Malaysian Airlines’ Troubled History

Corporate mismanagement goes back

Malaysian Airlines, the flag carrier whose MH370 Boeing 777-200 disappeared on March 8 without a trace into the Indian Ocean, has been given high marks as a quality airline. Nonetheless it has a troubled corporate history and a series of scrapes going back almost to the launch of its flying operations in 1972.

The publicly traded airline’s most recent annual reports indicate losses skyrocketed by 171 percent to RM1.17 billion ($359.12 million). That follows years of lackluster performance, management changes and exploitation by cronies connected to the country’s ruling Barisan Nasional, or national coalition, particularly the United Malays National Organization. It has been the subject of repeated “turnaround plans” that turned out to be cul-de-sacs. The 2013 losses followed 2011 losses of RM2.52 billion, the largest in the airline’s history. The losses were laid to rising fuel costs and mismanagement, forcing it to cut back eight international routes.

That isn’t to say the airline’s management woes had anything to do with the disappearance of the airliner, with 239 passengers and crew aboard on the way to Beijing. They didn’t. But mismanagement and other sloppy practices have belied MAS’s record of excellent service and its flight safety record, which is on a par with other regional carriers. When it has needed to import foreign expertise – pilots – it has done so.

Nonetheless, MAS has been required to do national service, flying into low-passenger-volume areas to keep local politicians happy and has seen low-cost airlines like AirAsia, controlled by private entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, eat its lunch on both high-profit domestic and international routes. An attempt to sell the airline to Fernandes last year foundered because of union opposition and a political furor.

Cronies have repeatedly very nearly ruined the business operations, requiring a long series of government bailouts. It is now controlled by Penerbangan Malaysia Bhd., a government holding company. Kazanah Nasional, another government sovereign fund, holds a minority share.

In 1994, according to affidavits filed by one-time CEO Tajudin Ramli after a falling out with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Tajudin bought a controlling 32 percent of MAS shares at an inflated price of RM8.00 at Mahathir’s behest – while the shares were trading at RM3.30 – using disguised funds from government-linked companies to shift the excess to cover massive speculation losses in foreign exchange by Bank Negara, the country’s central bank.

When Tajudin took control of MAS in 1994 through his company, Naluri Bhd, MAS had a cash reserve in excess of RM600 million. Seven years later, in 2001, when the government bought back the airline for RM8 a share although their worth had plummeted, the state-owned airline had accumulated losses in excess of RM8 billion. The government bought back an almost bankrupt airline for the same price that it sold to Tajudin.

According to a long list of whistle-blowers within the airline, court records and investigators, Tajudin and his associates were involved in looting it of tens of millions of dollars and very nearly putting it into bankruptcy before the government buyback. When officials not connected to the United Malays National Organization recommended prosecution, they came under fire that nearly ruined their careers and almost put them in jail. Ultimately, despite evidence of Tajudin’s actions, the government settled out of court, paying him the equivalent of US$293.2 million, raising suspicions the government wished to cover up the entire affair.

Back in the hands of government sovereign funds, MAS reported losses of RM1.3 billion in 2005 despite the fact that revenue was up by 10.3 percent and passenger traffic grew 10.3 percent. The airline has 19,000 employees and efforts to cut staff have run into trouble both from unions and from the political constituency connected to the United Malays National Organization.

Too often, as with Tajudin, political cronies rather than professionals have been put in charge of running the carrier. It did chop back its domestic routes from 113 to 22 but it continues to lag its competitors. Despite the bloated employee load, it is considered to have ignored investments in customer service, especially in comparison to Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific, considered to be the region’s best carriers.

MAS’s safety record isn’t unblemished, although given the record of other carriers in the region, including Garuda Indonesia, China Airlines of Taiwan, Korean International and others, it isn’t that bad. It’s worth noting, for instance, that Silk Air, a budget subsidiary of Singapore International, suffered an apparent pilot suicide in December 1997 when the pilot apparently crashed the plane in southern Sumatra, killing 97 passengers and seven crew members on board. Singapore officials attempted to cover up the reasons for the crash.

Since 1977, 20-odd other minor incidents have been recorded by air industry officials along with three fatal crashes. In recent days, the airline suffered two minor incidents that probably would not have come to press attention without the publicity surrounding the disappearance of MH370. One was an unscheduled landing by a Seoul-bound A300-330 in Hong Kong on March 23 after an electrical generator failed on the two-year-old jet. A second occurred last week when a plane suffered a shattered windscreen when it hit birds as it landed in Kathmandu, Nepal. MH370 itself suffered wing tip damage in 2012 when it clipped another aircraft on the ground at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, although it was repaired by Boeing and cleared to fly.

A more troubling question involves credible reports that an attractive South African woman named Jonti Roos and a companion were allowed to ride in the cockpit of an MAS plane with Fariq Abdul Hamid, the 27-year-old copilot aboard MH370, on a flight last year from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur. The flight included picture-taking of one of the two young women wearing the pilot’s hat. If nothing else, it brings into question MAS’s flight deck discipline and should raise red flags at the air carrier over training.

US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules promulgated in the wake of four airliners turned into bombs on Sept. 11, 2001 required cockpit doors to remain locked during flight and restricted access to the flight deck as “essential to the safety and security of the US aviation system. The FAA urged all international airlines to adopt the same standards, which applied to all non-military aircraft with cockpit doors and more than 19 seats.

The most serious incidents involving MAS planes are as follows.

Dec. 4, 1977: Boeing 737-200 crashes in swamp on approach to Subang airport, Malaysia, killing 100 passengers and crew. Suspected cause was an attempted hijacking.
Dec. 18, 1983: Airbus 300-B4 crashes in heavy rain short of runway at Subang airport. No fatalities but the plane exploded shortly after everyone escaped the wreckage. Airport officials didn’t notice anything was amiss until the passengers walked out of the mud at the end of the runway.
Sept. 15, 1995: Fokker 50 crashes after overshooting runway at Tawau airport, Malaysia, killing 34 passengers and crew. Pilot error blamed.
Oct 10, 2013: MASWings MH3002, a Twin Otter aircraft carrying 16 passengers from Kota Kinabalu to Kudat overshoots the runway and crashes into a house. The co-pilot and one passenger died and six passengers were seriously injured. This was the first incident involving MASWings, an MAS budget offshoot.

MH370: Britain finds itself at centre of blame game over crucial delays

Air Accidents Investigation Branch and Inmarsat played crucial role in search for missing plane



With all hope now lost of finding their loved ones alive, relatives of the 239 people on board flight MH370 were increasingly expressing anger and resentment towards those they believe are to blame for the failure to locate the missing aircraft.

By singling out the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch and the British satellite firm Inmarsat as the source of the information that confirmed the Boeing 777 went down in the Indian Ocean, Malaysia’s prime minister may have directed part of that anger towards Britain.

