Malaysia ‘squandered precious time’ by delaying information
Print Edition
MALAYSIA was under fresh pressure yesterday over its handling of the missing airliner drama, accused of “squandering precious time and resources” by releasing important information on the plane’s fate a full week after it vanished.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Najib Razak revealed that an investigation indicated Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was deliberately diverted and flew for several hours after leaving its intended flight path.
He stopped short of saying it was hijacked, but the news indicated the plane had not crashed or blown up shortly after take-off as widely feared.
The revelation after a week of confusion and competing theories prompted questions over why it took the authorities so long to reveal the new information, and whether they had missed an opportunity to intercept the diverted plane.
“It is undeniable that the disclosure of such vital information is painfully belated,” a Xinhua news agency editorial said, noting the “excruciating” seven days it entailed for relatives.
Two-thirds of the passengers on the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing were Chinese.
There was particular anger and frustration that Malaysia had taken so long to cancel massive search operations by several countries in the South China Sea if it already knew the plane appeared to have doubled back and flown toward the Indian Ocean.
Najib did not announce the end of search operations in the South China Sea until Saturday.
The Xinhua editorial said that due to “the lack of timely authoritative information, massive efforts have been squandered, and numerous rumors have been spawned.”
“As the leader of the international search and rescue mission, Malaysia bears inescapable responsibility.”
Immigration officials were also embarrassed by revelations that at least two people used stolen European passports to board the plane.
Malaysia air force chief General Rodzali Daud admitted early in the drama that an unidentified object — now determined to have been MH370 — was plotted moving across Malaysia and toward the Andaman Sea.
He said at the time it was not intercepted because it was not deemed “hostile.”
Malaysia has denied there was any lapse in its air defenses, as well as accusations it was slow to share information due to national security concerns, saying it needed days to “corroborate” radar data before going public.
But security and aviation experts continue to question why so many resources were deployed in searching the South China Sea for so long, and how the Malaysian military had failed to identify the plane as it crossed back over the country.
“It is an astonishing failure of security,” said Ajaj Sahni, executive director of India’s Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi. “And it seems an astonishing failure of technology in every aspect that something like this could happen.”
Terence Fan, an aviation expert at the Singapore Management University, said Malaysia’s crisis management was flawed and had tested public confidence.
“Why did they need days to ‘corroborate’ from their own radar images that the airplane could have turned west?” Fan said.
Questions have also been raised over why it took Malaysian authorities a full week to search the home of the pilot and co-pilot after the disappearance.
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