plaza in separate vehicles.
"One was in a taxi while the other was sent by a friend in a Proton Satria ... the vehicles stopped near each other and they walked in the same direction separately.
"They were trying hard to appear as if they didn't know each other at the airport.
"It was only much later that they pretended to bump into each other and shook hands, but after that they again kept a distance from each other, they were very calm throughout.
"Their hands were glued to their phones, texting non-stop ... it appeared as though they were taking instructions from someone. However, based on intelligence gathered, there was nothing suspicious that could link them to the plane going missing," the sources said.
Last month, information technology student Mohammad Mallaeibasir, 18, said the two had stayed in his apartment, here, the night before they left.
Mehrdad was his friend from high school in Teheran.
The recordings also traced the 19 Chinese artists and calligraphers, the second largest group that were travelling together on MH370.
After a visit to the the city centre in the scorching heat that Friday, they arrived at the airport much earlier before they checked-in.
As the group of artists reached the boarding gate, the head of their delegation, Hou Bo, received a call from their Malaysian host asking how they were doing. Bo told Daniel Liau: "Everybody is OK".
It is also learnt that Fariq and chief stewardess Goh Sock Lay, 45, both communicated via messenger application WhatsApp about 11.30pm. This was the last exchange they made through the application.
Source: NST
They had, over the last few weeks, sifted through hundreds of closed-circuit television footage, not only from cameras in most corners of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) from which the Boeing 777-22ER twinjet took off, but mined those taken at a toll plaza 8.8km away, where most passengers would have passed to reach the airport.
Also mined were videos taken from the stretch of road leading to KLIA.
The New Sunday Times was made to understand by sources that all those who boarded the plane had their movements recorded by CCTVs right up to the time they showed up at gate C1, in the West Zone of the airport's Satellite Building, where the plane was supposed to take off at 12.35am. It eventually took off at 12.41am.
The team carrying out this probe is separate from the International Investigating Team (IIT), which comprises agencies with expertise in satellite communications and aircraft performance.
Also roped in the IIT are the United Kingdom's Inmarsat, Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), and Rolls-Royce, China's Civil Aviation Administration and Aircraft Accident Investigation Department (AAID) as well as the United States' National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Federal Bureau of Investigation and Boeing.
The IIT has among others been working to analyse data, including those obtained from radar and satellites, in narrowing the search area, which has since been centred in the Indian Ocean.
Police on Wednesday said they had "obtained some clues" on what might have happened to the flight, based on the statements recorded from more than 170 people. This number is climbing.
It was the same day that they cleared all 227 passengers of the flight. They, however, did not give the same clearance to the aircraft's crew.
Their probe had focused on four possible areas: hijack, sabotage personal problems and psychological problems.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had said police were looking at the crew of the flight, as the main "subjects of investigations".
Those they had interviewed included the passengers' family members as well as the crew's, including those of pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and co-pilot Fariq Abul Rahman, 27.
While some details of the IIT's investigations had been released to appease family and media demand for information, the police said they would not divulge anything from their ongoing probe for fear that it could jeopardise their investigations.
"What is of paramount importance here is about getting to the bottom of this all.
"The police wouldn't, at any cost, risk this by making public at this point any findings that they had come to," sources said.
They are investigating the case under Section 130 (C) of the Penal Code, which deals with hijacking, terrorism and sabotage offences as well as the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act and Aviation Offences Act.
Among visuals extracted from the CCTV recordings were that of a senior crew member who had a cigarette before the six-hour flight to Beijing.
This visual was taken from the only available smoking area of the airport, located in its Satellite Building's East Zone.
After checking in, some two hours before the flight, many of those on board the plane had at some point made contact through their phones. Some of the passengers took the opportunity to shop for souvenirs.
Among those traced through the recordings were the two Iranians who went on board using assumed identities.
The duo, identified later as Pouria Nourmohammadi Mehrad, 19, and Seyed Mohammed Reza Delavar, 29, were described by Interpol as migrants being smuggled into Europe.
Investigators combing the recordings, first spotted them at the toll plaza in separate vehicles.
"One was in a taxi while the other was sent by a friend in a Proton Satria ... the vehicles stopped near each other and they walked in the same direction separately.
"They were trying hard to appear as if they didn't know each other at the airport.
"It was only much later that they pretended to bump into each other and shook hands, but after that they again kept a distance from each other, they were very calm throughout.
"Their hands were glued to their phones, texting non-stop ... it appeared as though they were taking instructions from someone. However, based on intelligence gathered, there was nothing suspicious that could link them to the plane going missing," the sources said.
Last month, information technology student Mohammad Mallaeibasir, 18, said the two had stayed in his apartment, here, the night before they left.
Mehrdad was his friend from high school in Teheran.
The recordings also traced the 19 Chinese artists and calligraphers, the second largest group that were travelling together on MH370.
After a visit to the the city centre in the scorching heat that Friday, they arrived at the airport much earlier before they checked-in.
As the group of artists reached the boarding gate, the head of their delegation, Hou Bo, received a call from their Malaysian host asking how they were doing. Bo told Daniel Liau: "Everybody is OK".
It is also learnt that Fariq and chief stewardess Goh Sock Lay, 45, both communicated via messenger application WhatsApp about 11.30pm. This was the last exchange they made through the application.
Source: NST
Planes, ships deployed to investigate Chinese signal
PERTH: Planes and ships were being diverted Sunday to the area where a Chinese vessel detected signals consistent with a black box beacon in the hunt for missing flight MH370, the search chief said.
Australia is coordinating the southern Indian Ocean search for the Malaysia Airlines plane which went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board.
“Today Royal Australian Air Force assets will deploy to assist in further examining the acoustic signals in the vicinity of where the Chinese ship has detected the sounds,” said Angus Houston, head of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre leading the search.
“HMS Echo and Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield are also being directed to join Haixun 01 as expeditiously as possible to assist with either discounting or confirming the detections.”
Houston said the Australian vessel Ocean Shield would be delayed while it investigated a separate acoustic signal in its current search location that had only been detected in the last hour.
“We do not have any detail on the encounter at this stage,” he said.
“We just know that there has been an acoustic detection by Ocean Shield which has highly sophisticated equipment and the word I have got is that it is something that needs to be investigated.
“I’m not prepared to speculate on what it might be and what it might not be.”
The Haixun 01 signal, which lasted for 90 seconds, was picked up during searches on Saturday. The Chinese ship had already detected a more fleeting signal on Friday, Houston said.
He described the development an “important and encouraging lead but one which I urge you to continue to treat carefully”.
“We are working in a very big ocean and within a very large search area, and so far since the aircraft went missing we have had very few leads which allow us to narrow the search area,” he said.
Houston said the mission was treating both acoustic signals “very seriously” but he said the Haixun 01 detection was the most promising lead.
The retired Australian defence chief also said that corrected satellite data had shifted the focus for the hunt for the missing plane to the southern area of the search, the area that Haixun 01 is operating in.
“The whole of the existing search area remains the most likely area that the aircraft entered the water, but based on the new advice the southern area now has a higher priority,” he said.
Houston urged caution, saying he did not want to put the families of those onboard the missing flight under further stress.
Source: FMT
Australia is coordinating the southern Indian Ocean search for the Malaysia Airlines plane which went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board.
“Today Royal Australian Air Force assets will deploy to assist in further examining the acoustic signals in the vicinity of where the Chinese ship has detected the sounds,” said Angus Houston, head of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre leading the search.
“HMS Echo and Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield are also being directed to join Haixun 01 as expeditiously as possible to assist with either discounting or confirming the detections.”
Houston said the Australian vessel Ocean Shield would be delayed while it investigated a separate acoustic signal in its current search location that had only been detected in the last hour.
“We do not have any detail on the encounter at this stage,” he said.
“We just know that there has been an acoustic detection by Ocean Shield which has highly sophisticated equipment and the word I have got is that it is something that needs to be investigated.
“I’m not prepared to speculate on what it might be and what it might not be.”
The Haixun 01 signal, which lasted for 90 seconds, was picked up during searches on Saturday. The Chinese ship had already detected a more fleeting signal on Friday, Houston said.
He described the development an “important and encouraging lead but one which I urge you to continue to treat carefully”.
“We are working in a very big ocean and within a very large search area, and so far since the aircraft went missing we have had very few leads which allow us to narrow the search area,” he said.
Houston said the mission was treating both acoustic signals “very seriously” but he said the Haixun 01 detection was the most promising lead.
The retired Australian defence chief also said that corrected satellite data had shifted the focus for the hunt for the missing plane to the southern area of the search, the area that Haixun 01 is operating in.
“The whole of the existing search area remains the most likely area that the aircraft entered the water, but based on the new advice the southern area now has a higher priority,” he said.
Houston urged caution, saying he did not want to put the families of those onboard the missing flight under further stress.
Source: FMT
Thursday, 3 April 2014
Bigger But Not Necessarily Safer
Barring a miracle, MAS is set to be listed as the airline with the highest number of fatalities in a single crash in the last decade.
Air France’s 2009 air crash claimed 228 lives and has topped the list the past 10 years, followed by Brazil’s TAM Airlines (199 deaths) in 2007 and Russia’s Pulkovo Airlines (170 passengers) in 2006.
Perhaps it is time for aircraft manufacturers to consider building safer jets instead of bigger ones. It is just common sense that if the passenger jets are smaller, the casualties would be lower in the event of a crash.
Air disasters can never be avoided or eradicated because engine or mechanical failures are just impossible to detect when these “giant steel birds” are up in the air.
Perhaps this quote from the James Bond movie titled “Diamonds Are Forever” makes much sense: “If God wanted men to fly, He would have given them wings.”
What is possible is to reduce tragic losses by capping the size of passenger jets and enhancing aviation safety technology.
So, MAS making it to the No 1 spot in fatalities in a single air crash is no indication of its safety management record compared with other airlines.
It was just that the ill-fated MAS Boeing 777-200ER wide-body passenger airliner load was bigger than that of other jets that crashed. To be sure, even the cause of the tragedy has yet to be determined.
