Flight MH370 : The Tragedy, The Mystery, The Fumbling Circus. One Fact You Don't Know.

Flight MH370 was the flight number of Malaysian Airline System from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Beijing (China). The acronym of Malaysian Airline System is MAS, which in the Malay language means “Gold”. Its other common name is Malaysia Airlines. MAS is the national carrier of the government of Malaysia. By now you would know where Malaysia is. Malaysia, my country, is now world famous, but unfortunately for the wrong reason.

Flight MH370 left Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014 at 12.41a.m. with 239 people on board, including 12 crew members. After an hour’s flight towards the northeast from Kuala Lumpur, over the South China Sea, it disappeared from the radar screen; and the rest was history; or is it?

To fully understand the overall play-out of this unfortunate incident, one needs to understand the political charade involved in Malaysian politics. Although I am no expert in politics or an intellectual; I am a Malaysian, so I know what I am writing about. Further down this article there will be a little bit about the Malaysian political situation, under the sub-heading “The Malaysian Government”. With a bit of knowledge of the present Malaysian government, I hope readers here can understand better why this tragedy has turned into a mystery and metamorphosed into a fumbling circus.

This article will not concentrate on the technicalities and jargons of the whole episode. You must be wary of them by now. This article is about my personal opinion as an ordinary citizen of Malaysia, venting my utter frustration and disbelief over this tragedy turned circus with clowns of the highest degree.

Flight MH370 was operated with a Boeing 777-2H6ER. That particular plane was the 404^th Boeing 777 produced. The plane's first flight was on May 14, 2002. It was delivered as new to Malaysia Airlines on May 31 that year. The aircraft had a clean safety record except for a minor incident in August 2012, while taxiing at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport, it broke its wingtip. Its last maintenance “A” check was done on February 23, 2014.

The Boeing 777series was introduced in 1994, and has been regarded by aviation experts to be one of the safest commercial aircraft in the world.

Specifications of the Boeing 777-200ER :

Wingspan : 199 ft 11 in (60.9 m)
Overall Length : 209 ft 1 in (63.7 m)

Flight MH370 had an all-Malaysian crew of twelve. The flight captain was a very experienced pilot, aged 53 years old. His name was Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a Malay by race. He was from the same island of Penang where I live, and attended the same local premier English-language school as me. His only job was with MAS ever since he joined in 1981, and had clocked 18,365 flying hours. Captain Zaharie was also a qualified examiner for simulator tests for pilots. His professional track records were impeccable, and his friends and colleagues have very high respect for his personal character and integrity.

His assistant, first officer, also a Malay, was 27-year old Fariq Abdul Hamid who joined MAS in 2007, had 2,763 flying hours with him. He was a fully qualified Boeing 777 first officer.

Flight MH370 had a crew of twelve, and 227 passengers, making a total on board of 239. The passengers came from 15 countries, with the majority from China. The countries were China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, India, America, France, Canada, Ukraine, New Zealand, Italy, Holland, Russia, Taiwan and Austria. There were 152 Chinese nationals, plus a number of Chinese by race from Malaysia, and two from New Zealand. There were seven children passengers. The youngest was 23-month old Chinese national by the name of Wang Moheng. The oldest passenger was 76 years old. There were 38 Malaysians on board, including the 12 crew members. Of the Chinese nationals, there were 19 artists and calligraphers returning after displaying their work in Kuala Lumpur. There was a special group of 20 employees of Freescale Semiconductor, a company based in Austin, Texas; 12 of whom were from Malaysia and 8 from China.

This is a short lesson in “Malaysian Politics 101”. You need to understand the real political scenario, to understand why the tragedy of Flight MH370 has developed into such a fumbling circus with no end in sight.

The present government of Malaysia has ruled the country since our independence from Britain in 1957, a continuous 57 years in power, possibly the world’s longest period in power for any political party in a democratic country! This political party in power consists of a coalition of separate political parties, each purports to represent the different ethnic populations. It started with good intent and clean governance. From 1969 onwards, following an orchestrated racial riots, this political party called the Barisan Nasional (National Front) or BN in short, has metamorphosed from a clean and dedicated political party to what it is today, a political monster.

During the last general election in May 2013, despite the cheating, bribery, and threats by the ruling BN party, the main coalition of opposition parties gardened 52% of the total votes, but could not form a new government because of wide scale gerrymandering. This monster BN party is actually controlled by the strongest single party called UMNO, a Malay-based party. The rest of the parties in the coalition are merely parasite parties. UMNO has been manipulating the issues of race and religion to create fear and mistrust amongst the population in order to stay in power. This present government in a nutshell is corrupt, racist, absolutely arrogant and extremely damgerous. It is used to having its own way in everything conceivable, blaming and threatening everyone for even trivial matters. On the local front, they could get away with all their self-assured antics, but not in the international scene.