The AAIB, working with Inmarsat, provided the only credible information on the Malaysia Airlines flight’s whereabouts, but a series of delays meant ten crucial days were lost before search teams began looking in the southern Indian Ocean, where it now seems certain the aircraft went down.

Inmarsat knew the day after MH370’s disappearance that it was likely to have flown along one of two “corridors” that later became the focus of the investigation, but vital resources were expended on looking in the wrong places because of a seeming breakdown in communications.

Exactly what went wrong, and who was to blame, remained unclear last night, but both the British and Malaysian authorities must brace themselves for a barrage of uncomfortable questions from loved ones of the dead.

The search for MH370 would have been hopeless had it not been fitted with a system called Classic Aero, a type of Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) which transmits data on location, altitude, heading and speed.

ACARS, as we now know, can be turned off manually, via a switch on the ceiling of the cockpit or behind the throttles between the pilot and co-pilot. MH370’s ACARS system was switched off at 1.21am on March 8, two minutes after the pilots’ last verbal communication with the ground. It is this deliberate act that has convinced investigators the pilots were on some form of suicide mission.

But Classic Aero also has a second terminal that operates independently of ACARS and cannot be switched off while the aircraft still has power.

Once every hour the system sends out a “ping” to satellites operated by Inmarsat. The pings play no part in ACARS, and merely serve to synchronise timing information and keep the connection to the satellite network alive.
Inmarsat, which owns 11 telecommunications satellites, supports the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System free of charge, as a public service, to help locate stricken ships and aircraft.

The day after MH370 disappeared, Inmarsat began calculating the aircraft’s movements based on the hourly pings, which carried on until 8.11am on March 8, meaning the 777 had flown for around six hours after it was last tracked by military radar off the west coast of Thailand.

The pings contain no information about location, heading or speed, meaning the only information Inmarsat had to go on was the wavelength of the pings when they reached its satellite orbiting 22,245 miles above the earth.

Variations in the wavelengths proved that the aircraft was still moving until at least 8.11am. But they did not provide any clues about direction, meaning Inmarsat could only predict that it flew either north or south along two curved “corridors”.

By adding in the aircraft’s expected speed, Inmarsat worked out that the 777 was likely to have come down somewhere at the end of the two arcs.

The firm’s spokesman Chris McLaughlin said: “What we discovered was a correlation with the southerly route and not with the northern route after the final turn that the aircraft made, so we could be as close to certain as anybody could be in that situation that it went south.

"Where we then went was to work out where the last ping was, knowing that the aircraft still had some fuel, but that it would have run out before the next automated ping. We don't know what speed the aircraft was flying at, but we assumed about 450 knots."

Inmarsat also refined its prediction by comparing the ping data with pings from previous, normal flights.

The firm’s calculations were based on inexact science, but they quickly predicted the Texas-sized area of the southern Indian Ocean where it is now accepted that the aircraft crashed.

Yet it took until March 18 before rescue teams announced they had narrowed down the search area to the location 2,000 miles west of Perth, where several sightings of debris have been made.

The terrible question now being pondered by relatives is whether anyone might have survived and could have been saved if the message had got through sooner. At the very least, opportunities to locate the aircraft’s wreckage and all-important Black Box data recorders may have been missed.

What caused the delay? Inmarsat initially shared its data with SITA, a Swiss aviation IT company, but for reasons which are not yet clear, Inmarsat’s calculations did not reach the Malaysian investigators until Wednesday, March 12.

Even then, it would be another three days before the Malaysians shared the information with the passengers’ families and the public. And it took a further three days, until Tuesday, March 18, before Australia announced it had narrowed down the search area to a defined patch of the southern Indian Ocean.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak, is reported to have told his investigators that all raw data had to be corroborated with other agencies before it was released to the public, to avoid the white noise of information and misinformation.

The Malaysian government has also suggested that it took a week to process all of the data it was receiving from multiple international sources and to eliminate red herrings.

According to the New York Times, US investigators tried telling the Malaysians they were looking in the wrong place a week after the aircraft disappeared, but their warnings were not heeded for several days.

France was said to have offered help on March 9 but was ignored for a week before the Malaysians finally agreed to meet experts who took part in the two-year search for the flight data recorders of the Air France jet that crashed into the sea north of Brazil in 2009.

Malaysian officials have also been accused of failing to share all the information from their own systems because they did want to admit weaknesses in their radar and satellite operations.

And while international experts would normally be told within 24 hours about ACARS data the Malaysians withheld it for several days. It was this information that suggested the Boeing 777 was deliberately turned to the west, away from its planned route to Beijing.

The most likely explanation for the delays appears to be distrust between Malaysia and the other countries involved in the search operation.

Mr Najib has said that his country “shared information in real time with authorities who have the necessary experience to interpret the data”.

The Chinese government begged to differ, asking Kuala Lumpur to provide “more detailed information in its possession, including third-party information, in a timely, accurate and comprehensive manner”.

While the arguments went on, British and US intelligence agencies were gathering military and civilian satellite images to analyse them for possible debris. Images of two pieces of suspected debris were captured by an American satellite on March 16, but it was a further three days before the centralised analysis centre in the UK reviewed them. This was blamed on the “significant volume of imagery it was handling”.

On March 19, Malaysia Airlines told SITA to use the AAIB as the main analyst of the Inmarsat data. The AAIB, part of the Department for Transport, passed on its own interpretation to Malaysia, but it was not until Sunday, March 23 that a further calculation by Inmarsat convinced the Malaysians of the aircraft’s whereabouts.

Analysts realised that their calculations had not taken into account the geostationary satellite’s very slight movements in relation to the earth. Once that was factored in, the northern corridor was ruled out completely. The calculations were sent off to be checked over the weekend before being passed to Malaysia on Sunday.

The breakthrough led to Mr Najib’s announcement at 10pm local time last night that Inmarsat and the AAIB “have been able to shed more light on MH370’s flight path”.

He said the new analysis showed that the aircraft’s last position was “a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean”.

Inmarsat is developing a new system to replace Classic Aero, that will automatically transmit location data, but international bodies have not yet made such a system mandatory.

James Healey-Pratt, a lawyer representing some victims' families, said: "This Investigation does not compare favourably to that of Air France 447, where the Families felt they received information more accurately and quickly - without the trauma of having to endure an emotional roller coaster of wildly varying theories over the causes.

"Live Streaming Black Box type data is the simple solution.”

Both Inmarsat and the AAIB declined to comment on Malaysia’s handling of the investigation.

Karpal appeals against fine

The New Straits Times
By HIDIR REDUAN

SEDITION CONVICTION: Notice filed at Kuala Lumpur High Court Criminal Registry

PUTRAJAYA: DAP chairman and Bukit Gelugor  member of parliament Karpal Singh filed a notice of appeal against the High Court's decision ordering him to pay a RM4,000 fine for committing sedition against the sultan of Perak five years ago.