Again, perhaps it is for the aviation engineers and experts to debate and tell the man in the street whether size does matter in terms of design and air safety.
It is not without basis that MH370’s mysterious disappearance at 1.07am on March 8 has been described by many aviators as “unprecedented in air industry history”.
Let’s fathom this:
Ø MH370 just vanished from commercial aviation radar screens and continued flying for at least five hours without a sign of distress; and
Ø MH370 managed to breach multi-national air space for at least five hours without an iota of suspicion from commercial or military radar stations.
Unprecedented, no doubt, but it is in the global interest of the aviation industry and militaries to find out what happened to MH370 and fix the problems and weaknesses that led to this tragedy.
And the answers to all these may just be in MH370’s flight recorder or Black Box that investigators and all are frantically searching for.
The MH370 tragedy has raised two dire issues:
Ø MAS’ financial health and management competency that reflect the Malaysian government’s administration performance; and
Ø The state of Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s (KLIA) air traffic control and security.
According to Reuters, even before the loss of flight MH370, MAS was bleeding cash, prompting talk that it may need another financial rescue from state investor Khazanah Nasional Bhd, its majority shareholder.
The flag carrier’s cash and short-term investments at end-December were close to US$1.2 billion (RM4 billion) – less than its average operating costs of the two previous quarters, and a signal that it may soon need fresh funding or bank loans.
MAS, Southeast Asia’s fourth-largest airline by market value, has had negative operating cash flow for three years – which means it is not generating enough cash to meet its day-to-day operating costs – and has had negative free cash flow, operating cash flow minus capital expenditure, for six years.
No one has yet calculated the cost to the airline of the lost plane, which is now assumed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean with 239 passengers and crew on board. While the plane was insured, there will likely be compensation payouts to the relatives of those who died.
“What this accident is going to create is an acceleration of the downward trend that we’ve seen at MAS for years, and the need to restructure," Bertrand Grabowski, who heads German bank DVB's aviation and land transport finance divisions, said.
“The only way out is shrinking, in terms of capacity and route network.”
MAS declined to comment on its financial situation. CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a briefing that it was “a very painful period for the airline”.
Until flight MH370 vanished, MAS had been looking to break even this year. In February, Ahmad Jauhari, a triathlete and long-distance runner, said the airline expected further pressure on its yields – passenger revenue per seat – and would try harder to cut its structural costs and improve productivity.
Khazanah, which owns 69 per cent of MAS, backed the recent rights issue. In 2012, Khazanah had tried to cut its stake in the airline, but the powerful Malaysian Airline System Employee Union (Maseu), which represents the airline’s 20,000-strong workforce, rejected a share swap deal with AirAsia.
“Khazanah will have to support MAS (just) as Temasek backed Neptune Orient during the financial crisis,” said an investment banker, referring to the Singapore state investor’s support for the local shipping firm’s 2009 rights issue.
The real question to MAS’ ill-health is whether the Malaysian government has the political will to come to terms with the real problems afflicting MAS – plugging financial leakages and largesse.
The MH370 tragedy is still a mystery and answers may be found over time. However, KLIA’s security is being questioned.
How did two Iranians, using stolen passports, get boarded on MH370? Were there others who boarded undetected? No answers thus far, only excuses and passing-the-buck by the police and the immigration department.
Police and investigators have yet to rule out hijacking as a possible cause of the MH370 tragedy. The fact is, if it was hijacking, can just one man seize full control of a jet for more than five hours?
This is one tragedy that the Malaysian authorities will not be able to sweep under the carpet, unlike its infamous habit of doing so for domestic tragedies and scandals.
Who killed Altantuya? Who killed Teoh Beng Hock? Just to cite two cases that need no further explanation for understanding Bolehland.
MAS was founded on Oct 12, 1937 as Malayan Airways Limited and took to the skies on April 2, 1947 as the national airline.
MAL assumed MAS (Malaysian Airlines) as its new corporate brand in 1963 following the formation of Malaysia.
MH370 is MAS’ second crash in its service history, the first being MH653 which was hijacked on Dec 4, 1977.
The Boeing 737-200 aircraft crashed in Johor’s Tanjung Kupang, killing all 93 passengers and seven crew members.
The findings of the tragedy were never made public though the flight was reportedly hijacked as soon as it reached cruise altitude. The circumstances in which the hijacking and subsequent crash occurred remain a mystery.
MH653 departed Penang's Runway 22 at exactly 19:21 hours for Kuala Lumpur’s Subang Airport (now known as Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport).
At 19:54 hours, at an altitude of 4,000 feet over Batu Arang and descending towards Subang’s Runway 33, the crew reported to Subang Tower that an “unidentified hijacker” was on board.
A few minutes later, the crew radioed: “We're now proceeding to Singapore” but MH653 never arrived. At 20:15 hours, all communication with the aircraft was lost.
The death toll: Malaysia (73), the United Kingdom (5), West Germany (4), Australia, India and Indonesia three victims each, Cuba (2), Afghanistan, Canada, Japan, Greece, Singapore, Thailand and the United States, all one each.
The Beijing-bound MH370 took off from KLIA’s runway and vanished from commercial aviation radar screens at 1.07am, barely after an hour in the sky.
Onboard were 239 people: China (152 + 1 infant), Malaysia (50), Indonesia (12), Australia (7), France (3), the United States (3 + 1 infant), New Zealand, Ukraine and Canada (all two each) and one each from Russia, Italy, Taiwan, the Netherlands and Austria.
MH370 has left investigators with many more questions than MH653. And if MH370’s disaster was caused by hijackers, at least it shows MAS’ maintenance and service of aircraft is a non-issue.
However, will the Malaysian government be able or allowed to, again like MH653, lock up its findings from the public and the world?
As far as any probe panel that is to be set up by the Malaysian government is concerned, one of theantdaily’s loyal readers Richard H Fleming’s post best sums up MH370’s follow-up:
“The PSC (Parliamentary Select Committee) better have some aviation experts and air accident investigators in its Team. Politicians getting involved in an investigation is like asking the foxes to decide what's good for dinner while guarding the chicken coop. Hishamuddin's ‘above partisan politics’ is not the issue here. Transparency, honesty, and integrity in arriving at the painful truth is the one and only issue that is owed to the families of the 239 souls onboard. But, there is still NO concrete evidence or hard proof as to the debris sightings to establish if indeed it is the missing Malaysian jetliner. I am not convinced. Satellite imagery is not the same as photographs. The jury is still out as to what REALLY happened.”
Over Three Million USD Spent So Far!
The US military has spent more than US$3.3 million (RM11 million) on the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 and has put in place plans that nearly double the original US$4 million available for the hunt, a Pentagon spokesman said yesterday.
Army Colonel Steve Warren said the Defense Department spent US$3.2 million between March 8 and March 24 on the initial search for the Boeing 777-200ER, which went missing more than three weeks ago during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
"This paid for ships steaming and helicopters flying, helicopters and planes," Warren told reporters.
Those funds came from US$4 million that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel initially authorised in spending from the Pentagon's Overseas Humanitarian Disaster and Civic Aid fund, he said.
As the search for the missing plane shifted to the southern Indian Ocean, the Pentagon's contribution to the effort narrowed to flying Navy P-8 surveillance planes out of Perth, Australia.
Funding for the effort then shifted to the Navy's Operations and Maintenance budget. Between March 25 and March 31, the Navy spent about US$148,300 to fly its P-8s in the ocean search mission, he said.
The Pentagon also responded to a Malaysian request to provide underwater search equipment, sending a Towed Pinger Locator as well as a Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle. Both devices can be used to listen for pinging sounds emitted by the plane's flight data recorders.
Warren said no specific limit had been set on the funding for flying the P-8s. He said the Pentagon had set an initial budget of US$3.6 million for the underwater search equipment being provided by the Naval Sea Systems Command. That gear is still en route to the search area.
"That's how much we've budgeted for the pinger and the Bluefin," Warren said. "We don't have an exact cost yet because it's going to vary depending on how much it gets used."
Up to 10 planes and nine ships from a half dozen countries yesterday scoured a stretch of ocean roughly the size of Britain, where the Malaysia Airlines jetliner is believed to have crashed.
Authorities have not ruled out mechanical problems as causing the disappearance, but say all the evidence suggests the plane was deliberately diverted from its scheduled route. – Reuters, April 3, 2014.
Source: The Malaysian Insider
Army Colonel Steve Warren said the Defense Department spent US$3.2 million between March 8 and March 24 on the initial search for the Boeing 777-200ER, which went missing more than three weeks ago during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
"This paid for ships steaming and helicopters flying, helicopters and planes," Warren told reporters.
Those funds came from US$4 million that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel initially authorised in spending from the Pentagon's Overseas Humanitarian Disaster and Civic Aid fund, he said.
As the search for the missing plane shifted to the southern Indian Ocean, the Pentagon's contribution to the effort narrowed to flying Navy P-8 surveillance planes out of Perth, Australia.
Funding for the effort then shifted to the Navy's Operations and Maintenance budget. Between March 25 and March 31, the Navy spent about US$148,300 to fly its P-8s in the ocean search mission, he said.
The Pentagon also responded to a Malaysian request to provide underwater search equipment, sending a Towed Pinger Locator as well as a Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle. Both devices can be used to listen for pinging sounds emitted by the plane's flight data recorders.
Warren said no specific limit had been set on the funding for flying the P-8s. He said the Pentagon had set an initial budget of US$3.6 million for the underwater search equipment being provided by the Naval Sea Systems Command. That gear is still en route to the search area.
"That's how much we've budgeted for the pinger and the Bluefin," Warren said. "We don't have an exact cost yet because it's going to vary depending on how much it gets used."
Up to 10 planes and nine ships from a half dozen countries yesterday scoured a stretch of ocean roughly the size of Britain, where the Malaysia Airlines jetliner is believed to have crashed.
Authorities have not ruled out mechanical problems as causing the disappearance, but say all the evidence suggests the plane was deliberately diverted from its scheduled route. – Reuters, April 3, 2014.
