Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammddin Hussein in his statement yesterday repeated ad nauseum that “we have nothing to hide” demonstrating a grave guilt complex on this issue.
In fact, Hishammuddin’s reiteration umpteenth time yesterday that “we have nothing to hide” is the most potent proof that he realizes that he is fighting a losing battle in the credibility war both nationally and internationally because of lack of openness and accountability in the MH 370 disaster crisis management.
While continuing to declare that “we have nothing to hide”, he continues to evade accountability and responsibility for what happened in the crucial and critical first few hours of the first day of the missing MH 370 tragedy on March 8, and even enlisted the help of Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) chief Angus Houston in the latter’s first public appearance in Malaysia yesterday since heading the multinational search for MH370.
I could not believe it when I read the media report that when asked about the Malaysian government’s preliminary report on the missing MH 370 made public on May 1 and how much attention should be given to past mistakes, Houston parroted Hishammuddin saying that efforts should be focussed “wholly and solely” on the ongoing search.
Houston was reported to have said: “We need to continue the search. We owe it to the families, and I think we owe it to the flying public around the world that we continue this search, so that we can get to the bottom of what happened to MH370”.
Houston was not being very professional in parrying the question with a non sequitur, as nobody is suggesting any halt to the search for the missing MH 370, which is now beginning the ninth week of its disappearance, i.e. 57th day.
However, the inability for eight weeks to find any wreckage or clue of the aircraft can no more be the reasons for the authorities concerned to avoid answering questions about past mistakes in the first few critical and crucial hours of the disaster – or the world’s longest-search for the missing aircraft which some said could drag on for years would also be the world’s longest-running cover-up for human and technological faults and mistakes resulting in the MH370 disaster.
If Hishammddin and Houston are right that the focus on the missing MH 370 should be on the search and not on past mistakes, then Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, the director-general of the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), had no business complaining that Vietnam’s air controllers having breached protocol by enquiring about the missing Flight MH 370 only 17 minutes after the plane vanished from radar on March 8.
Azharruddin said that at 1.19 am on March 8, Kuala Lumpur air traffic control had ordered the Beijing-bound MH 370 to change frequency to their Ho Chi Minh counterparts, but Ho Chi Minh only enquired about the jet at 1.38 am, when they were not contacted.
Azharruddin said: “If Ho Chi Minh wasn’t contacted by the aircraft, the protocol is five minutes.”
He said that once MH370 had passed the Igari navigational waypoint in the South China Sea, the plane was officially the responsibility of the Vietnamese air traffic controllers.
Azharuddin said it was for the controllers at Ho Chi Minh to say why it took them 12 minutes longer than prescribed by aviation protocol before contacting their Malaysian counterparts for verification.
I support not only Azharuddin’s right but responsibility to raise this question about Ho Chin Minh air controllers in breaching protocol in taking 17 minutes before enquiring about the missing MH 370.
Similarly, all Malaysians have the right to inquire why after Ho Chi Minh control tower enquired about the missing MH370 at 1.38 am on March 8, it did not trigger sufficient alarm until four hours later before a search-and-rescue (SAR) operation was launched.
But Hishammuddin does not want such questions to be asked, as he wants everyone to focus on the search for the missing Boeing after 57 days and not on past mistakes.
Similarly, why was there a three-hour gap between the launching of the SAR operation at 5.30 am and the review of the military radar at 8.30 am, and the further 2-hour gap between the review of the military radar and report to the Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
There was also another half-an hour gap before the first RMAF plane was scrambled in search of the missing MH370 at 10.54 am.
All these gaps as well as many other questions call for answers, including Hishammuddin’s flip-flop on the issue of a Parliamentary Select Committee or a Royal Commission of Inquiry on the missing MH370 disaster.
Hishammuddin cannot regain national and international confidence in the crisis management of MH 370 disaster by reiterating umpteenth times the refrain that the Malaysian government has nothing to hide, but only by fully observing the principles of openness and accountability in every aspect and facet of the handling of the Mh370 disaster in the past nine weeks.
#1 by Bigjoe on Saturday, 3 May 2014 - 3:30 pm
Hishamuddin was very insincere when he compared the lost hours with Air France incident. In the case of Air France incident, they knew it had crash from the start and hence approximately where it was, finding debris as soon as next day. In MH370, they LOST THE PLANE – no idea what was happening and did not do anything for those hours. It should not have been even more than 5 minutes but they did nothing..
