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Published: Monday May 19, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Monday May 19, 2014 MYT 7:14:47 AM
Updated: Monday May 19, 2014 MYT 7:14:47 AM
'MAS abandoned us for seeking legal advice'
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PETALING JAYA: The family members of seven missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 crew are claiming that they have been “abandoned” by the company for seeking legal advice.
They claimed that MAS had stopped its caregiving services and severed communication with them since May 8 after learning that they had acquired the lawyer’s services.
Calvin Shim, whose wife Christine Tan was among the missing crew, said MAS stopped its communication without any notice and that they left the families with no one to turn to for updates on the search.
“When we called our caregivers, they informed us that MAS had instructed them to stop talking to us because we had enlisted legal advice, which is our right,” he said.
They said that they had sought out a lawyer to advise them on legal issues about the missing plane.
“Two days ago, they sent us an e-mail saying that since we had hired a lawyer, whatever queries on MH370 should be directed to them via our lawyer to their legal team,” he told a joint press conference with several family members of the crew yesterday.
Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of MH370’s in-flight supervisor Patrick Gomes, said the daily updates into the search effort had been stopped.
“It is unfair that I have to get a lawyer to write them a letter every time I need to find out where my husband is,” she said.
Melanie Antonio, who is the wife of MH370 chief steward Andrew Nari, also claimed that they had been left in the dark.
However, the family members expressed their gratitude to acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein who commented recently that the welfare of the families should always come first.
MAS, when contacted, could not respond by press tim
Published: Sunday May 18, 2014 MYT 12:14:00 PM
Updated: Sunday May 18, 2014 MYT 1:31:38 PM
Updated: Sunday May 18, 2014 MYT 1:31:38 PM
MH370: Ask Boeing and CIA, don't blame MAS, says Dr Mahathir
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. - File pix
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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.
Published: Saturday May 17, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday May 17, 2014 MYT 8:06:53 AM
Updated: Saturday May 17, 2014 MYT 8:06:53 AM
MH370 data reviewed again
Unwavering commitment: Hishammuddin speaking at the press conference. — Bernama
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KUALA LUMPUR: Military radar and satellite data from countries in the region will be requested again by the investigation team as the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 enters phase two.
Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the investigation team would review all the data received from all international agencies, including data given by Inmarsat.
“We want to look into the data again to better coordinate the search efforts in the South Indian Ocean,” he told reporters at a hotel here yesterday.
In reply to a question on the cost of the operation, he said they could only ascertain this once they knew where the plane was.
“The cost involved in searching for the plane is worth it in my opinion.
“Firstly, the ocean sea floor has never been charted in the history of mankind.”
He said the cost hinged on the technology used, adding that very little of such technology was available and it was “very specific”.
“We are looking at sonar technology to search the sea bed,” he said.
On the handling of the families of the passengers and crew on board, he said that was the toughest part of managing the incident.
“We will be looking at the possibility of a body of experts to oversee and reach out to the families,” he said, adding that Malaysia Airlines should keep to their promise of dispensing compensation to the families soon.
“Based on Inmarsat’s advice and what we have heard from the Australians, the Southern corridor is the best lead we have.
“Our second best lead is the ping signals and of the five pings, two have been covered fully and three more are being searched for under the new phase,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said there was a need to upgrade the country’s primary military radar.
“We already divulged our primary military radar data when the plane went missing and it was in the interest of national security to upgrade it soon,” he said, adding that it could only be done if the budget allowed.
On questions about the four-hour gap before any action was taken to find the missing plane, he said it took France seven hours before they responded to the Air France flight 447 crash.
“If our airforce had scrambled its jets, what would have happened? Would we shoot down our own passenger plane if we sent up the Sukhois?” Hishammuddin asked.
He said it was vital for the air force and civil aviation to work together in tracking planes.
“All over the world, civil aviation faces the same problem,” he said.
Malaysia Chronicle ......
Saturday, 17 May 2014 06:24
IRRESPONSIBLE MINISTER! We didn’t go thru' Sept 11- Hisham defends MH370 radar slip
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KUALA LUMPUR - As Malaysia was not in a “war mode”, the military did not intercept Flight MH370 upon spotting the commercial jet on its radar, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today.
The acting transport minister also said the Malaysia Airlines plane was not heading towards the federal administrative capital of Putrajaya, when pointed out that terrorists had hijacked commercial airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in the US in the September 11 attack in 2001.
“At the end of the day, even Angus Houston said even Australia is not in a war mode,” Hishammuddin said in an interview with a few newspapers here today on MH370, referring to the Australian former air marshal appointed as chief coordinator in the multi-nation search for Flight MH370.
“And even if we scramble our Sukhois, are we really going to shoot down our own commercial airliner?” he added, referring to Malaysia’s fighter jets.
Hishammuddin, who is also defence minister, pointed out that the US was not in a “war mode” before the September 11 terrorist attack.
“And now the reason why they’re in that mode is because of September 11, but we didn’t go through September 11. You want our pilots to be on standby like in the US? Because the commercial airline was not going to Putrajaya. If that happened, probably we would do it,” he said.
Hishammuddin also questioned if other countries had scrambled their fighter jets in response to Flight MH370 as the plane crossed their airspace after inexplicably diverting from its Beijing-bound flight path.
Shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, Flight MH370 veered off course and flew in a westerly direction across the Malaysian peninsula after dropping from civilian radar just before 1.30am.
The Boeing 777 plane carrying 239 people, however, was spotted on military radar at 2.15am, 320km northwest of Penang island off Malaysia’s west coast.
Hishammuddin acknowledged today, however, that cooperation between the military and civil aviation must be tightened.
“In other countries, non-cooperation between the military and civil aviation is more obvious,” he said, citing the US as an example.
“What I hope to do is to show that we cannot live in silos. If Malaysia is an example, this is something that the military and aviation industry globally have to understand — that we have to work together,” Hishammuddin added.
- The Malay Mail
Friday, 16 May 2014 16:57
M'SIA CAUGHT LYING AGAIN! Inmarsat refutes minister's claim, insists MH370 data already handed over to M'sian govt
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KUALA LUMPUR - Inmarsat has refuted Malaysia’s claim that it is still holding on to the raw satellite data used to lead MH370 search teams to the Indian Ocean, insisting that it has surrendered all information over to investigators here.
Hours after acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said yesterday that Malaysia does not have the raw data, the British satellite communications firm issued a statement on CNN claiming otherwise.
“Inmarsat’s raw data was provided to the investigation team at an early stage in the search for MH370,” the statement said, according to a news report by the American cable and satellite TV channel this morning.
According to CNN, Inmarsat “blames” Malaysia for failing to release the information.
The firm also went on to defend its data, which has come under heavy criticism by foreign scientists and families aboard the aircraft, saying it has “high confidence” in its analysis of the plane’s last-known location.
It was the analysis of Inmarsat’s data that led to the conclusion that the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 had ended in the southern Indian Ocean, thousands of miles away from the plane’s original flight path to Beijing.
“We have very high confidence in the analysis of this data, which was independently evaluated by the international teams accredited to the official investigation,” the British firm said in another excerpt of its statement carried by CNN.
The Boeing 777 jetliner has been missing for over 70 days since March 8 when it departed Malaysian waters with 239 people on board.
-Malaymail
Friday, 16 May 2014 17:13
M'sian govt CANNOT be trusted - husband of MH370 passenger appeals to world leaders to stop any COVER-UP
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I am forced to write this letter because my wife, Kranti Shirsath, was on board flight MH370 which has been missing since the 8th March 2014.
The MH370 incident has destroyed all our dreams that my wife and I saw together. My entire life has changed as I had to give up with career and stay at home to care for our two sons. I have to play the role of both father and mother as I am now alone supporting both of my children to get educated and follow the right path in life.
However, I continue to hope that Kranti will come back to us alive, as so far I do not see any reason or evidence to lose that hope. This is the story of so many other families whose loved ones were on board MH370.
It has been over 2 months since the Malaysian Airline Flight MH370, with 239 people on board from 14 different countries went missing. Despite 24 hours satellite surveillance around the globe, wide spread intelligence network and the most sophisticated technologies at our disposal, there is still no trace of the flight and its passengers. This is more than just Malaysia’s problem. It is an international issue because it has raised several questions about air travel safety and the technological capabilities we have. It is impossible to believe that a huge Jet with 239 people on board can go missing without any trace of its whereabouts.
The Malaysian government has produced a five page Preliminary Report on MH370 which has no new information but has fuelled more questions and confusion indicative of incompetence on their part. Despite taking 8 weeks to prepare the Preliminary Report, it has failed to address fundamental questions such as; how flight MH370 has disappeared in this modern world without trace and who is behind its disappearance, what was the motive behind its disappearance, why did the Malaysian authorities fail to track their plane and delay the commencement of the search and rescue operation? The report has increased more doubts in my mind and in the minds of many other family members around the world which suggests that there is some serious cover-up going on.
The Malaysian Prime Minister has said it was deliberately diverted from its original route. If so, it was an intentional action, with a planned purpose. It took over four hours for the Malaysian authorities to initiate the search and rescue operation indicating that the Malaysian government has provided a safe passage and an opportunity to those who diverted the plane to take it to the planned destination.
Unfortunately, none of you has questioned this? None of the countries, whose nationals were on board, has demanded transparent and speedy action from the Malaysian government. But on the contrary, you are continuing to support the Malaysian government for sharing contradictory and confusing information, delayed communication, misleading the search and rescue operation and not taking timely action to save the plane and its passengers. This is absurd and irresponsible.
This is a modern and civilised era, where we talk about rights and justice and enjoyment of all rights by all people. I am a citizen of India. “Truth alone triumphs” is written on our emblem. I want the truth of what happened to my wife and to the flight MH370. There have been lots of mathematical data based on e.g. Inmarsat data that has not given my family and I any clue of where my wife and all the other 238 passengers on MH370 are.
I urge you to request the Malaysian authorities for a speedy, transparent and trustworthy investigation. I desperately want the truth about where my wife is, what has happened to her and all the passengers and what caused the plane to disappear.
Offering compensation to family members and forcing them to believe their loved ones are lost without any evidence is totally inappropriate.
I only believe justice can be done when the truth, based on evidence, is provided to my family and all the other families.
-Malaymail
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