Source: The Malaysian Insider
Guess Who Got Ripped Apart?
Here's a hilarious article by Narinder Singh of FMT:
KUALA LUMPUR: Hilarious but with substance. That would describe best on how Jon Stewart mocked CNN on its intense and relentless coverage of the missing MH370.
On a video that can be viewed here, Stewart expresses that he is getting tired of CNN’s near-total obsession with the MH370 hunt.
Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, director, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian. He has over the years hosted numerous TV shows with the latest The Daily Show.
Having won numerous Emmy and Grammy awards and one of the highest paid personalities in late-night shows, Stewart showed no mercy in belittling CNN’s ‘tomfoolery’ in covering the MH370 news.
He went on an onslaught against the network for manipulating and maximising issues on the plane’s mysterious end.
“CNN is ‘using every part of the tragedy’ and going in any conceivable direction possible to find ways of covering the news, even literally just ‘pointing at shit and wondering what it is’,” said Stewart.
He went on to ridicule that in the past week, CNN has actually been able to report that there is a ton of waste and that heavy things sink while lighter things float, which is supposed to be ‘news’!
In other words, as Stewart puts it, “There was a lot of non Malaysian airliner garbage in the ocean, the heavier of which sinks, the lighter of which floats.”
‘Not a single shred of evidence’
Stewart went on to even suggest that CNN should “look up their own ass****s for the plane” as they just cannot resist wildly speculating on the MH370 incident.
Stewart in a witty remark summed it up and wondered if CNN is just bored with the idea of reporting things now.
Meanwhile, Mediaite also reported, in a mind-boggling manner as to how CNN has managed to extrapolate the entire search into a nearly 3,000-year hunt.
It said that someone on CNN actually estimated that it would take 2,955 years to search the entire ocean for the plane if they went mile by mile.
CNN’s weather anchor Chad Myers explained, “If you never stopped for fuel and you never stopped for new sailors, it would take you 2,955 years to map the ocean with one ship.”
MH370, with 239 people including its crew on board, went off the radar about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Beijing at 12.41am on March 8.
Search efforts are into the fourth week but not a single shred of evidence has been found to-date to determine the fate of the Boeing 777-ER200.
The Malaysian government declared the plane “ended its journey” in the South of the Indian Ocean but fell short of confirming if it has crashed. That puzzle still hangs in the air.
Source: FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: Hilarious but with substance. That would describe best on how Jon Stewart mocked CNN on its intense and relentless coverage of the missing MH370.
On a video that can be viewed here, Stewart expresses that he is getting tired of CNN’s near-total obsession with the MH370 hunt.
Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, director, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian. He has over the years hosted numerous TV shows with the latest The Daily Show.
Having won numerous Emmy and Grammy awards and one of the highest paid personalities in late-night shows, Stewart showed no mercy in belittling CNN’s ‘tomfoolery’ in covering the MH370 news.
He went on an onslaught against the network for manipulating and maximising issues on the plane’s mysterious end.
“CNN is ‘using every part of the tragedy’ and going in any conceivable direction possible to find ways of covering the news, even literally just ‘pointing at shit and wondering what it is’,” said Stewart.
He went on to ridicule that in the past week, CNN has actually been able to report that there is a ton of waste and that heavy things sink while lighter things float, which is supposed to be ‘news’!
In other words, as Stewart puts it, “There was a lot of non Malaysian airliner garbage in the ocean, the heavier of which sinks, the lighter of which floats.”
‘Not a single shred of evidence’
Stewart went on to even suggest that CNN should “look up their own ass****s for the plane” as they just cannot resist wildly speculating on the MH370 incident.
Stewart in a witty remark summed it up and wondered if CNN is just bored with the idea of reporting things now.
Meanwhile, Mediaite also reported, in a mind-boggling manner as to how CNN has managed to extrapolate the entire search into a nearly 3,000-year hunt.
It said that someone on CNN actually estimated that it would take 2,955 years to search the entire ocean for the plane if they went mile by mile.
CNN’s weather anchor Chad Myers explained, “If you never stopped for fuel and you never stopped for new sailors, it would take you 2,955 years to map the ocean with one ship.”
MH370, with 239 people including its crew on board, went off the radar about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Beijing at 12.41am on March 8.
Search efforts are into the fourth week but not a single shred of evidence has been found to-date to determine the fate of the Boeing 777-ER200.
The Malaysian government declared the plane “ended its journey” in the South of the Indian Ocean but fell short of confirming if it has crashed. That puzzle still hangs in the air.
Source: FMT
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
DAP and PKR– Foe or Friend of Malaysia?
DAP and PKR– Foe or Friend of Malaysia?
By Datuk Huan Cheng Guan
President, Centre for Political Awareness
History and literature have given us ample examples of how real friends stand with those in suffering and pain whilst bloodthirsty and unstoppable foes stand by the sidelines mocking and jumping at every single opportunity to disparage their foes. DAP is one classic example of how they masquerade as friends of the rakyat when in fact, they are one of the greatest foes of this country. Their agenda is clear – deride the status quo, do nothing and destroy the moral, social, and political fabric of this country!
DAP adviser has no grounds to disrespectfully order the PM to admit he made a mistake with regards to an announcement he made on March 24 that MH370 had ended in the southern Indian Ocean. Lim Kit Siang and his cohort of naysayers must show their record of work regarding the MH370 problem. Has Lim Kit Siang or any of leaders visited the families of the victims in Kuala Lumpur or Beijing? Did they try to join the SARs team, hire experts, or go to the ground to see the progress of search operations?
While the PM, Acting Transport Minister and various government agencies and departments work round the clock to get to the root of the problem, DAP leaders and members can only throw temper tantrums and hurl malicious criticisms at our leaders. Anything the government does is wrong in their eyes but most disgustingly, DAP does nothing but gripe, moan, scream and complain. When the government organized sessions with BN representatives, Lim Kit Siang complained and arrogantly declared that he would not attend even if invited to one organized specially for PR leaders. Clearly, the ’batu penghasut’ label befits this motley crew of devilish foes of Malaysia for their delight is in stirring feelings of resentment and fanning the flames of hatred against the ruling government locally and in China as well via Weibo – the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
In sharp contrast, world leaders from China, Singapore, and Australia have praised the Prime Minister and Acting Transport Minister for their efforts and have acknowledged that Malaysia has done her best in working with SARS teams from 26 nations.
Today, the Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang said, "The Chinese government never said that we were angry with the Malaysian Government. In fact, I am very satisfied and happy over details of operating procedures provided.” He insisted that China-Malaysia ties were still strong and it was a good time to enhance ties by working together to find the missing plane.
According to a news report by The Star, IATA director-general and CEO Tony Tyler praised the Malaysian authorities who have worked very hard to deal with the missing MH370 incident, which is unprecedented. He also acknowledged that the country is also doing its best to be transparent and announce new information when it becomes available.
Last Friday, Singapore Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam came to Malaysia's defense after scathing criticism of Kuala Lumpur's handling of the disappearance of a passenger plane with 239 people on board. He acknowledged that SARS teams from various countries lack the necessary resources for large scale assistance and voiced his concern about unfair criticisms to the Foreign Correspondents Association in Singapore. “I don't think enough account has been taken of the fact that there was very little to go on, very little that the Malaysians or anyone knew about the matter,” he said, describing the plane's disappearance as a “most unusual, bizarre situation.”
Two P8-Poseidons, each costing USD175 million, and 20 aircraft are also scouring the Indian Ocean for the MH370 and they have found nothing. US Navy Lieutenant Commander David Mims said that so far, they have not seen any land mass, shipping traffic and have seen virtually nothing. Commander William J Marks of the United States Seventh Fleet gave our government credit and acknowledged that ‘they are coordinating a huge international effort ‘efficiently and professionally. Chris McLaughlin, the Senior VP of Immarsat said that Malaysia has ‘made an honest attempt to try to run a very complex investigation’.
If international leaders and experts from 26 nations can praise Malaysia after working with our teams, DAP has no right whatsoever to reproach our PM. The record shows how Red Bean Army members and their chorus of grumblers are consistently condemning, berating, and vilifying our government on the home front and internationally via Weibo and Wechat! How can Malaysians display such destructive behaviour with folded arms? Is this a display of patriotism by true patriots or tantrums by traitors?
If truth be told, DAP cannot even keep its own house in order as can be seen by the ROS fiasco. DAP adviser would be better off advising his son how to better govern Penang which is likely to face a third hike in water rates.
To add salt to the wound, PKR leader Azmin Ali hypocritically declared that PKR had wanted to give their support to the government over the tragedy but was disappointed ‘over the numerous discrepancies in information between agencies. In reality, things are falling apart within PKR as seen by how they are willing to orchestrate a by-election and incur unnecessary costs to settle internal disputes within PKR Selangor. As if that was not enough, we have to witness the absurd drama of a husband (Anwar) challenging his wife (Wan Azizah) for the post of PKR President.
Both DAP and PKR are hopeless empty political shells led by dinosaur leaders who cannot control their own members or turf. How can they have the audacity to criticize our PM, Acting Transport Minister and all involved in the MH370 who are cooperating beautifully with teams from 26 nations? DAP and PKR must set their own house in order first before they pass any negative remark about our government. They have not acknowledged at any step the obstacles faced by our government teams but have put in place MORE obstacles by stirring citizens against the government, such as Tian Chua’s recent challenge for citizens to overthrow the government in five months.
Stop castigating and vilifying your country’s leaders and smearing our nation’s prestige with your hatred, lies, and manipulative maneuvers. Tell us finally, DAP and PKR – are you friends or foes of Malaysia? Are you patriots or traitors?
Police Have Clues
KUALA LUMPUR: Police said today they have clues to the disappearance of flight MH370 but details can't be revealed as it may jeopardise investigations.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the leads to possibly solving the case are linked to one of the four aspects of the investigations namely - hijack, sabotage, the psychological state of all crew members and their personal issues.
"We are sorry but we cannot reveal any details of the case as it may affect prosecution or a trial if there is any in the future.