"The notice of appeal against the sentence was filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court Criminal Registry today (yesterday) and copies have been served on the Attorney-General and the Court of Appeal Registry," said Karpal's counsel Zaleha al-Hayat.

On whether veteran lawyer Karpal has filed a notice of appeal against his conviction as well, Zaleha said the notice was filed a day after Karpal's conviction on Feb 21. The High Court here found Karpal, 73, guilty of committing the offence at a press conference held at his law firm here between noon and 12.30pm on Feb 6, 2009.

However, judge Datuk Azman Abdullah allowed the defence's application for sentencing be deferred to allow Karpal to prepare mitigation for a lenient sentence.

On March 11, the High Court fined Karpal RM4,000 after submissions by the defence and deputy public prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin. Karpal paid the fine.

Search For Debris, Framework, Objects Linked To MH370 Can Go On For Weeks, Months

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 (Bernama) -- After the fate of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak yesterday, the search for concrete evidence is now focused on the southern part of the southern corridor in the Indian Ocean.

"What we have to do in the coming weeks and months is to look for the debris, framework and objects linked to MH370 so that we can confirm unequivocally that the flight went down in the southern Indian Ocean," Najib said.

The prime minister had announced last night that the flight path of the aircraft had "ended in the southern Indian Ocean".

In a special motion tabled in the Dewan Rakyat Tuesday, Najib also recorded condolence to all the families, friends and acquaintances of the 227 passengers and 12 crew of Flight MH370 that disappeared while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.

Najib said that though the real answer to the mystery of the lost aircraft could only be gleaned from the cockpit conversation recorded in the black box, a thorough investigation must be carried out in a professional manner and with commitment.

As a result of this new data analysis, the search and rescue operation in the northern corridor and northern part of the southern corridor, close to Indonesia, had been called off.

The northern corridor stretches from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand and the southern corridor, from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) in a statement today said the search for missing flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean has been suspended due to bad weather and rough seas.

It said the area was expected to experience waves of up to two metres and an associated swell of up to four metres, strong gale force winds of up to 80km per hour, periods of heavy rain, and low cloud with a ceiling between 60 and 150 metres.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) group chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said MAS had provided an initial financial assistance of US$5,000 (RM16,000) per passenger to the next-of-kin of passengers of Flight MH370.

Ahmad Jauhari said that since the disappearance of Flight MH370 on March 8, MAS' focus had been to comfort and support the families of those involved and support the multi-national search effort.

Meanwhile, Inspector-general of police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said police would not release any findings on the passengers and crew of the Boeing 777 plane, as it will jeopardise the ongoing investigation.

He, however noted that the initial four areas of focus -- hijacking, sabotage, psychological and personal problems, had not changed.

Hisham nafi dakwaan MH370 dikesan di Maldives

New case of sexual harassment in Egypt sparks outrage

CAIRO: A case of sexual harassment in one of Egypt's largest universities has sparked outrage after the dean said the women's outfit triggered the incident.

In a video that has gone viral on social networks and has been covered by local media, Cairo University security guards escort a student wearing tight black pants and a long sleeved pink top after she hid in a toilet from dozens of male students who were sexually harassing her.

More than 99 percent of women in Egypt have been subjected to a form of harassment, according to a study carried out in 2013 by UN Women.

Women report that they are harassed regardless of whether they are dressed in conservative Islamic veils or Western-style clothing.

University dean Gaber Nassar said the student's outfit, which he described as "a bit unconventional," led to the harassment, quickly adding that he was not justifying the incident.

"This girl entered the university wearing an abaya (loose cloak) and then took it off in the faculty, and appeared with those clothes, that caused, in reality -- but this doesn't justify at all" the incident, Nassar said on private Egyptian channel ONTV.

He said university guards turn away students who show up at campus dressed inappropriately.

"The student's mistake does not justify what the (other) students did," he added.

Most of Cairo University's female students wear jeans and tops and avoid revealing clothes, and many wear the traditional Islamic headscarves, as do the majority of Egypt's women.

Nassar later wrote on Twitter that he was misunderstood and that he was not blaming the student for the incident.

"I assure that this is not true and I apologise for the misunderstanding and I repeat that those who (harassed the girl) will be severely punished," he wrote.

Fathi Farid, with an anti-sexual harassment group, said male students had verbally attacked the woman and attempted to undress her.

"The worst is that people always find justification for the harassment and blame it on the victim," said Farid, a founding member of the "I saw harassment" campaign that documents sexual harassment against women.

The incident sparked outrage on social networks and in the media.

Nassar "should be interrogated and expelled, investigations into the incident should start immediately", women's rights activist Mariam Kirollos wrote on her Twitter account.

Several popular talk-shows covered the incident.

"A girl is naked, does it mean someone should jump on her?" television host Amr Adib asked in disbelief, during his show on the privately-owned Orbit channel.

Accused Abdul Hannan, Murshed Miah, Rasad Miah and Mohammad Islam due in court after body of Harjit Chaggar found in shop in Luton, Chatham

by KentOnline reporter

Harjit Chaggar was found dead in a shop in Chatham

Four men are due in court today accused over the death of a pensioner whose body was found in a Chatham shop.

The body of grandmother Harjit Chaggar was discovered in the basement of the Sani Globe store, in Luton Road, on September 14 last year. She went missing on September 2 after last being seen in the Luton Arches area at about 4pm that day.

Abdul Hannan, 44, Murshed Miah, 38, and 28-year-old Mohammad Islam have all denied murdering the 69-year-old retired machinist, of Hillside Road, Chatham.

Rasad Miah, of Otway Street, Chatham, has denied preventing the lawful burial or cremation of a corpse.

A cordon outside Sani Globe food store in Luton Road

Hannan, of Aldon Close, Maidstone, Mushed Miah; of Wheeler Street, Maidstone; and Islam, of Windmill Road, Gillingham, have all been remanded in custody.

Rasad Miah, 27, was granted bail conditional on residence, reporting twice a week to police and not contacting prosecution witnesses.

I’m no racist, says Wan Junaidi over child rape issue

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (pic) has dismissed suggestions by his critics that he is a racist when he compared statistics of statutory rape between Malays and non-Malays.

"How can I be a racist when my wife is Chinese and I have many relatives who are non-Muslims/Malays," he said, when asked to clarify his remarks.

He said the Malays tend to lodge reports due to their religious and cultural sensitivities on statutory rape, even if was a consensual act.

"They have no other solution, but to lodge police reports, even when they realise that consensual sex with a minor was a statutory sexual offence," he told reporters after opening the Asia Pacific non-governmental organisation conference on Human Trafficking in Kuala Lumpur today.

Wan Junaidi sparked a furore when he said, in reply to a question, that child rape was more common among Malays because non-Malays are less sensitive and under-report such cases.

He said the majority of Muslim parents were unable to accept the idea of sex before marriage .

