MH370 and our Crisis Management.

When I wrote articles about the missing MH370, some people got very upset. It seems for some quarters, only UMNO approved bloggers can write about the case of the missing plane. Unless they are pilots they enjoy a slight advantage over people like me in technical matters; otherwise don’t pretend you are more qualified to provide answers. We shall keep on questioning. Right now, the overall judgement is that the way Malaysian authorities are conducting themselves in Crisis Management is very dismal.

Others are accused of politicising the issue. The image of the PM’s wife crying or shedding tears was taken as definitive image that here, only the PM and the wife care about the missing persons. They can save their tears- we want the PM to personally handle this crisis and commit real assets to the SAR mission.  Assets which we bought with billions of taxpayers’ money.

What about the relatives and friends who cry each day and are still anguishing on the inability of the Malaysian authorities to provide straight and non-conflicting answers? We don’t want the PM to cry- we want him to appear before the public and tell us the truth. We want him to commit all mission capable resources to conduct SAR activities. Yes the whole world is incredulously looking at how Malaysia manages this crisis and looking at the assets Malaysia commits to the SAR mission.

Right now, we are told Malaysia is employing

1.   1 unit of CN-235 transport aircraft

2.   1 unit of B200t King Air (transport aircraft)

3.   4 units of Hercules Transport aircraft

4.   2 units of Bombardier plane

5.   2 units of Augusta helicopters

6.   4 units of Eurocopter Long Range tactical transport helicopters

7.   6 units of RMN vessels.

8.   1778 Deep Sea Fishing Boats Class c and c2.

9.   Don’t forget, one VVIP Bomoh to UMNO

We don’t want to judge the quality of commitment by this government. The people of Malaysia right now want to know, what of the assets the government has been spending billions on? The OPVs built by Amin Shah? Any of the 6 littoral combat ships completed? Our submarines? Do we have any formidable class frigate, any submarine rescue ship with divers? We bought two but didn’t we buy a submarine rescue ship?

The Malaysian authorities, the minister of transport, the DCA, Police, MAS are not helping out either. People are just angry over the confusing statements coming out from people who are supposed to provide a calming effect. We are confused on issues such as discrepancies about passengers, offloaded baggage and concealed information about its last known position.

One the day I was driving from Raub i heard the air force general mentioning about a brief indication that the plane turned back. But he didn’t elaborate when asked by a Caucasian journalist whether he was basing his statement from readings on radar. Later a mainstream newspaper concluded that military radar captured the turn back and suggested the plane could be in the straits of Malacca.

This morning, the minister in the PM’s department Shahidan Kassim mentioned that boats belonging the Maritime Enforcement agency of Malaysia with its fleet of aging ships and vessels did not extend their search into the main range. Of course they didn’t bozo-because the main range is on land and ships travel on water. To makes matter worse, the air force general denied mentioning military radar tracked the plane when it turned back.

We don’t want to repeat the many discrepancies and inaccuracies coming from Malaysian authorities. How can the people not search for more information over the internet when information coming from the authorities are meager and stingy? Have the government and all the relevant agencies told us everything they know?

Can we be soothed and calmed when the DCA offered a cryptic answer by saying “There are some things that I can tell you and some things that I can't."  what’s stopping him to tell all? can we interpret this as saying I don’t know what’s happening.

Right now, 239 lives are at stake until they can be found. The relatives of these people have the right to know and they are being insulted and greatly offended by the bits and pieces of conflicting information coming from the government. This is a huge global issue and it’s being handled as if it were domestic politics. For Najib, it seems like business as usual. And if he thinks that pictures of the wife shedding tears was enough to appease the agony he is wrong.

Najib’s government is behaving like exactly the opposite of his claim that the age of government knows best is over. Indeed, Najib’s administration is sending the message that people should let the government tell them what they need to know, when they need to know it. Tell us the truth please.