"We are very thorough in our probe. Even the four tonnes of mangosteens in the aircraft cargo is being investigated.
"Investigators are looking into who ordered them, paid for them and plucked and packed them from an orchard in Muar.
"That is how in-depth this probe is going," he said, adding that he did not discount the possibility that the cause of the aircraft's disappearance may never be known.
Khalid also refuted news reports that a flight simulator belonging to MH370 pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah that was subjected to investigations by police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has been cleared of any suspicion related to the missing Boeing 777-200ER.
"It may be cleared on one aspect but we have to look into other areas as well. No, it has not been cleared," he said in a press conference after a function at the Police Officers' College in Cheras today.
Last week, acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein had said that the FBI's scrutiny on the data log of the flight simulator showed nothing sinister.
Khalid said only the 227 passengers on board the flight have been vindicated while the crew members are still under investigations.
To date, 170 people have been interviewed by the police task force, among them family members and acquaintances of the crew and passengers.
He said investigations on the mechanical aspect or airworthiness of the aircraft is being probed by the Department of Civil Aviation and Malaysia Airlines.
Khalid denied claims by a foreign daily that the FBI and Australian authorities had proposed to take over investigations.
"These are all speculations. The agencies from both countries have not written to me or made such requests. Everybody knows their jurisdiction," he said.
He also debunked news reports by foreign dailies that quoted unnamed high-ranking Malaysian police sources, saying such information was mere speculation.
"None of them spoke to my officers and the information in these stories are untrue.
"The Minister of Transport (Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein) is considering suing these news sources for the false information they are disseminating," he said.
Asked if police are confident of solving the case, Khalid replied "We have to be confident to solve the case."
Source: The Sun
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the leads to possibly solving the case are linked to one of the four aspects of the investigations namely - hijack, sabotage, the psychological state of all crew members and their personal issues.
"We are sorry but we cannot reveal any details of the case as it may affect prosecution or a trial if there is any in the future.
"We are very thorough in our probe. Even the four tonnes of mangosteens in the aircraft cargo is being investigated.
"Investigators are looking into who ordered them, paid for them and plucked and packed them from an orchard in Muar.
"That is how in-depth this probe is going," he said, adding that he did not discount the possibility that the cause of the aircraft's disappearance may never be known.
Khalid also refuted news reports that a flight simulator belonging to MH370 pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah that was subjected to investigations by police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has been cleared of any suspicion related to the missing Boeing 777-200ER.
"It may be cleared on one aspect but we have to look into other areas as well. No, it has not been cleared," he said in a press conference after a function at the Police Officers' College in Cheras today.
Last week, acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein had said that the FBI's scrutiny on the data log of the flight simulator showed nothing sinister.
Khalid said only the 227 passengers on board the flight have been vindicated while the crew members are still under investigations.
To date, 170 people have been interviewed by the police task force, among them family members and acquaintances of the crew and passengers.
He said investigations on the mechanical aspect or airworthiness of the aircraft is being probed by the Department of Civil Aviation and Malaysia Airlines.
Khalid denied claims by a foreign daily that the FBI and Australian authorities had proposed to take over investigations.
"These are all speculations. The agencies from both countries have not written to me or made such requests. Everybody knows their jurisdiction," he said.
He also debunked news reports by foreign dailies that quoted unnamed high-ranking Malaysian police sources, saying such information was mere speculation.
"None of them spoke to my officers and the information in these stories are untrue.
"The Minister of Transport (Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein) is considering suing these news sources for the false information they are disseminating," he said.
Asked if police are confident of solving the case, Khalid replied "We have to be confident to solve the case."
Source: The Sun
IGP: Still investigating Flight Simulator
KUALA LUMPUR: Police are still examining MH370 pilot, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s personal flight simulator and are waiting for a full report from its US counterpart, Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said this morning.
This contradicts what Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said earlier this week, that there was nothing detected on the flight simulator to link the pilot to any act of terrorism.
“Police are still investigating the simulator and we have not received any report from our counterparts on the matter.
“There is nothing conclusive for now,” Khalid said during a police event in Cheras.
Khalid revealed that police were continuing to record statements from family members of flight MH370 passengers, crew and pilots.
“We are still talking to the families and so far we have recorded 170 statements.”
Asked to clarify the status of investigations, Khalid said at the moment police have cleared all passengers from four aspects – hijack, terrorism, personal and psychological problems.
He also denied claims that the FBI has taken over control of the investigation.
“The FBI is only using their intelligence, expertise and advice. PDRM is leading it (the investigation),” Khalid said.
“We may not even know the reason behind this incident (the vanishing of MH370). That’s why we can’t comment. Locating the black box and uncovering what’s in it is also part of investigations.”
The top cop mirrored Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein’s recent view that the foreign media should be sued for their reports accusing Malaysian police officers of speculating.
“We investigate every matter thoroughly that is why the investigation is taking time. That does not mean we are not doing our job.”
“I do somehow agree with Hishammuddin’s sentiment,” he said.
Loss probed as crime
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) today quoted Khalid as saying that the probe into the MH370 affair has been classified as a criminal investigation.
Khalid would not reveal what police had so far found out, saying the disclosure might affect the prosecution’s work later on, reported the daily.
Last week, when Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced that Flight MH370 had ended in the Indian Ocean, he said the aircraft’s communications systems were deliberately switched off by “someone with the know-how”.
Police have since raided the home of pilot Zaharie and confiscated his flight simulator.
WSJ said Malaysian authorities had handed over the simulator’s hard drives to the FBI after discovering that some information had been deleted.
Since MH370′s disappearance, the International Air Transport Association has announced that it would form a task force to make recommendations on how to track jetliners on a continuous basis.
However, the Airline Pilots Association, the world’s biggest union of pilots, has indicated that it is not pleased with the idea.
The association warned that live-streaming of information from flight data recorders could lead to the release or leak of clues that could make pilots look bad before all facts about an accident were made known.
Mystery may never be solved
Meanwhile, in the same press conference, Khalid warned that authorities may never learn what caused the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370, as he indicated a three-week-old criminal investigation has so far been inconclusive.
“Give us more time,” said Khalid.
“We may not even know the real cause of this incident.”
The sober assessment is unlikely to go down well with anxious family members of the missing passengers, especially Chinese relatives who have fiercely attacked Malaysia’s government and the airline as incompetent “liars” and “murderers”.
Two thirds of the 227 passengers were Chinese.
Source: FMT
This contradicts what Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said earlier this week, that there was nothing detected on the flight simulator to link the pilot to any act of terrorism.
“Police are still investigating the simulator and we have not received any report from our counterparts on the matter.
“There is nothing conclusive for now,” Khalid said during a police event in Cheras.
Khalid revealed that police were continuing to record statements from family members of flight MH370 passengers, crew and pilots.
“We are still talking to the families and so far we have recorded 170 statements.”
Asked to clarify the status of investigations, Khalid said at the moment police have cleared all passengers from four aspects – hijack, terrorism, personal and psychological problems.
He also denied claims that the FBI has taken over control of the investigation.
“The FBI is only using their intelligence, expertise and advice. PDRM is leading it (the investigation),” Khalid said.
“We may not even know the reason behind this incident (the vanishing of MH370). That’s why we can’t comment. Locating the black box and uncovering what’s in it is also part of investigations.”
The top cop mirrored Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein’s recent view that the foreign media should be sued for their reports accusing Malaysian police officers of speculating.
“We investigate every matter thoroughly that is why the investigation is taking time. That does not mean we are not doing our job.”
“I do somehow agree with Hishammuddin’s sentiment,” he said.
Loss probed as crime
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) today quoted Khalid as saying that the probe into the MH370 affair has been classified as a criminal investigation.
Khalid would not reveal what police had so far found out, saying the disclosure might affect the prosecution’s work later on, reported the daily.
Last week, when Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced that Flight MH370 had ended in the Indian Ocean, he said the aircraft’s communications systems were deliberately switched off by “someone with the know-how”.
Police have since raided the home of pilot Zaharie and confiscated his flight simulator.
WSJ said Malaysian authorities had handed over the simulator’s hard drives to the FBI after discovering that some information had been deleted.
Since MH370′s disappearance, the International Air Transport Association has announced that it would form a task force to make recommendations on how to track jetliners on a continuous basis.
However, the Airline Pilots Association, the world’s biggest union of pilots, has indicated that it is not pleased with the idea.
The association warned that live-streaming of information from flight data recorders could lead to the release or leak of clues that could make pilots look bad before all facts about an accident were made known.
Mystery may never be solved
Meanwhile, in the same press conference, Khalid warned that authorities may never learn what caused the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370, as he indicated a three-week-old criminal investigation has so far been inconclusive.
“Give us more time,” said Khalid.
“We may not even know the real cause of this incident.”
The sober assessment is unlikely to go down well with anxious family members of the missing passengers, especially Chinese relatives who have fiercely attacked Malaysia’s government and the airline as incompetent “liars” and “murderers”.
Two thirds of the 227 passengers were Chinese.
Source: FMT
A Thorough Probe Indeed
As the fate of MH370 continues to remain a mystery, the police are now looking into every possible angle, including the three to four tonnes of mangosteen in the cargo.
Revealing this today, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said investigators have even identified who had plucked the fruits.
"For example, when we knew there was a load of mangosteens onboard, we had to find out where the mangosteens came from.
"We tracked down who plucked the fruits, who packed them and shipped them out, and who put them on the plane.
"Then we had to determine who would have received them in China and who paid for it, and for how much.
"Imagine how many people we must interview to rule out sabotage and that is just the mangosteens," he was quoted as saying by the Star.
According to the police chief, who revealed that the food served on the plane was also being scrutinised, the mangosteens came from an orchard in Muar, Johor.
Among the cargo manifest, the spotlight had previously fell on the 200kg of lithium-ion batteries, which are considered highly flammable and have contributed to aviation disasters in the past.
However, MAS chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahaya and acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the batteries were packed according to international regulations and considered non-hazardous.
