A Kadir Jasin
[Anonymous Comments will not be published]
ONE of the most disturbing bit of information (or hea rsay) about the missing MAS Boeing 777 operating as MH370 is that it turned back over the South China Sea.
The Star newspaper on March 9 reported:
“SEPANG: The RMAF confirmed the possibility that flight MH370 performed an air turn back.
This was according to a recording captured on the military radar, said RMAF chief General Tan Sri Rozali Daud.” (Read more here).
This was according to a recording captured on the military radar, said RMAF chief General Tan Sri Rozali Daud.” (Read more here).
Did it turn back or not? Yes or no, the search and rescue (SAR) operations have been expanded to the northern end of the Straits of Malacca.
While the multinational SAR teams are scouring the South China Sea and beyond for the ill-fated jetliner, let us ask the following questions.
1. Is it not customary for a civil aircraft leaving the airspace of one country to inform the air traffic controllers of that country and, if the flight crew are nice people, to say thank you?
2. They would then change their radio frequency to the air traffic controller of the territory they are entering. Did the Captain or First Officer of MH370 say thank you and goodbye to the Malaysian air traffic controllers? Or they just disappeared.They did, according to a Sinar Harian report quoted by Malaysiakini (Read here).
3. Is the responsibility of the RMAF to monitor our airspace 24 hours a day, seven days a week?
4. Is it not the responsibility of the RMAF to identify every aircraft – military and civilian – entering and leaving our airspace 24 hours a day, seven days a week?
5. Is it not the responsibility of the RMAF to investigate any anomaly detected on its radar, including scrambling its fighters to intercept an aircraft that does not identify itself?
6. Have we not be told and assured that our air defence system is world class and is impeccable?
7. So did the RMAF radar detect or not detect flight MH370 as it flew in the Malaysian airspace towards Vietnam in the early hour of March 8?
My contention is, what the RMAF saw or did not see that morning is crucial in determining what had happened to flight MH370 while it was in the Malaysian airspace.
Let me be the devil’s advocate – rude and crude – and ask, who is telling the truth, who is not telling half truth and who is lying through the teeth?
We can’t wait until MH370 is found or never found before we seek the truth about the integrity our air defence system and the preparedness of our aviation, defence and security agencies.
Our prayers, hopes and deep sympathy aside, but we must also be realistic that with each passing day, the chances of locating the ill-fated jetliner are becoming less promising.
The conflicting reports, statements and arguments on live TV among the national and international agencies involved in the SAR do not help to calm nerves and build confidence.
Medium Is The Message
In the communication, public relations and propaganda, medium is in itself the message – quoting Marshall McLuhan.
If the medium is credible, the message it carries will also be credible. To be credible, it must be presented in a clear, thoughtful and considered manner. It must be consistent and coherent.
I leave it to the public to judge as all the press conferences were telecast live without editing - good English, bad English, crisp Bahasa, atrocious Bahasa, impeccable argument, flimsy argument were all there to be seen and heard.
To me, some aspects of the PCs sounded like dialogue from the TV comedy “Mind Your Language” or Borat talking about his sister. (“This is Natalya. She is my sister. She is number four prostitute in all of Kazakhstan.”)
What has happened to our dual language education system? All our Prime Ministers were once Education Minister.
The Muslims believe in the “balaa” (test or trial). There appears to be a bit too much “balaa” befalling us in recent times – draught, water rationing, haze, mounting crimes and now jetliner with 239 souls on board went missing.
More so we do not need all these during the Visit Malaysia Year (VMY).
And we do not need young female passengers telling a foreign TV station that MAS pilots invited them into the cockpit and they were smoking while piloting the aircraft. (Read the allegation here).
Now can you blame me for repeatedly saying that we may never get to become a developed nation? Rich maybe but developed no. For now, we are a laughing-stock and an object of ridicule.