"There are more reports involving Malays compared with other races because Muslims can't accept a child out of wedlock, pre-marital sex, and because these acts are wrong by Islamic law (zina)," Wan Junaidi said in Parliament during question time.

Wan Junaidi said statistics showed 80%, or 1,147 of the 1,424 of statutory rape cases reported last year, involved Malays.

Statutory rape covers girls aged below 16, regardless of whether it involved consensual sex and whether the accused was an adult or minor.

In comparison, he said, Chinese accounted for 4.3% (62 victims), Indians accounted for 2% (32), while other races accounted for about 13% (183).

He said this was consistent with the numbers for 2012, where out of the 1,243 underage rape victims, Malays accounted for 80%, Chinese 5%, Indians 3%, while other races accounted for 12%.

Wan Junaidi said statutory rape cases were mostly caused by access to pornographic material available easily on the Internet.

He said other reasons for underage rape included young people being influenced by friends as well as an urge to try having sex.

Wan Junaidi's remarks hit a raw nerve among netizens and civil society, who rebuked him for being insensitive.

Wan Junaidi said he had discussed with his officers the wide disparity in the number of child rape police reports before delivering the reply in Parliament but they did not give him a satisfactory answer.

"I want this to be studied and this includes getting professors to do research," he added.

Elaborating on his speech at the conference, he said his ministry was reevaluating the Human Trafficking Act 2007 to meet international standards.

He said this in response to the United States report on Human Trafficking which placed Malaysia on the Tier Two Watch list for the fourth consecutive year (2010-2013) and the possibility of being downgraded this year.

The 2013 report said that Malaysia did not fully comply with the minimum standards of elimination of human trafficking in terms of prosecution, protection accorded to victims and prevention.

Wan Junaidi said Malaysia had taken steps to provide shelter homes and also employment opportunities to victims until they were sent back home.

"They are not confined in shelter homes but are also given skills training," he added.

Wan Junaidi, however, said any amendment to the law must be done after careful study or there would be an influx of foreign nationals and this would be a strain on the country.

"We never had malaria and tuberculosis but these diseases have returned due to the high number of foreign workers," he said.

He said the government would intensify its effort to work with NGOs to create awareness among the public on the effects of human trafficking and also to provide support to victims. – March 19, 2014.

Palani backtracks on Vell Paari, gives him a post

After being issued a show-cause letter for allegedly criticising the president, Vell Paari has now been made the strategic director.

PETALING JAYA: Merely 10 days after issuing a show-cause letter to S Vell Paari over his alleged criticism against the party, MIC president G Palanivel makes a U-turn by re-appointing the former as the party’s strategic director bureau chief.

A Tamil daily owned by Vell Paari published an article today claiming that Palanivel has appointed the son of former party president S Samy Vellu to the said position.

The appointment was announced by MIC vice president M Saravanan during the party’s Federal Territory meeting yesterday.

When contacted, Vell Paari confirmed that he was offered the position. Nevertheless he did not reveal further details on the appointment.

“The party disciplinary committee has still not issued their official statement on my show-cause letter. Thus, I cannot reveal anything at this moment,” he said, adding that he has already replied to the letter.

On March 7, MIC disciplinary committee issued the show-cause letter to the former party strategic director for issuing statements against the party president in the media.

Disciplinary committee head KS Nijhar said Vell Paari would be given 14 days to reply to the show-cause letter.

The show cause letter was issued immediately after Vell Paari had issued a press statement against Palanivel, who is also the Natural Resources and Environment Minister, for failing to alert and update the public on the haze and the prolonged drought.

Vell Paari, who is also Kepong MIC division chief, had urged the minister to take into view the plight of Malaysians facing the haze problem.

The committee will also issue a similar show-cause letter to Shah Alam MIC branch chairman S Vaithialingam.

It is expected that the disciplinary committee will issue an official statement tomorrow.

MH370 mystery: New data but no details

Malaysia today confirmed that it has some new radar data on the missing MH370.

SEPANG: Malaysia today confirmed that it has some new radar data on the missing MH370, said all passengers, pilots and crew of the missing Boeing 777-200ER remain innocent until proven otherwise.

Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein today confirmed that Malaysia had received “some radar data”, but the authorities were not at the liberty to release information from other countries.

“I appeal to all our partners to continue volunteering any and all information that could help with the investigation and the search for MH370.

“Regarding reports that the plane was sighted in the Maldives, I can confirm that the Malaysian chief of the defence force has contacted his counterpart in the Maldives, who has confirmed that these reports are not true,” he said at a daily press conference here today.

MH370 has been missing since March 8 on a flight from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing, China, carrying some 239 passengers and crew . The plane was last spotted by the civilian radar flying over the South China Sea, an hour after takeoff about 12.40am Saturday morning. The plane appeared in the military radar an hour later, in the western side of peninsula Malaysia heading towards the Andaman Sea.

Authorities have not ruled out possibility of a hijack as the plane had its internal transponders switched off after losing contact with the civilian aircraft radar.

On the police investigations into the passengers and crew of the jetliner, Hishammuddin, who is also Defence Minister, said the case has been classified under section 130C of the Penal Code.

“All passengers, crew and ground staff handling the aircraft are being investigated. We are sharing all information relevant to the case with all relevant international investigative agencies that require it. We have received passenger background checks from all countries apart from Ukraine and Russia, both of which had nationals on board.

“So far, no information of significance on any passengers has been found. Local and international expertise has been recruited to examine the pilot’s flight simulator (found at the pilot’s house). Some data had been deleted from the simulator and forensic work to retrieve this data is on-going.

“I would like to take this opportunity to state that the passengers, the pilots and the crew remain innocent until proven otherwise. For the sake of their families, I ask that we refrain from any unnecessary speculation that might make an already difficult time even harder,” he added.

High-level team to Beijing

On the search for the missing jet, he said the focus remain on narrowing the search corridor, by gathering satellite information, analysing radar data, increasing air and surface assets and increasing the number of technical experts.

“On the diplomatic front, all 26 countries involved in the search and rescue operation have verbally agreed to assist the operations, and Malaysia has written to all countries formally requesting co-operation.

“A number of assets which have already been committed are awaiting diplomatic clearance to begin operations. Once we receive formal clearance, we can then speed up the deployment of assets along the search corridors,” he said.

The minister also announced the formation of a high-level team that will travel to Beijing immediately.

“I would like to announce that in addition to the team that is already on the ground, Malaysia is currently assembling a high-level team that will immediately travel to Beijing. The team will give briefings and updates to the next of kin on the latest situation, and on search and rescue plans,” he said.

The team will include representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Royal Malaysian Air Force, the Department of Civil Aviation, and Malaysia Airlines.

It will be led by Lieutenant General Ackbal Haji Abdul Samad (Air Operation Commander, Royal Malaysia Air Force), assisted by Ahmad Nizar Zolfakar (Director, Air Traffic Services, Department of Civil Aviation) and will include a senior 777 pilot.