In another report, Khalid said the MH370 mystery might never be solved.
"Investigations may go on and on and on. We have to clear every little thing… At the end of the investigations, we may not even know the real cause.
"We may not even know the reason for this incident," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
The police chief had also disclosed that the 227 passengers on the missing Boeing flight had been cleared of the four elements - hijacking, sabotage as well as psychological and personal problems.
However, Khalid said the 12 crew, including the pilot and co-pilot, are still being probed.
By Malaysiakini
Revealing this today, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said investigators have even identified who had plucked the fruits.
"For example, when we knew there was a load of mangosteens onboard, we had to find out where the mangosteens came from.
"We tracked down who plucked the fruits, who packed them and shipped them out, and who put them on the plane.
"Then we had to determine who would have received them in China and who paid for it, and for how much.
"Imagine how many people we must interview to rule out sabotage and that is just the mangosteens," he was quoted as saying by the Star.
According to the police chief, who revealed that the food served on the plane was also being scrutinised, the mangosteens came from an orchard in Muar, Johor.
Among the cargo manifest, the spotlight had previously fell on the 200kg of lithium-ion batteries, which are considered highly flammable and have contributed to aviation disasters in the past.
However, MAS chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahaya and acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the batteries were packed according to international regulations and considered non-hazardous.
In another report, Khalid said the MH370 mystery might never be solved.
"Investigations may go on and on and on. We have to clear every little thing… At the end of the investigations, we may not even know the real cause.
"We may not even know the reason for this incident," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
The police chief had also disclosed that the 227 passengers on the missing Boeing flight had been cleared of the four elements - hijacking, sabotage as well as psychological and personal problems.
However, Khalid said the 12 crew, including the pilot and co-pilot, are still being probed.
By Malaysiakini
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
MH370 - The Mystery Deepens
The following article is copyrighted so please CLICK HERE to read it.
You may also want to read MH370 A Plausible Conspiracy Theory if you have yet to read it.
You may also want to read MH370 A Plausible Conspiracy Theory if you have yet to read it.
MH370: China tells families that protests could harm 'national interests'
China has urged the families of those aboard missing flight MH370 to accept that their loved ones are dead and called on them to stop directing their anger towards the Malaysian authorities handling the investigation.
Many Chinese have expressed scepticism over accounts by the Malaysian government, claiming it has not revealed everything it knows about the stricken jetl’s disappearance on 8 March.
Many have expressed frustration that investigators have concluded the jet went down in the Indian Ocean without any physical evidence.
Yesterday, dozens of relatives travelled to the Malaysian capital where they staged protests in which they held up banners that read: “We want evidence, truth, dignity” in Chinese, and “Hand us the murderer. Tell us the truth. Give us our relatives back.”
However, in a lengthy editorial in the state-run China Daily today, they were warned that they should not let anger prevail over facts and rationality by directing “irrational words and behaviour” at the Malaysian government.
It said that such actions could harm China's “national interests, making all Chinese people pay for the tragedy”.
“No matter how distressed we are and how many details that are not clear, it is certain that flight MH370 crashed in the Indian Ocean and no one on board survived.”
“Although the Malaysian government's handling of the crisis has been quite clumsy, we need to understand this is perhaps the most bizarre incident in Asian civil aviation history. And confronted with this unprecedented crisis, it is understandable that as a developing country, the Malaysia government felt completely at a loss,” the China Daily added.
Earlier, it emerged that a cluster of orange objects spotted yesterday by a search plane turned out to be nothing more than fishing equipment, the latest disappointing news in a hunt that Australia has promised will continue indefinitely.
Crews searching for Missing Flight MH370 have around two weeks to find the aircraft’s pair of black boxes before they stop emitting locator pings.
CLICK HERE to continue reading the article from The Independent
Many Chinese have expressed scepticism over accounts by the Malaysian government, claiming it has not revealed everything it knows about the stricken jetl’s disappearance on 8 March.
Many have expressed frustration that investigators have concluded the jet went down in the Indian Ocean without any physical evidence.
Yesterday, dozens of relatives travelled to the Malaysian capital where they staged protests in which they held up banners that read: “We want evidence, truth, dignity” in Chinese, and “Hand us the murderer. Tell us the truth. Give us our relatives back.”
However, in a lengthy editorial in the state-run China Daily today, they were warned that they should not let anger prevail over facts and rationality by directing “irrational words and behaviour” at the Malaysian government.
It said that such actions could harm China's “national interests, making all Chinese people pay for the tragedy”.
“No matter how distressed we are and how many details that are not clear, it is certain that flight MH370 crashed in the Indian Ocean and no one on board survived.”
“Although the Malaysian government's handling of the crisis has been quite clumsy, we need to understand this is perhaps the most bizarre incident in Asian civil aviation history. And confronted with this unprecedented crisis, it is understandable that as a developing country, the Malaysia government felt completely at a loss,” the China Daily added.
Earlier, it emerged that a cluster of orange objects spotted yesterday by a search plane turned out to be nothing more than fishing equipment, the latest disappointing news in a hunt that Australia has promised will continue indefinitely.
Crews searching for Missing Flight MH370 have around two weeks to find the aircraft’s pair of black boxes before they stop emitting locator pings.
CLICK HERE to continue reading the article from The Independent
MH370- The Final Moments
Were the crew and passengers of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 awake or unconscious as the aircraft sped towards the southern Indian Ocean? In a speculative article, the Herald Sun today presented two scenarios that might have taken place on board the ill-fated jetliner during its final hours on March 8.
Despite more than three weeks of intensive searching by a multinational team, the daily reported that the definite fate of MH370 might never be known.
Central to both scenarios is Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the pilot of the Boeing 777-200, whom experts say was either on a suicide mission or struggling to save MH370.
"What would have happened had the passengers been conscious and aware something was wrong?" asked the Herald Sun.
"Panicked passengers would probably have screamed, cried or prayed. By then, it would have been too late to send a tweet or text or call.
"Did the passengers attempt to break down the bulletproof cockpit door? Or did they turn on the helpless cabin crew?" the daily said.
But one thing was for sure, the Herald Sun said, the final frantic moments of the passengers would have been filled with fear.
"As the Boeing 777-200 stalled, spiralled or slowly descended into the sea, the final moments would have been a nightmare."
An Australian commercial pilot told News Corporation that turning an aircraft towards the southern Indian Ocean would have been simple.
"I could do it in less than 30 seconds. You could just punch in a waypoint for somewhere down there in the top of the leg stage in the flight management computer.
"Then you can execute that as a flight plan and the aeroplane would fly there,” he told News Corporation on condition of anonymity.
“You can turn off the moving map display. You can disable the in-flight entertainment completely. You could just tell the passengers it’s broken.
“Passengers might have (asked questions) but you can lock the flight deck door and no one’s getting in.
"They could bang on the door for the next two hours if they wanted but they’re not going to break down a bulletproof door.”
The Herald Sun reported a less perplexing but equally painful possibility that all on board passed out due to difficulty processing oxygen as the plane ascended rapidly to 45,000 feet.
They would have died minutes later, the paper said. This is the theory pilots support as many in the profession think Zaharie has been prematurely pilloried.
Australian and International Pilots Association president Nathan Safe, however, shunned speculation, saying there was not enough publicly available evidence to suggest sinister motives, the paper reported.
TechSafe Aviation Director Rob Collins, meanwhile, said neither crew nor passengers would have felt the aircraft make that sharp turn-back towards the Malaysian peninsula.
Collins told the Herald Sun that the baffling deviation from the flight path indicated to him that the pilots were seeking somewhere safe to land.
Although investigators have been examining whether Zaharie deliberately sabotaged MH370 after the aircraft was tracked by military radar flying at between 43,000 feet and 45,000 feet, Collins said the erratic ascent and descent were consistent with how a pilot would respond to the effects of a loss of cabin pressure or smoke or toxic fumes in the cabin.
It was reported that military radar tracked the plane flying at 45,000ft — its ceiling for safe flying — for 23 minutes shortly after the last communication with the cockpit.
Oxygen would have run out in 12 minutes in a depressurised cabin, rendering the passengers unconscious, according to one expert.
The Herald Sun reported that there would have been significant obstacles to committing suicide with a full crew and plane load of passengers. For starters, there was a co-pilot.
“The other thing that would make it difficult to pull that off would be that whoever it was, the captain or the first officer, he would have had to overcome the other guy.
"It is very unlikely (they would be complicit), particularly in airline flying where you are almost randomly crewed together,” Collins said. – April 1, 2014.
Source: The Malaysian Insider
Despite more than three weeks of intensive searching by a multinational team, the daily reported that the definite fate of MH370 might never be known.
Central to both scenarios is Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the pilot of the Boeing 777-200, whom experts say was either on a suicide mission or struggling to save MH370.
"What would have happened had the passengers been conscious and aware something was wrong?" asked the Herald Sun.
"Panicked passengers would probably have screamed, cried or prayed. By then, it would have been too late to send a tweet or text or call.
"Did the passengers attempt to break down the bulletproof cockpit door? Or did they turn on the helpless cabin crew?" the daily said.
But one thing was for sure, the Herald Sun said, the final frantic moments of the passengers would have been filled with fear.
"As the Boeing 777-200 stalled, spiralled or slowly descended into the sea, the final moments would have been a nightmare."
An Australian commercial pilot told News Corporation that turning an aircraft towards the southern Indian Ocean would have been simple.
"I could do it in less than 30 seconds. You could just punch in a waypoint for somewhere down there in the top of the leg stage in the flight management computer.
"Then you can execute that as a flight plan and the aeroplane would fly there,” he told News Corporation on condition of anonymity.
“You can turn off the moving map display. You can disable the in-flight entertainment completely. You could just tell the passengers it’s broken.
“Passengers might have (asked questions) but you can lock the flight deck door and no one’s getting in.
"They could bang on the door for the next two hours if they wanted but they’re not going to break down a bulletproof door.”
The Herald Sun reported a less perplexing but equally painful possibility that all on board passed out due to difficulty processing oxygen as the plane ascended rapidly to 45,000 feet.