#2 by boh-liao on Saturday, 3 May 2014 - 3:31 pm
“we have nothing to hide” 1 – inFAMOUS words n lie fr Perkosa-UmnoB/BN
Tell dat 2 d Mongolian beauty n her father – C4ed 2 atomic sizes n immigration record still not found (just like MH370, still not found, akan AKAN datang)
Tell dat 2 Teoh BH who just HAPPENED 2 jump off a building
Tell dat 2 d many who HAPPENED 2 JUST die during polis custody
Tell dat 2 RAKYAT who keep PAYING higher n higher
TOLLs (cos Perkosa-UmnoB/BN signed some secret OSA-protected documents with some privileged companies)
etc, etc, etc …………………
O YEAH, “we have nothing to hide” 1, what a CRapPY sicko BS
#3 by john on Saturday, 3 May 2014 - 7:34 pm
Krissy knows no shame at all; still lie, lie, lie; even after being caught to lie; and his own 5 page report even proven his own-self had lie ! And, STILL NOW want TO LIE, LIE, LIE ! .
Just one BIG LIAR here again, besides so many OF HIS others’ shameful acts.
Another of his favourite tag-line ” is an unprecedented event ” – FOOLS ! ; IS ALL BECAUSE OF INCOMPETENCIES that make it ” unprecedented ” .
An example, if a jet had been scrambled ( when they’re spent our Billions on defense, they’ll justify this,as one purpose ), then probably can know where MH370 landed, and save LIVES, even. AND, this would really be REAL UNPRECEDENTED !.
Still remember his ” childish / plain idiotic ” role during L Datu , LOL; but at expense of lost lives ! . And, all swept under carpet; worst, end up spending Millions/ Billions and still security being breached, recently.
#4 by yhsiew on Saturday, 3 May 2014 - 7:58 pm
Irregularities in MH370 audio recordings indicate possible editing, say experts
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/irregularities-in-mh370-audio-recordings-indicate-possible-editing-say-expe
#5 by boh-liao on Saturday, 3 May 2014 - 8:25 pm
“we have nothing to hide” 1 – inFAMOUS words n lie fr Perkosa-UmnoB/BN
Ha, ha, ha – Perkosa-UmnoB/BN so used 2 manipulating evidence (sometimes ADD, sometimes DELETE) in dis 1DERful land dat they tot they could also do d same when presenting so-called ‘evidence’ 2 d world
It was discovered dat “Malaysian authorities or whoever presented this made edits for whatever reason”
“That’s a pretty big deal because it raises the first red flag about there possibly being some editing.”
”it’s not the way to handle evidence”
“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
WHAT did they wish 2 HIDE, LOL
CREDIBILITY = a big fat 0, NO SHAME meh
#6 by boh-liao on Sunday, 4 May 2014 - 12:14 am
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysia-gets-d-south-korea-a-in-handling-of-tragedies-says-bloomberg-colum
“The grades so far? I’d give Korea an A-, Malaysia a D,” he said in his Bloomberg column titled “One missing jet, one sunken ferry, two responses”.
WHOA lau eh, Bloomberg columnist SO generous 1 lah, ‘D’ 2 M’sia while lots of rakyat tot d grade ought 2 b an ‘F’
“Hishammuddin Hussein performed dismally as a government spokesman”
“Yet Hishammuddin is now seen as prime-minister material”
OMG! REALLY meh?
CAN meh dis najis’ cousin INfamous as a mouth foaming rabid dog which copy-cat-ed najis in brandishing a kris while yelling 4 Chinese bl00d during UmnoB’s AGMs?
Dis hisap felo can’t hide n pretend dat he did not do dat – it is all over d Internet, just Google “Hishammuddin kris”
OMG, WHAT did rakyat M’sia do 2 deserve these 2 bl00d thirsty kris waving cousins, while not forgetting an ambitious botak, scion of a corrupt n lying exPeeM
#7 by Jeffrey on Sunday, 4 May 2014 - 5:26 am
Of course if there was something or much to hide no one is going to admit so. It is natural that almost by reflex, one has to save face, preserve image and shift blame especially when laches, mistakes and wrongdoing arise from core incompetency, political system and culture too embedded for any change. The latter bears not only on questions relating to 3 hr gap regarding how people who look at civil or military radar work. It doesn’t end there.
#8 by Jeffrey on Sunday, 4 May 2014 - 5:29 am
If one wants to probe there’s no end – what about in other directions eg – which companies are outsourced cargo handling at airports; what kind of handlers do they employ (foreign workers?); what level of professionalism do these handlers exercise and what scrutiny/screening/check and balance against corruption is there on their work of loading; what was actually loaded onto a plane that the full and transparent disclosure of cargo manifest will show etc? The fear is probe in 1 area will open a Pandora box in another area that unaverted makes one’s image look bad. It will never end as the culpatory system embedded is also never going to end about which one cannot control. Yet life goes on. One as to keep one job especially power that goes with it. Nothing can justify (from ethical standpoint) “parrying questions with a non sequitur” but it will explain the need to do so – and even spin- under a given system.