Wan Junaidi’s shocking child rape remark

Azrul Mohd Khalib, The Malay Mail

I think most of us were shocked to hear the reply in Parliament by Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar to the question of why the incidence of child rape is more common among Malays.

His outrageous unsubstantiated statement that Malays were more sensitive than non-Malays to the issue of statutory rape borders on the ridiculous. However, the sad fact is that it seems that even a serious crime such as sexual violence and child abuse is viewed or even judged through the lens of race. Even at the highest levels of government, mind-sets continue to be imprisoned by the straitjacket of racism.

No person at the Cabinet level, whose responsibility it is to look at issues which affect all Malaysians, should be making racist and sweeping statements which inevitably reflect the level of seriousness of which such issues are considered as well as the policies linked to it.

Rightly or wrongly, based on the Deputy Home Minister’s statement in Parliament, people would be justified in thinking that the government has a misplaced sense of understanding regarding sexual violence and child abuse.

What the Deputy Home Minister stated in his answer to the question in Parliament is a serious issue because this is not about his personal opinion, which would be sufficiently appalling and despicable enough. This is about the position of the government on a serious issue which affects women and girls in this country. His answers in the House, therefore becomes the position.

Therefore, I must ask, is the position of our government therefore that the incidence of child rape is more common among Malays, because Malays were more sensitive than non-Malays to the issue of statutory rape?

Another sad fact is that the Deputy Home Minister’s statement seems to focus on the issue of reporting. He appears to reject a fundamental problem: the reality that there is a high incidence of rape and sexual violence occurring to children in Malaysia, irrespective of their ethnicity.

Royal Malaysian Police statistics indicate that 10 women and girls are sexually assaulted each day. Fifty per cent of all such cases, which includes rape, involve children below the age of 16. Bear in mind that these numbers do not include cases where the rape survivor was married off to the rapist, changing the status of the crime from haram to halal.

Like a true politician born and bred in divisive racial politics, the Deputy Home Minister decided instead to take the defensive approach as if the question was a criticism of the Malay community, and respond to the effect that the children of other races are raped too but that they are more accepting or tolerant about it and therefore don’t report. What rubbish.

For the benefit of Yang Berhomat Timbalan Mentri, allow me to repeat this sobering statistic: 50 per cent of sexual violence in Malaysia occurs to girls below the age of 16. Don’t believe me? Go and visit PDRM’s Sexual Crimes Unit.

Perhaps he needs to spend some time with some of the urban poor families living in Malaysia’s cities. Many of them live in low cost and high density apartments and in conditions which would be terrifying and vulnerable for any child. READ MORE HERE

Hishammuddin should not have dishonoured Parliament by causing a parliamentary crack on the MH370 crisis when he should have presented a united national front in world’s largest-ever multi-national air-sea SAR

By Lim Kit Siang,

The Acting Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should not have dishonoured Parliament by causing a parliamentary crack on the MH370 crisis when he should have presented a united national front in the world’s largest-ever 26-nation multi-national air-sea search-and-rescue (SAR) operation for the missing Malaysian Airlines aircraft with 239 passengers and crew on board.

Over a hundred ships, helicopters and aircrafts as well as radar systems from 26 nations are involved in a SAR mission scouring two vast tracts of territories totaling 2.24 million sq nautical miles (about 7.68 million square kilometres) stretching from the southern Indian Ocean to Kazakhstan in the north to find the missing MH370 Boeing 777-200 aircraft.

The world’s largest-ever multi-national air-sea SAR, entering the 12th day after over 250 hours without any clue on the whereabouts of the aircraft or what happened on March 8, is in a race against time as there are only 18 days left for the search teams to locate the aircraft’s black box, the most important piece of aviation technology, as it will only transmit a signal for 30 days.

When Malaysia expects unprecedented international unity in the world’s largest-ever multi-national SAR operation, Malaysians and in particular the Malaysian Parliament must demonstrate unprecedented national unity in support of the SAR mission for the missing aircraft and not to present any parliamentary crack, division or disunity to the world on this issue.

Unfortunately, this is what Hishammuddin did when he held a “For Barisan Nasional MPs” briefing on the missing MH370 at Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral BallRoom last night – completely unmindful of the undesirable, unfortunate and untrue message he is beaming to the world that the Malaysian Parliament is divided into two camps on the MH370 SAR mission!

It is not that Hishammuddin had not been forewarned beforehand that he should not be partisan and give a “For BN MPs only” briefing, when he should be giving a briefing – in fact regular briefings – to all Malaysian MPs!

Hishammuddin himself knows that what he had done was both wrong and improper which is why he had come out with the lame excuse that Pakatan Rakyat MPs had not asked for a briefing – when he should know that both BN and PR MPs have spoken up about their concerns for the fate of the 239 passengers and crew onboard MH370.

In fact, Pakatan Rakyat through PAS MP for Pokok Sena Mahfuz Omar had even sought to have an urgent parliamentary debate on the MH370 crisis last week under Dewan Rakyat Standing Order 18(1) but this was not allowed.

Invitations for the MH370 “For BN MPs only” briefing at the Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral Ballroom was sent out in the name of the Acting Transport Minister, Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein – raising the question whether this was a BNBBC event or an official Transport Ministry function.

What are the costs of the event at the post hotel, Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral Ballroom, and was it borne by the taxpayers through the Transport Ministry or by the BNBBC?

Why wasn’t the briefing, even “For BN MPs only” held in Parliament House, which would not have incurred the exorbitant costs of holding it in a post hotel like Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral Ballroom – which must have “cost a bomb”?

BN Beluran MP and Deputy Speaker Ronald Kiandee is quoted as saying that Hishammuddin said nothing extra at the briefing as “Everything said at the daily briefings was repeated last night. There was nothing new or special instructions given.”

Hishammuddin admitted as much after the Aloft “briefing” saying that he had only updated the BNBBC on the timeline of the events and had not shared confidential information beyond what the investigation team could divulge.

He said such information BN backbenchers received had also been released to the public.

If Hishammuddin had not revealed anything new at the “For BN MPs only” briefing, and only recycled information which had already been made public, what is the use of such a briefing for BN MPs?

If the Aloft “dinner briefing” is basically only a social event, why should the Department of Civil Aviations director-general Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, the MAS CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya and top generals from the Royal Malaysian Armed Forces be dragged to attend such social functions of BNBBC when their time should be very precious and critical in the 11th day of the world’s largest-ever multi-national air-sea SAR mission to locate MH370 and to save the 239 passengers and crew onboard?

In giving a briefing on MH370 crisis which is confined only to BN MPs only, and which is only a rehash what had already been announced at the MH370 crisis daily media conferences without anything new or extra, and tying down important officials from the DAC, Armed Forces and MAS in the SAR operation in the BNBBC social dinner, Hishammuddin has got his priorities all wrong.