They would have died minutes later, the paper said. This is the theory pilots support as many in the profession think Zaharie has been prematurely pilloried.
Australian and International Pilots Association president Nathan Safe, however, shunned speculation, saying there was not enough publicly available evidence to suggest sinister motives, the paper reported.
TechSafe Aviation Director Rob Collins, meanwhile, said neither crew nor passengers would have felt the aircraft make that sharp turn-back towards the Malaysian peninsula.
Collins told the Herald Sun that the baffling deviation from the flight path indicated to him that the pilots were seeking somewhere safe to land.
Although investigators have been examining whether Zaharie deliberately sabotaged MH370 after the aircraft was tracked by military radar flying at between 43,000 feet and 45,000 feet, Collins said the erratic ascent and descent were consistent with how a pilot would respond to the effects of a loss of cabin pressure or smoke or toxic fumes in the cabin.
It was reported that military radar tracked the plane flying at 45,000ft — its ceiling for safe flying — for 23 minutes shortly after the last communication with the cockpit.
Oxygen would have run out in 12 minutes in a depressurised cabin, rendering the passengers unconscious, according to one expert.
The Herald Sun reported that there would have been significant obstacles to committing suicide with a full crew and plane load of passengers. For starters, there was a co-pilot.
“The other thing that would make it difficult to pull that off would be that whoever it was, the captain or the first officer, he would have had to overcome the other guy.
"It is very unlikely (they would be complicit), particularly in airline flying where you are almost randomly crewed together,” Collins said. – April 1, 2014.
Source: The Malaysian Insider
P8-Poseidon : The MH370 Challenge
Of all the 20 aircraft and ships out scouring the vast Indian Ocean for debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the US Navy's P-8 Poseidon seems perhaps the most likely to help unlock modern aviation's most confounding mystery.
Five workstations lining the fuselage display high-definition video from the top-secret sensors that make this one of the most sophisticated surveillance planes in the world.
But the latest mission in the three-week hunt - five luckless hours skimming as low as 300 feet (90 metres) above the wave tops - only served to underscore the enormity of the challenge facing the international search team.
"This is my first time in the Indian Ocean and it is unquestionably the most untouched piece of water I have ever seen," US Navy Lieutenant Commander David Mims, the plane's pilot, told Reuters during a search flight this week.
"It's rare to come out and not see any land mass, not see any shipping traffic. There's nothing," he said. "It's weird."
The United States, China, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan are all scouring an area some 2,000 km (1,200 miles) west of the Australian city of Perth, where investigators believe the Boeing 777 carrying 239 people came down.
So far, the search has turned up only fishing rubbish and other flotsam. It has been halted several times by bad weather in the search area.
Two Poseidons are engaged in the search. Costing around $175 million, the aircraft is armed with cameras, infra-red and radar sensors that are fine-tuned to detect enemy submarines hiding under the ocean surface.
But despite its high-tech equipment, much of the searching is visual - crew members peering out a window.
"I'm a pretty optimistic guy by nature," said Petty Officer Michael Herman, perched in front of a porthole staring out into the foggy sea. "But yeah, this is tough."
The Poseidons operate alongside a pair of Chinese Il-76 military transport planes at Perth International Airport. They are kept under tight security, including a round-the-clock armed rapid response team.
The plane is so top-secret that a Reuters journalist given a rare berth was stripped of all electronic devices and barred from taking pictures.
The technology is impressive. Sitting at a pair of monitors stacked one atop the other, Petty Officer Julio Cerpa operates a panoramic camera that quickly zooms in on distant patches of ocean with great clarity.
An infrared version of the same camera feed cuts through the haze of fog surrounding the plane, offering a polarised and somewhat nightmarish view of the search area.
About two hours into the search zone, the monotony of peering out a window or at a computer screen, is starting to wear on the crew.
Petty Officer Sam Judd begins a slow climb up his seat back that will eventually see him perched atop it. Cerpa's hands turn his workstation into the world's most expensive drum kit.
And then the plane begins to ascend back to 30,000 feet, (9,000 metres) having found nothing. The total trip, including flying time to reach the search zone, is around 10 hours.
To an outsider, the experience can seem frustrating, but the crew maintains a remarkably optimistic outlook. Even a trip that finds nothing rules out a part of the search zone, and is thus an important part of finding the wreckage, says Mims, the pilot.
"Being this far into the search process and having this much ocean to cover definitely makes it a challenging evolution," he says. "But if it's in our area, I think the probability of finding it is high."
- Reuters
Five workstations lining the fuselage display high-definition video from the top-secret sensors that make this one of the most sophisticated surveillance planes in the world.
But the latest mission in the three-week hunt - five luckless hours skimming as low as 300 feet (90 metres) above the wave tops - only served to underscore the enormity of the challenge facing the international search team.
"This is my first time in the Indian Ocean and it is unquestionably the most untouched piece of water I have ever seen," US Navy Lieutenant Commander David Mims, the plane's pilot, told Reuters during a search flight this week.
"It's rare to come out and not see any land mass, not see any shipping traffic. There's nothing," he said. "It's weird."
The United States, China, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan are all scouring an area some 2,000 km (1,200 miles) west of the Australian city of Perth, where investigators believe the Boeing 777 carrying 239 people came down.
So far, the search has turned up only fishing rubbish and other flotsam. It has been halted several times by bad weather in the search area.
Two Poseidons are engaged in the search. Costing around $175 million, the aircraft is armed with cameras, infra-red and radar sensors that are fine-tuned to detect enemy submarines hiding under the ocean surface.
But despite its high-tech equipment, much of the searching is visual - crew members peering out a window.
"I'm a pretty optimistic guy by nature," said Petty Officer Michael Herman, perched in front of a porthole staring out into the foggy sea. "But yeah, this is tough."
The Poseidons operate alongside a pair of Chinese Il-76 military transport planes at Perth International Airport. They are kept under tight security, including a round-the-clock armed rapid response team.
The plane is so top-secret that a Reuters journalist given a rare berth was stripped of all electronic devices and barred from taking pictures.
The technology is impressive. Sitting at a pair of monitors stacked one atop the other, Petty Officer Julio Cerpa operates a panoramic camera that quickly zooms in on distant patches of ocean with great clarity.
An infrared version of the same camera feed cuts through the haze of fog surrounding the plane, offering a polarised and somewhat nightmarish view of the search area.
About two hours into the search zone, the monotony of peering out a window or at a computer screen, is starting to wear on the crew.
Petty Officer Sam Judd begins a slow climb up his seat back that will eventually see him perched atop it. Cerpa's hands turn his workstation into the world's most expensive drum kit.
And then the plane begins to ascend back to 30,000 feet, (9,000 metres) having found nothing. The total trip, including flying time to reach the search zone, is around 10 hours.
To an outsider, the experience can seem frustrating, but the crew maintains a remarkably optimistic outlook. Even a trip that finds nothing rules out a part of the search zone, and is thus an important part of finding the wreckage, says Mims, the pilot.
"Being this far into the search process and having this much ocean to cover definitely makes it a challenging evolution," he says. "But if it's in our area, I think the probability of finding it is high."
- Reuters
Monday, 31 March 2014
MH370 and the Trillion Dollar Intelligence Question
Malaysian media should pose critical questions to the US and its Intelligence Services and not to the Malaysian Government.
Let me state from the outset that I totally agree with the press statements by Malaysia’s Defence Minister and Acting Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein that “we have conducted ourselves fairly, responsibly and history will judge us for that.”
And to a mischievous and presumptuous question from a correspondent of the Financial Times, Datuk Seri with confidence and integrity rightly said without any fear of contradiction that, “I don’t think we could have done anything different from what we have already done.” Well done!
The Financial Times, CNN and other foreign media ought to pose similar questions to the US and its intelligence services and stop insinuating that Malaysia has not been transparent and/or engaged in a cover-up. Foreign media should stop engaging in dirty politics!
It is my hope that following the publication of this article, Malaysian mass media will focus on questioning the integrity of the US’s assistance to Malaysia in the first three weeks of the SAR mission, notwithstanding its recent offer of more assistance.
I take comfort that my reservations about the US and its intelligence services as well as other intelligence services closely linked to the US, especially British secret service, have been more than vindicated by Reuters in its news report on 28th March, 2014 entitled Geopolitical games handicap hunt for flight MH370
The search for flight MH370, the Malaysian Airlines jetliner that vanished over the South China Sea on March 8, has involved more than two dozen countries and 60 aircraft and ships but has been bedevilled by regional rivalries.
… With the United States playing a relatively muted role in the sort of exercise that until recently it would have dominated, experts and officials say there was no real central coordination until the search for the plane was confined to the southern Indian Ocean, when Australia largely took charge.
Part of the problem is that Asia has no NATO-style regional defence structure, though several countries have formal alliances with the United States. Commonwealth members Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia also have an arrangement with Britain to discuss defence matters in times of crisis.
As mystery deepened over the fate of the Boeing 777 and its 239 passengers and crew, most of them Chinese, it became clear that highly classified military technology might hold the key.
But the investigation became deadlocked over the reluctance of others to share sensitive data, a reticence that appeared to harden as the search area widened.
“This is turning into a spy novel,” said an envoy from a Southeast Asian country, noting it was turning attention to areas and techniques few countries liked to publicly discuss.
Ultimately, the only country with the technical resources to recover the plane – or at least its black box recorder, which could lie in water several miles deep – may be the United States. Its deep-sea vehicles ultimately hauled up the wreckage of Air France 447 after its 2009 crash into a remote region of the South Atlantic.
While Putrajaya has been forced to reveal some of the limits and ranges of its air defences, the reluctance of Malaysia’s neighbours to release sensitive radar data may have obstructed the investigation for days.
At an ambassadorial meeting in the ad hoc crisis centre at an airport hotel on March 16, Malaysia formally appealed to countries on the jet’s possible path for help, but in part met with polite stonewalling, two people close to the talks said.