Now you can understand how the Malaysian government handled the Flight MH370 tragedy in such a dismal manner. The Malaysian government only knows the language of blame and threat. The words “honor” and “integrity” are not in their dictionary. Being answerable, accountable and responsible are not in their mindset. This is why Flight MH370 saga has created the greatest embarrassment for Malaysia in the international scenario.

Today is May 8, 2014, exactly 2 months that the plane of flight MH370 had disappeared. The most unbelievable part of this tragedy is that as each day passes, more mysteries are uncovered or generated. In this day and age, technology is so advanced that a satellite can pinpoint your exact location on earth and what you do in your bedroom. How come, despite the search efforts involving the world’s most advanced nations, the aircraft is still not found after two months? Please bear in mind that the Boeing 777-200ER which has a wing span of 199ft 11in (60.9 m) and an overall length of 209ft 1in (63.7 m) is a very big plane, and yet, not a trace of it after 2 months of hectic search.

Being a Malaysian, I was one of the very first to hear the news of the missing plane of flight MH370, in the wee hours of our local time on March 8, 2014, which was a Saturday. When you hear about a missing plane, you expect the worst. MH370 was no different. My usual expectation and conclusion was that the plane had crashed and there was no survivor. By the way, I have the greatest phobia of flying.

The expectation of what to transpire; the search, the identification, and the salvage, turned into as you know by now, the most mysterious tragic saga in aviation history. With the Malaysian government directly involved in this saga, it has metamorphosed into a fumbling circus with the Prime Minister of Malaysia as the greatest clown; using his side-kick, the acting Minister of Transport, to face the world media with a combative, defensive and illusive stunts typical of the BN government when faced with challenges. By the way, the Prime Minister of Malaysia is Najib Razak, and the acting Minister of Transport (who is also the Minister of Defence) is Hishammuddin Hussein who is a cousin of Najib Razak. (Do you smell a fish?)

When news got serious that the plane could not be traced, Malaysia panicked. And the rest was history, and more history to come. After a few days, my personal conclusion was “pilot suicide”. As days developed into weeks, my conclusion somewhat got hazy, as the saga has become crazy. As it developed into the current fumbling circus, my opinion has changed. My conclusion? I think there is more than pilot suicide, or terrorist suicide mission, or aircraft malfunction, or any of those other crazy theories. I think somebody is hiding something; most probably some international conspiracies. The most suspicious angle to probe is in the cargoes, which the authorities have been reluctant to be totally transparent. If the cargoes were legitimate items, then why were the authorities so reluctant to reveal their contents and the consignors?

There are too many questions not answered or have no answers, or with unsatisfactory answers, for whatever reasons.

Below are my 7 simple questions that I would like to get answers.

1.If the plane crashed, why is there not a trace of even a tiny piece of debris?

2.Even if it was pilot suicide, or terrorist suicide mission, or someone deliberately caused the plane to crash, why took all the trouble to ensure complete disappearance of the plane, assuming they had the technical skill?

3.If ever the plane did alter its flight path, why was it not detected by the radar of all the countries it flew over?

4.The Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, at one point, was so confident that the plane location had been identified somewhere in the Indian Ocean west of Perth. But days later, he was as quiet as a mouse. Why?

5.Why the reluctance of declaring the details of the cargoes? To add insult to injury, the cargo information given earlier was later changed to something else. Why?

6.Initially, it was stated that more than 4 tonnes (4,000 kg) contained the local fruit, mangosteen. Mangosteen was not in season then. By the way, one mangosteen weighs about 200 gm. This would come to a whopping 22,000 pieces of mangosteen! Who are they trying to bluff? Why this lie?

7.The latest information was that the cargo contained about 200kg of lithium ion batteries and the remaining 2,253kg contains “radio accessories and chargers”. Officials refused to reveal further details citing directives from legal advisers not to respond while investigations are ongoing. Why? Was there something in there that may hold the answer to the whole mystery?

Be that as it may, the fate of the passengers and crew cannot be completely sealed, so long as the plane is not found. For who knows, they may still be alive somewhere. Since they are of different nationalities, if they are no longer with us, may they rest in peace, or be in heaven, or be reborn in a happier realm.

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