I for one would not want to attend any briefing by Hishammuddin which is a rehash of what he and others had already publicly announced.

Hishammuddin should provide the government leadership in Parliament to enable all MPs, whether BN or PR, to play their role not only in giving full support to the SAR mission, but even more important, to subsequently conduct full investigations into the MH 370 tragedy so as to provide answers to the multitude of queries arising from numerous controversies and confusions surrounding the MH 370 crisis.

In my speech in Parliament last Thursday, I had suggested the immediate formation of a Parliamentary Select Committee on Disasters to give full support to MH 370 “search and rescue” operation and to hold itself in readiness to conduct investigations after SAR ops to address all queries on the MH 370 tragedy.

Is Hishammuddin prepared to provide government leadership in Parliament and support the establishment of such a Parliamentary Select Committee, including supporting an amendment to the Motion of Thanks on the Royal Address currently being debated in the House for the establishment of such a Parliamentary Select Committee?

(Media Statement in Parliament on Wednesday, 19th March 2014)

Underage rape cases drop to 1,424 in 2013

The New Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR: The number of statutory rape cases has declined from 1,550 cases in 2012 to 1,424 cases last year Deputy Home Minister Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said at Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

He said although the number of cases had declined, the trend was still worrying. Wan Junaidi was responding to a question by Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh (BN-Setiu), who had asked the ministry to state the number of underage rape cases nationwide and the government's measures to stop them.

He said the government had added a special division in the Criminal Investigation Department to research combating crimes related to sexual and child abuse.

"One-stop crisis centres have been established in hospitals to help victims and handle them in a more professional manner.

"Counselling services are given in police stations to help victims who are traumatised. Reports are also taken in a special room so that victims do not have to testify in public."

He said children under the age of 16 could now testify on video at the Child Interview Centre.

"This is to protect the children from being threatened by suspects."

MH370: Najib Holds Discussion With Ministers, Senior Officials Wednesday

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Wednesday held discussion with ministers and relevant senior officials on the search area pertaining to the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370.

"Discussing the search for MH370 with (Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri) Hishammuddin Hussein and (Foreign Minister Datuk Seri) Anifah Aman this morning.

"Also present to give clarification in our search area - which has expanded to 2.24 million square miles - were chief of armed forces, air force, police, DCA (Department of Civil Aviation) and MAS," Najib said in his latest Facebook posting.

The discussion was held at his office in Parliament House.

In his Facebook, Najib also shared a picture during the discussion which included him with Hishammuddin, Anifah, armed forces chief Gen Tan Sri Zulkifli Mohd Zin and air force chief Gen Tan Sri Rodzali Daud.

The mission to search for the aircraft carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members has entered its 12th day, since it went missing on March 8.

Angry Chinese nationals barge into briefing room - Malaysiakini

 

There was chaos at the auditorium used by the authorities for the daily press briefings on Flight MH370 after a group of Chinese nationals barged in to speak to reporters.

The group, numbering at about a dozen people, said they were relatives of those on board the plane and want to express their anguish and anger after being brought to Malaysia, but are left with little information on the progress of the search for the missing plane.

A press officer announced through a microphone that the venue is for Department of Civil Aviation's (DCA) press conferences only, and security personnel arrived shortly after to remove the gatecrashers by force.

Some of them were seen crying and screaming as they were dragged into the media secretariat office in an adjacent room, which is off-limits to media personnel.

"I've been here for four days! Please help me get back my son!" cried one elderly woman in Mandarin.

"From the South China Sea and now elsewhere. We don't know where the plane had gone... There is no information at all," cried another person, who was on the verge of tears.

Another was seen carrying a banner which read "We are against the Malaysian government for hiding the truth and delaying the rescue. Release our families unconditionally!"

The entire episode lasted less than 10 minutes.

Hisham: It is heart-wrenching for me too

The incident happened as reporters were stationed in the auditorium. The standard practice is to reserve seats about an hour before the press briefing, which usually takes place at 5.30pm.

Relatives of some of the 152 Chinese nationals aboard the missing Flight MH370 have been flown to Malaysia and are currently staying at a hotel in Putrajaya.

MAS has claimed that they have been assigned a staff for each family in Malaysia and China, who will provide updates on the progress of the search.

However, there are some families who have grown impatient with the lack of progress while several families, in Beijing, have threatened to go on hunger strike.

Meanwhile, Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein (left), during the press briefing which followed, said he could empathise with what the families are going through.

"One of our main priorities is how to handle their emotions and the families. That is why we are sending a team to Beijing.

"I hope and appeal to everybody, that we are trying our very best. This is also heart-wrenching for me," he said.

Earlier during the briefing, Hishammuddin had also said that they are sending a high-level team that comprise of representatives of the prime minister, foreign ministry and the DCA to Beijing.

Fresh chaos

As the press briefing was going on, another round of commotion erupted elsewhere when the families were escorted out of the media secretariat office under heavy police guard at about 5.40pm.

Journalists were pushed away when they tried to approach the Chinese nationals as they were being taken to an upper floor.

Several journalist fell down while policemen could be heard shouting "tahan, tahan (detain them)"  at the press.

After the family members were led to the new room, a police line was formed outside to bar entry of pressmen.

"Who is the officer in charge here and why we are not allowed to talk to the Chinese families?" asked a BBC journalist while recording a live report.

The latter was later pushed against a wall while he tried to approach Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar for comment at about 6pm.

The police chief then entered the room without talking to the press.

KJ: Wan Azizah too busy to become a good assemblyman

Hindu in Pakistan suffer acid attack for celebrating Holi

Three Hindus were injured in an acid attack during a religious festival in Pakistan’s southern port city Karachi on Monday, according to police.

“People were throwing colors on each other at a ceremony to celebrate [Hindu religious festival] Holi in Model Colony area, when one of the participants threw acid-mixed color on the crowd and sped away,” said Pir Mohammad Shah, a city police chief.

We can hardly doubt the motivation behind this attack on Minority Hindus in Pakistan. As per the Standing Committee on Academic Research and Issuing Fatwas, it is strictly prohibited for Muslims to take part, celebrate the festivals of Kuffar (Hindus). It reads:

It is not permissible for the Muslim to join the kuffaar in their festivals and to express joy and happiness on these occasions, or to take the day off work, whether the occasion is religious or secular, because this is a kind of imitating the enemies of Allaah, which is forbidden, and a kind of co-operating with them in falsehood. It was proven that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” [Fatwa no. 2540]

Muslims in Karachi believe that the attacker was a Hindu, ironically the acid-throwing incident follows the burning of a Hindu temple and a community office in the southern Larkana district on Sunday, by angry mobs protesting the alleged burning of a Quran by a Hindu.

Pakistan is a Muslim-majority country where Hindus are the second largest minority after the Christians. They make up 2 percent of the 180 million population.