Some countries asked Malaysia to put its request in writing, triggering a flurry of diplomatic notes and high-level contacts.
‘It became a game of poker in which Malaysia handed out the cards at the table but couldn’t force others to show their hand,“ a person from another country involved in the talks said.
As in the northern Indian Ocean, where Chinese forces operate alongside other nations to combat Somali piracy, current and former officials say all sides are almost certainly quietly spying on and monitoring each other at the same time. (emphasis added)
WantChinaTimes, Taiwan reported,
The United States has taken advantage of the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight to test the capabilities of China’s satellites and judge the threat of Chinese missiles against its aircraft carriers, reports our sister paper Want Daily.
Erich Shih, chief reporter at Chinese-language military news monthly Defense International, said the US has more and better satellites but has not taken part in the search for flight MH370, which disappeared about an hour into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in the early hours of March 8 with 239 people on board. Shih claimed that the US held back because it wanted to see what information China’s satellites would provide.
The above is the reality which we have to confront. Therefore, desist any attempt to label the above mainstream media articles as a “conspiracy theory”. Reuters has let the Genie out of the bottle!
Malaysia’s Minister of Transport Datuk Seri Hishammuddin gave hints of Malaysia’s difficulties (as his hands were tied by intelligence protocols and or refusal by the relevant foreign intelligence services and diplomatic reluctance) but our local media failed to appreciate the nuances of his statements by not directing their questions at those parties that have failed Malaysia as their neighbour and in their duties under various defence treaties and arrangements.
Malaysian media, please read at the minimum three times, the sentences in bold AND WAKE UP TO THE REALITY that our country has been badly treated even though our country put all its national security cards on the table so that countries whose nationals are passengers on flight MH 370 could come forward with sincerity to assist in resolving this unfortunate tragedy which is not Malaysia’s making.
Malaysia is but a victim of this tragedy whose plane, MH 370 was used for a hidden agenda for which only time will reveal.
In my previous article posted to the website on the 27th March, 2014, I exposed how Israel is exploiting the tragedy to create public opinion for a war against Iran, a Muslim country that has close ties with Malaysia.
At the outset of the SAR Mission, all concerned stated categorically that every scenario, no matter how unlikely would be examined critically with no stones left unturned – terrorist hijacking, suicide mission, technical failures, inadequate security, criminal actions of the pilot and or co-pilot etc.
Given the above premise, families of the passengers and the crew of MH 370 have every right to ask the following questions of the US and other countries that have sophisticated technologies to track and monitor airplanes and ships in all circumstances.
Such questions should not be shot down by those who have a hidden agenda that such queries amount to “conspiracy theories”. Far from being conspiracy theories, we assert that the questions tabled below and the rationale for asking them are well founded and must be addressed by the relevant parties, failing which an inference ought to be drawn that they are complicit in the disappearance of MH 370.
Lets us begin.
1) Was the plane ordered to turn back, if so who gave the order?
2) Was the plane turned back manually or by remote control?
3) If the latter, which country or countries have the technologies to execute such an operation?
4) Was MH 370 weaponised before its flight to Beijing?
5) If so, what are the likely methods for such a mission – Biological weapons, dirty bombs?
6) Was Beijing / China the target and if so why?
7) Qui Bono?
8) The time sequence of countries identifying the alleged MH 370 debris in the Indian ocean was first made by Australia followed by France, Thailand, Japan, and Britain via Immarsat. Why did US not offer any satellite intelligence till today?
9) Prior to the switch of focus to the Indian ocean, was the SAR mission in the South China seas, used as a cover for the deployment of undersea equipment to track and monitor naval capabilities of all the nations’ navies competing for ownership of disputed territorial waters? Reuters as quoted above seems to have suggested such an outcome.
10) Why was there been no focus, especially by foreign mass media, on the intelligence and surveillance capabilities of Diego Garcia, the strategic naval and air base of the US?
11) Why no questions were asked whether the flight path of MH 370 (if as alleged it crashed in the Indian Ocean), was within the geographical parameters of the Intelligence capabilities of Diego Garcia? Why were no planes deployed from Diego Garcia to intercept the “Unidentified” plane which obviously would pose a threat to the Diego Gracia military base?
12) The outdated capabilities of the Hexagon satellite system deployed by the US in the 1970s has a ground resolution of 0.6 meters; what’s more, the present and latest technologies boast the ability to identify objects much smaller in size. Why have such satellites not provided any images of the alleged debris in the Indian Ocean? Were they deliberately withheld?
13) On April 6th, 2012, the US launched a mission dubbed “NROL-25” (consisting of a spy satellite) from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The NROL-25 satellite was likely rigged with “synthetic aperture radar” a system capable of observing targets around the globe in daylight and darkness, able to penetrate clouds and identify underground structures such as military bunkers. Though the true capabilities of the satellites are not publicly known due to their top-secret classification, some analysts have claimed that the technology allows the authorities to zoom in on items as small as a human fist from hundreds of miles away. How is it that no imagery of MH370 debris was forwarded to Malaysia, as this capability is not classified though other technologies might well remain classified? (Source: Slate.com)
14) Could it be that the above capabilities were not as touted?
15) However, in December, 2013, the USAtlas V rocket was launched carrying the spy satellite NROL-39 for the National Reconnaissance Office, an intelligence agency which is often overshadowed by the notorious National Security Agency (NSA), only it scoops data via spy satellites in outer space. The “NROL-39 emblem” is represented by the Octopus a versatile, adaptive, and highly intelligent creature. Emblematically, enemies of the United States can be reached no matter where they choose to hide. The emblem boldly states “Nothing is beyond our reach”. This virtually means that the tentacles of America’s World Octopus are spreading across the globe to coil around everything within their grasp, which is, well, everything (Source: Voice of Moscow). Yet, the US with such capabilities remained silent. Why?
CLICK HERE to continue reading this article by Mattias Chang
Let me state from the outset that I totally agree with the press statements by Malaysia’s Defence Minister and Acting Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein that “we have conducted ourselves fairly, responsibly and history will judge us for that.”
And to a mischievous and presumptuous question from a correspondent of the Financial Times, Datuk Seri with confidence and integrity rightly said without any fear of contradiction that, “I don’t think we could have done anything different from what we have already done.” Well done!
The Financial Times, CNN and other foreign media ought to pose similar questions to the US and its intelligence services and stop insinuating that Malaysia has not been transparent and/or engaged in a cover-up. Foreign media should stop engaging in dirty politics!
It is my hope that following the publication of this article, Malaysian mass media will focus on questioning the integrity of the US’s assistance to Malaysia in the first three weeks of the SAR mission, notwithstanding its recent offer of more assistance.
I take comfort that my reservations about the US and its intelligence services as well as other intelligence services closely linked to the US, especially British secret service, have been more than vindicated by Reuters in its news report on 28th March, 2014 entitled Geopolitical games handicap hunt for flight MH370
The search for flight MH370, the Malaysian Airlines jetliner that vanished over the South China Sea on March 8, has involved more than two dozen countries and 60 aircraft and ships but has been bedevilled by regional rivalries.
… With the United States playing a relatively muted role in the sort of exercise that until recently it would have dominated, experts and officials say there was no real central coordination until the search for the plane was confined to the southern Indian Ocean, when Australia largely took charge.
Part of the problem is that Asia has no NATO-style regional defence structure, though several countries have formal alliances with the United States. Commonwealth members Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia also have an arrangement with Britain to discuss defence matters in times of crisis.
As mystery deepened over the fate of the Boeing 777 and its 239 passengers and crew, most of them Chinese, it became clear that highly classified military technology might hold the key.
But the investigation became deadlocked over the reluctance of others to share sensitive data, a reticence that appeared to harden as the search area widened.
“This is turning into a spy novel,” said an envoy from a Southeast Asian country, noting it was turning attention to areas and techniques few countries liked to publicly discuss.
Ultimately, the only country with the technical resources to recover the plane – or at least its black box recorder, which could lie in water several miles deep – may be the United States. Its deep-sea vehicles ultimately hauled up the wreckage of Air France 447 after its 2009 crash into a remote region of the South Atlantic.
While Putrajaya has been forced to reveal some of the limits and ranges of its air defences, the reluctance of Malaysia’s neighbours to release sensitive radar data may have obstructed the investigation for days.
At an ambassadorial meeting in the ad hoc crisis centre at an airport hotel on March 16, Malaysia formally appealed to countries on the jet’s possible path for help, but in part met with polite stonewalling, two people close to the talks said.
Some countries asked Malaysia to put its request in writing, triggering a flurry of diplomatic notes and high-level contacts.
‘It became a game of poker in which Malaysia handed out the cards at the table but couldn’t force others to show their hand,“ a person from another country involved in the talks said.
As in the northern Indian Ocean, where Chinese forces operate alongside other nations to combat Somali piracy, current and former officials say all sides are almost certainly quietly spying on and monitoring each other at the same time. (emphasis added)
WantChinaTimes, Taiwan reported,
The United States has taken advantage of the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight to test the capabilities of China’s satellites and judge the threat of Chinese missiles against its aircraft carriers, reports our sister paper Want Daily.
Erich Shih, chief reporter at Chinese-language military news monthly Defense International, said the US has more and better satellites but has not taken part in the search for flight MH370, which disappeared about an hour into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in the early hours of March 8 with 239 people on board. Shih claimed that the US held back because it wanted to see what information China’s satellites would provide.
The above is the reality which we have to confront. Therefore, desist any attempt to label the above mainstream media articles as a “conspiracy theory”. Reuters has let the Genie out of the bottle!
Malaysia’s Minister of Transport Datuk Seri Hishammuddin gave hints of Malaysia’s difficulties (as his hands were tied by intelligence protocols and or refusal by the relevant foreign intelligence services and diplomatic reluctance) but our local media failed to appreciate the nuances of his statements by not directing their questions at those parties that have failed Malaysia as their neighbour and in their duties under various defence treaties and arrangements.
