Missing MH370...Day 24 Precedented incompetence in an unprecedented civil aviation mystery By Meiheng Quah Yes, MH370 may be an unprecedented aviation mystery. But the incompetence exhibited by Msian authorities in managing the crisis is NOT unprecedented, neither is it a mystery. Worse yet the incompetence seems to permeate all levels.. from radar operators all the way to the top.. from negligence to contradictions, denials, assumptions, u-turns on assumptions and even attempts to assign blame.. what a shameful circus. Hishammuddin may claim that we have done our best and I dont think we would have done anything differently. Well, one tends to resort to such rhetoric only when one is being defensive.. in the end, it sounds more like a hollow denial of failure. Similarly, he is perhaps hoping that by repeating his bare assertion that History will judge us well, such a delusion will morph into a reality. Now lets get to the top.. On March 24, Najib announced to the world that missing flight MH370, which had 239 people on board, ended in the Indian Ocean. Not taking any questions from the press, he indicated that an explanation of the specifics of the latest analysis and relevant details would come the the next day. So urgent was his announcement that a PC was convened at 10:00 pm. & MAS was rushed to inform the families “before the world did”.. including texting them on the fate of their loved ones.. We have to assume beyond reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board have survived. We must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the southern Indian Ocean. Yet the very next day, Najib said the nation would go into mourning only when debris of the missing plane was found. At the same time, Mas said that relatives would be sent to Perth only when there is debris found and confirmed to be from MH370. Not to be left out, at the next PC, Hishammuddin spoke of “hoping against hope”, even the possibility of “rescue” in a mission that has now been reclassified as merely search and recovery. Do we see another bubbling cauldron of confusion & mixed signals boiling over? Even ignoring the mixed signals, the immediate questions on every thinking mind were: -Where is the evidence? -How can we suddenly be so sure it ended up in the southern part of the Indian Ocean? -How can we be so sure there are no survivors? -What is going to happen to the SAR? Will SAR efforts now be focused on recovery instead of rescue and therefore not deemed as urgent? Distraught families of the missing, unable to understand or accept the certainty of such pronouncement when not a single physical trace of the plane has been found, protested angrily outside the Msian embassy in Beijing.. Where is the Evidence? And now we have some of these families, upon arrival from Beijing yesterday, protesting outside their hotel demanding that the Msian govt apologises for the premature declaration that the ill-fated flight had ended in the Indian Ocean with all 239 lives lost. Even if such a pronouncement is to be made, at the minimum, Najib should have in the same announcement immediately assured the families that all efforts on SAR will continue. Rather than considering the anguish, questions and reactions such a final announcement would bring and make an effort to assure the families, he chose to instead take time to stress that the info was released to update families at the earliest opportunity and out of a commitment to openness and respect, alluding to the accusations of withholding of info and delays... Now 7 days after Najibs pronouncement, we are still waiting for answers to the above. Now into the 4th week of the SAR, the world’s most sophisticated surveillance aircraft & vessels have failed to find any trace of MH370. So this only begs further questions: -Why the haste in Najibs announcement? & only based on findings from new type of analysis never used before in investigations of this sort from Inmarsat ? Compare this haste against the 3 to 4 days it took the govt to analyse & verify the data & analysis report from the same Inmarsat before he announced redirection of SAR efforts to the Indian Ocean.. Compare this haste against the 8 days it took the govt to confirm that the aircraft that did a turn back was indeed MH370.. Compare this haste against the 15 days it took MAS to admit that MH370 cargo included 200kg of highly flammable ion lithium batteries.. For 17 days, the world had no idea where the missing plane was.. we went from east to west, then northern and southern corridor.. and we still dont know - yet there is suddenly such urgency to declare that there were no survivors? What happened to the need to corroborate data & analyse & verify before making an official announcement so glibly spouted as reasons for delay in releasing critical info in locating the aircraft? So, it is important to hastily announce that all is lost..? Is it not even more important to immediately share critical info that can help locate your plane & possibly save 239 lives? And with all the delays jeopardising the SAR, even if wreckage from MH370 is finally found, will the black box ever be located? Will questions of What happened to the 239 persons on board MH370? Why did it end up in the Indian Ocean? & Who did it? be answered? Every new day, I find myself thinking, hoping.. maybe today.... Feeling dumbfounded.. sad.. angry... I cannot begin to imagine the agony for the families... perhaps it is better that they can show anger and channel such anger to seek more accountability & more reliable answers.. Just so very sorry for the families......
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:44:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015