Diverted MH370 path never used by pilots before

Neither the pilot nor co-pilot of the missing Flight MH370 had any experience flying on areas which are now subject to search and rescue operations.

 

"None," Malaysia Airlines chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told journalists at the daily briefing for MH370 when queried about the pilot's and co-pilot's experience using the new route which diverted from the KLIA-Beijing route.

 

"As far as pilots are concerned, looking at the northern corridor, we do not fly there at all as a commercial airline.

 

"(For) the southern corridor, unless you fly to these islands, (but) we don't fly to any of these islands," he said at Sama-Sama Hotel, KL International Airport.

 

Based on satellite data, an international investigation team had established that the aircraft's last position could have been either in what is now known as a "northern corridor" which ranges from the northern Thai border to the borders of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan or the "souhern corridor" which ranges from Indonesia to South of the Indian Ocean.

 

The plane had at 1.30am on March 8 lost communication over the Gulf of Thailand and later detected by military and satellite data flying westwards, possibly for several hours, away from its destination.

 

Unfamiliar route

 

MAS' confirmation today indicate that pilot Zaharie Ahmah Shah or co-pilot Fariq Ab Hamid were flying on an unfamiliar route, if they were indeed the ones in control of the cockpit when communications with air traffic controllers were lost.

 

But MAS' official routes are not necessarily a measure of the pilots' real experience, as a Berita Harian report today quoted unnamed investigators saying Zaharie's flight simulator at home had five airstrips which he could practice on, including one which sits in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

 

While the other four airstrips in the simulator are situated in India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka, countries where MAS flies to, the British territory of Diego Garcia, located in the central Indian Ocean, is an exception.

 

Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein who was present at the press conference refused to confirm if these airstrips did indeed exist in the simulator, instead asked journalists quiz the police.

 

The aberration raises legitimate questions but does not necessarily suggest something devious, as it could also just be an innocent fascination of an aviation enthusiast with over 18,000 flight hours.

 

No one else could fly

 

Investigations to date showed none of the other 237 passengers knew how to fly an aircraft, at least officially, if the international intelligence agencies are correct. 

 

"None of the passengers have pilot background," said Jauhari.

 

This fact, coupled with a New York Times report quoting US investigators that Flight MH370 was reprogrammed to be diverted, something only doable by experienced individuals, meant that the spotlight remains on Zaharie and Fariq.

 

"Instead of manually operating the plane's controls, whoever altered Flight MH370's path typed seven or eight keystrokes into a computer on a knee-high pedestal between the captain and the first officer," the report said.

 

Responding to the report, Jauhari said this "could be speculation", but did not put the speculation to rest as he added that "anything is possible in the aircraft" when asked if it was plausible for Flight MH370's original KLIA-Beijing route to be reprogrammed.

Malays less willing than non-Malays to accept child rape, says deputy minister

Question: Why is the incident of child rape more common among Malays?


Answer by Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar in parliament: Because non-Malays are less sensitive and under report such cases.

He said this was because the majority of Muslim parents are unable to accept the idea of sex before marriage compared with non-Malay parents who are presumably less sensitive over the issue.

Wan Junaidi said statistics showed 80% or 1,147 of the 1,424 of statutory rape cases reported last year involved Malays. Statutory rape covers those aged below 16, regardless of whether it involved consensual sex.

In comparison, he said, Chinese accounted for 4.3% (62 victims), Indians accounted for 2% (32) while other races made up about 13% (183).

He said this was consistent with the numbers for 2012, whereby out of the 1,243 underage rape victims, Malays accounted for 80%, Chinese 5%, Indians 3% while other races accounted for 12%.

Wan Junaidi said the statistics for the Malay community were higher than that of the other races because they were more inclined to lodge reports of teenage sex, whereas non-Muslims were possibly less sensitive over the issue.

"This is because Muslim parents cannot accept sex before marriage or babies born out of wedlock as it is against Islamic teachings," he said in reply to a question from Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh (BN-Setiu) on underage rape cases.

He added that police investigations found that statutory rape cases were mostly caused by access to pornographic material available easily on the Internet.

He said other reasons for underage rape included young people being influenced by friends and also the urge to give sex a try.

Wan Junaidi said that although there was a reduction in the number of cases, it was still a worrying trend as young people aged between 13 and 16 accounted for 90% of underage rape victims.

To a question from Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff (PAS-Rantau Panjang) on whether weak enforcement was a factor, Wan Junaidi said parents were duty bound to ensure the safety of their children and not leave it to enforcement agencies. – March 18, 2014.

Chinese MH370 relatives threaten ‘hunger strike’

Some of the relatives had stopped going to MAS briefings, given how long they had been waiting for information.

BEIJING: Desperate relatives of Chinese passengers aboard flight MH370 threatened to go on hunger strike Tuesday as they demanded answers about the missing aircraft from Malaysian officials.

“Now we have no news, and everyone is understandably worried. The relatives say they will go to the (Malaysian) embassy to find the ambassador,” said Wen Wancheng, whose son was aboard the missing flight.

“The Malaysian ambassador should be presenting himself here. But he’s not,” Wen said, updating reporters after a regular meeting between Malaysia Airlines officials and family members at a hotel in Beijing.

“Relatives are very unsatisfied. So you hear them saying ‘hunger strike’,” added the 63-year-old from the eastern province of Shandong, speaking as the search entered its 11th day.

Two-thirds of the passengers on the flight, which had 239 people on board, were Chinese.

Outside the meeting room, a woman clutching a placard reading “Respect life. Give us back our families” told reporters that the relatives were going on hunger strike.

She declined to say how many were doing so, or give her name.

“Since they haven’t given us the truth about those people’s lives, all of us are protesting,” the woman said furiously.

“All the relatives are facing mental breakdowns,” she added.

Wen also said some of the relatives had stopped going to the meetings, given how long they had been waiting for information.

“It doesn’t mean giving up,” he added. “It’s normal to return home. Like me, I have been out for a long time.”

A poem was hung on a wall directly outside the relatives briefing room, credited to “Xue Song”, although it was not clear whether it was put up by a family member.

“On Malaysia Airlines our relatives have ridden, we don’t know where the plane is hidden,” said the poem.

“The Malaysian spokesman statements make us guess, and turn the search into a great big mess.

“Let down, accusing and deep frustration, our families are left in desolation.

“We just long to meet one more time, counting seconds flowing like tears in a line.”

Beijing has been critical of Malaysia’s sharing of information, with state media and China’s huge army of netizens in expressing anger at the handling of the incident by Kuala Lumpur.

MAS to look into hunger strike claims

Meanwhile in Sepang, Bernama reports that Malaysia Airlines is looking into reports which claimed that relatives of Chinese passengers onboard the missing MH370 are threatening to go on a hunger strike in Beijing.

MAS chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said he would look into the claims and was in regular contact with the MAS team in Beijing.