Malaysian media, please read at the minimum three times, the sentences in bold AND WAKE UP TO THE REALITY that our country has been badly treated even though our country put all its national security cards on the table so that countries whose nationals are passengers on flight MH 370 could come forward with sincerity to assist in resolving this unfortunate tragedy which is not Malaysia’s making.
Malaysia is but a victim of this tragedy whose plane, MH 370 was used for a hidden agenda for which only time will reveal.
In my previous article posted to the website on the 27th March, 2014, I exposed how Israel is exploiting the tragedy to create public opinion for a war against Iran, a Muslim country that has close ties with Malaysia.
At the outset of the SAR Mission, all concerned stated categorically that every scenario, no matter how unlikely would be examined critically with no stones left unturned – terrorist hijacking, suicide mission, technical failures, inadequate security, criminal actions of the pilot and or co-pilot etc.
Given the above premise, families of the passengers and the crew of MH 370 have every right to ask the following questions of the US and other countries that have sophisticated technologies to track and monitor airplanes and ships in all circumstances.
Such questions should not be shot down by those who have a hidden agenda that such queries amount to “conspiracy theories”. Far from being conspiracy theories, we assert that the questions tabled below and the rationale for asking them are well founded and must be addressed by the relevant parties, failing which an inference ought to be drawn that they are complicit in the disappearance of MH 370.
Lets us begin.
1) Was the plane ordered to turn back, if so who gave the order?
2) Was the plane turned back manually or by remote control?
3) If the latter, which country or countries have the technologies to execute such an operation?
4) Was MH 370 weaponised before its flight to Beijing?
5) If so, what are the likely methods for such a mission – Biological weapons, dirty bombs?
6) Was Beijing / China the target and if so why?
7) Qui Bono?
8) The time sequence of countries identifying the alleged MH 370 debris in the Indian ocean was first made by Australia followed by France, Thailand, Japan, and Britain via Immarsat. Why did US not offer any satellite intelligence till today?
9) Prior to the switch of focus to the Indian ocean, was the SAR mission in the South China seas, used as a cover for the deployment of undersea equipment to track and monitor naval capabilities of all the nations’ navies competing for ownership of disputed territorial waters? Reuters as quoted above seems to have suggested such an outcome.
10) Why was there been no focus, especially by foreign mass media, on the intelligence and surveillance capabilities of Diego Garcia, the strategic naval and air base of the US?
11) Why no questions were asked whether the flight path of MH 370 (if as alleged it crashed in the Indian Ocean), was within the geographical parameters of the Intelligence capabilities of Diego Garcia? Why were no planes deployed from Diego Garcia to intercept the “Unidentified” plane which obviously would pose a threat to the Diego Gracia military base?
12) The outdated capabilities of the Hexagon satellite system deployed by the US in the 1970s has a ground resolution of 0.6 meters; what’s more, the present and latest technologies boast the ability to identify objects much smaller in size. Why have such satellites not provided any images of the alleged debris in the Indian Ocean? Were they deliberately withheld?
13) On April 6th, 2012, the US launched a mission dubbed “NROL-25” (consisting of a spy satellite) from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The NROL-25 satellite was likely rigged with “synthetic aperture radar” a system capable of observing targets around the globe in daylight and darkness, able to penetrate clouds and identify underground structures such as military bunkers. Though the true capabilities of the satellites are not publicly known due to their top-secret classification, some analysts have claimed that the technology allows the authorities to zoom in on items as small as a human fist from hundreds of miles away. How is it that no imagery of MH370 debris was forwarded to Malaysia, as this capability is not classified though other technologies might well remain classified? (Source: Slate.com)
14) Could it be that the above capabilities were not as touted?
15) However, in December, 2013, the USAtlas V rocket was launched carrying the spy satellite NROL-39 for the National Reconnaissance Office, an intelligence agency which is often overshadowed by the notorious National Security Agency (NSA), only it scoops data via spy satellites in outer space. The “NROL-39 emblem” is represented by the Octopus a versatile, adaptive, and highly intelligent creature. Emblematically, enemies of the United States can be reached no matter where they choose to hide. The emblem boldly states “Nothing is beyond our reach”. This virtually means that the tentacles of America’s World Octopus are spreading across the globe to coil around everything within their grasp, which is, well, everything (Source: Voice of Moscow). Yet, the US with such capabilities remained silent. Why?
CLICK HERE to continue reading this article by Mattias Chang
Tony Abbott: Overwhelming Evidence MH370 is Lost
PERTH: All evidence points to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 being lost in the remote Indian Ocean, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday, backing his Malaysian counterpart’s view that the plane crashed.
The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing vanished on March 8 carrying 239 passengers and crew, but more than three weeks later no wreckage has been found.
Many relatives of those on board have been incensed at the announcement on March 24 by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak that — based on detailed analysis of satellite data — the plane could be presumed lost at sea.
But Abbott said he agreed with Najib’s conclusions.
“The accumulation of evidence is that the aircraft has been lost and it has been lost somewhere in the south of the Indian Ocean,” he told reporters at the Perth military base coordinating the search.
“That’s the absolutely overwhelming wave of evidence and I think that Prime Minister Najib Razak was perfectly entitled to come to that conclusion, and I think once that conclusion had been arrived at, it was his duty to make that conclusion public.”
Australia is coordinating the international hunt for the missing Boeing 777, which involves about 100 personnel searching from onboard surveillance aircraft and 1,000 sailors in ships in or near the search zone.
“This is an extraordinarily difficult exercise. We are searching a vast area of ocean and we are working on quite limited information,” Abbott said.
“Nevertheless, the best brains in the world are applying themselves to this task, all of the technological mastery that we have is being applied and brought to bear here. If this mystery is solvable, we will solve it. But I don’t want to underestimate just how difficult it is.”
The Australian leader refused to put a time limit on the search, saying: “We can keep searching for quite some time to come. The intensity of our search and the magnitude of our search is increasing, not decreasing.”
“We owe it to the families, we owe it to everyone that travels by air, we owe it to the governments of the countries who had citizens on that aircraft, we owe it to the wider world which has been transfixed by this mystery for three weeks now,” he said.
“We owe it to everyone to do everything we reasonably can.”
-AFP
The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing vanished on March 8 carrying 239 passengers and crew, but more than three weeks later no wreckage has been found.
Many relatives of those on board have been incensed at the announcement on March 24 by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak that — based on detailed analysis of satellite data — the plane could be presumed lost at sea.
But Abbott said he agreed with Najib’s conclusions.
“The accumulation of evidence is that the aircraft has been lost and it has been lost somewhere in the south of the Indian Ocean,” he told reporters at the Perth military base coordinating the search.
“That’s the absolutely overwhelming wave of evidence and I think that Prime Minister Najib Razak was perfectly entitled to come to that conclusion, and I think once that conclusion had been arrived at, it was his duty to make that conclusion public.”
Australia is coordinating the international hunt for the missing Boeing 777, which involves about 100 personnel searching from onboard surveillance aircraft and 1,000 sailors in ships in or near the search zone.
“This is an extraordinarily difficult exercise. We are searching a vast area of ocean and we are working on quite limited information,” Abbott said.
“Nevertheless, the best brains in the world are applying themselves to this task, all of the technological mastery that we have is being applied and brought to bear here. If this mystery is solvable, we will solve it. But I don’t want to underestimate just how difficult it is.”
The Australian leader refused to put a time limit on the search, saying: “We can keep searching for quite some time to come. The intensity of our search and the magnitude of our search is increasing, not decreasing.”
“We owe it to the families, we owe it to everyone that travels by air, we owe it to the governments of the countries who had citizens on that aircraft, we owe it to the wider world which has been transfixed by this mystery for three weeks now,” he said.
“We owe it to everyone to do everything we reasonably can.”
-AFP
PFS Principal Speaks Up - MH370
GEORGE TOWN: The principal of Penang Free School (PFS) today came to the defence of the pilot of a lost Malaysian airliner.
Jalil Saad said Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah (pix), pilot of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 which disappeared on March 8, should not be held 'solely responsible' for what happened.
Reporters from Cable News Network (CNN) and The Asian Wall Street Journal (AWSJ) came to the school last week during the school holidays to obtain information about Zaharie, said Jalil, who was a school-mate of Zaharie in the 1970s.
"I told them (CNN and AWSJ) that I do not agree with their previous reports, especially CNN, which portrayed a negative image of Zaharie and linked him to terrorists," he told reporters after the Monday morning assembly at the school.
He said Capt Zaharie, two years his junior at school, was an ambitious man and had worked hard to achieve his dream of becoming a pilot.
"I hope all foreign media do not speculate about Zaharie until investigations into the mysterious and unprecedented aviation tragedy are completed," he said.
At the assembly, the teachers and 1,045 students of PFS, the oldest school in Southeast Asia, observed a minute's silence as a mark of respect for the passengers and crew of Flight MH370.
The school also lowered the Malaysian flag to half-mast. – Bernama
Kudos to you Encik Jalil for being a fair and patriotic Malaysian and a real friend.
Jalil Saad said Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah (pix), pilot of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 which disappeared on March 8, should not be held 'solely responsible' for what happened.
Reporters from Cable News Network (CNN) and The Asian Wall Street Journal (AWSJ) came to the school last week during the school holidays to obtain information about Zaharie, said Jalil, who was a school-mate of Zaharie in the 1970s.
"I told them (CNN and AWSJ) that I do not agree with their previous reports, especially CNN, which portrayed a negative image of Zaharie and linked him to terrorists," he told reporters after the Monday morning assembly at the school.
He said Capt Zaharie, two years his junior at school, was an ambitious man and had worked hard to achieve his dream of becoming a pilot.
"I hope all foreign media do not speculate about Zaharie until investigations into the mysterious and unprecedented aviation tragedy are completed," he said.
At the assembly, the teachers and 1,045 students of PFS, the oldest school in Southeast Asia, observed a minute's silence as a mark of respect for the passengers and crew of Flight MH370.
The school also lowered the Malaysian flag to half-mast. – Bernama
Kudos to you Encik Jalil for being a fair and patriotic Malaysian and a real friend.
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