“Should there be anything like that happening, MAS will certainly look into the matter immediately.

“Within all we can, we ensure that we have given sufficient assistance, information and care to all the family members in Beijing,” he told a daily press conference on the missing flight here today.

AFP

Anwar: Don’t link pilot’s PKR ties to missing jet

Political allegiance of the MH370 pilot has nothing to do with the missing plane unless there are facts to support the hijack theory.

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said today it is unfair to link the pilot of MH370 to a possible hijack just because he is a PKR supporter.

Anwar urged the government and pro-Umno bloggers not to cast aspersions unless there were facts to support the theory.

He said Zaharie was present at the Court of Appeal to express anger against the judgment in the sodomy trial on March 7. The appellate court had overturned Anwar’s acquittal and sentenced him to five years jail for sodomy.

“This does not mean he will bring his emotion to work,” he added.

“Most of the taxi drivers are our supporters, but they did not hijack their company’s vehicles to Kajang,” he said at a press conference in Parliament lobby today.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said last Saturday that somebody on board on the Malaysia Airlines jetliner has deliberately switched off the main communication devices and turned back the plane after it reached Malaysia-Vietnam airspace border.

British tabloid Daily Mail reported that Zaharie was a fervent supporter of Anwar and was upset over the Court of Appeal’s conviction of Anwar on the sodomy charge.

The report said Zaharie went straight to the airport for the MH370 flight bound for Beijing after the court hearing.

Foreign media and pro-Umno bloggers had speculated that Zaharie had allegedly wanted to send a political message by taking over the Malaysia Airlines plane.

Related to Anwar

Meanwhile, Anwar admitted that Zaharie was related to his daughter-in-law and he could recall meeting Zaharie several times at party functions.

“He is a family man and has a strong passion for justice,” he said.

He urged the authorities to give space to Zaharie’s family and focus their investigation on locating the plane.

When the investigators turned their focus on the pilots of the missing jetliner, numerous PKR leaders had similarly warned against linking Zaharie to any misdeed that could have happened to the vanished plane.

Some PKR leaders even drew a distance between the party and Zaharie, with some rejecting reports that the pilot had been at the Court of Appeal on the day Anwar’s acquittal was reversed.

PKR vice president Tian Chua was reported in Astro Awani as saying that there was no evidence to suggest that Zahariae was there at the court, adding that it did not matter what his political leanings were.

Tian Chua was today questioned by the police under the Sedition Act for tweeting: “Najib sentenced Anwar to 5-year imprisonment – the people will bring down Najib in 5 months, that I promise you!!.”

Anwar disgusted

This morning, Anwar told AFP he was “disgusted” by what he saw as an attempt to smear Zaharie and somehow implicate the opposition leadership in the disappearance of Flight 370.

He condemned speculation that Zaharie – a member of Anwar’s party – may have been driven by political motives to sabotage the plane.

“Is it a crime for anyone to be a member of PKR? To me it is an attempt to deflect the government’s incompetence,” Anwar told AFP.

“I of course did not take the news reports seriously but I am speaking out because I sympathise with the pilot and his family,” he said.

“The mysterious disappearance of MH370 reflects not only an incompetent regime ruling the country but an irresponsible government,” he added.

The Malaysian authorities have had to defend themselves against repeated accusations that they withheld key information during the early stages of the search for the missing aircraft.

Missing MH370: Anwar has seen Zaharie but has no links to him

(The Star) - Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (pic) has seen Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah at PKR meetings but does not know him personally.

Anwar criticised attempts to link Zaharie’s political affiliations to the plane’s disappearance on March 8.

“I don’t recollect the name, but when the photographs were shown I remembered I had seen him at party meetings,” the South China Morning Post quoted Anwar as saying.

“He doesn’t hold positions in the party, but is an active member in the sense that he has been seen with the party’s parliamentary leaders, taking photographs with them.”

Anwar said they had had no personal contact, but Zaharie was a follower of his Twitter account.

Anwar said that instead of trying to associate the missing plane with him, the focus should be on carrying out transparent and objective investigations.

He also said China’s condemnation of Malaysia’s handling of the search for the Boeing 777 was “absolutely justified”.

Prove non-Malays ‘more accepting’ of child rape, deputy minister told

(MM) - DAP MP Gobind Singh Deo challenged today Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar to back his claim that Malaysia’s minorities were more tolerant of statutory rape.

The deputy home minister had told Parliament earlier during Question Time that “non-Malays are maybe more accepting” of sexual violations involving underaged children, earning Gobind’s wrath.

“This is absolute and utter rubbish,” Gobind said in a statement.

The Puchong MP said Wan Junaidi’s statement was a very serious allegation and “casts a most damning insinuation” on all Malaysians as if to suggest there were racial groups in society that condoned child rape.

Gobind, who is also a criminal lawyer and the DAP’s head of legal affairs, described the deputy home minister’s statement as “most shallow, irresponsible and outrageous”.

He noted that the police statistics Wan Junaidi had cited in his parliamentary reply cannot be used to support any statement that race played a role or stretched to mean non-Malays were less sensitive to child rape compared to Malays.

“Can he show us how many of such rapes have occurred and gone unreported until now because those affected were of a certain race who ‘were less sensitive towards it’ or ‘could accept it’?” Gobind asked, of Wan Junaidi.

The opposition lawmaker demanded Wan Junaidi retract his statement and apologise immediately if he was unable to furnish proof to support his theory.

Wan Junaidi had suggested that Malays were more intolerant of their youths who preyed sexually on minors compared to Malaysians of other ethnicities, when asked about the high number of reported statutory rape cases involving the country’s biggest community.

“This doesn’t mean the cases mostly involve Malays. Because Malays are culturally more sensitive about its youth so there are more police reports about it.

“Non-Malays are maybe more accepting about it so the margin (is lower),” Wan Junaidi said in reply to Setiu Barisan Nasional MP Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh.

The Santubong MP said that in 2012, there were 1,550 reported incidents of statutory rape, with Malays taking the top spot at 48 per cent, followed by the Chinese at 5 per cent and Indians at 3 per cent, and added that the number last year had dropped to 1,424 cases.

Wan Junaidi also said close to 90 per cent of the cases reported involved those aged between 16 and 19.

Malaysia was rocked in the past two years by several high-profile cases of men having sex with underage girls, some barely in their teens, which raised questions over the Penal Code.

Bernama KPS Interview

EXCLUSIVE: Did MH370 crew succumb to fire catastrophe?

by Aimee Turner

The former head of security for the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration insists that rather than portraying the crew of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 as saboteurs, the pilots struggled heroically to save their aircraft until overcome by smoke from a catastrophic cargo fire.

Billie Vincent who served as the FAA’s civil aviation security chief played a key policy and crisis management role in the handling of all hijackings of US aircraft in the 1980s. He was also in charge of the agency’s armed Federal Air Marshals and served as an expert witness in the trial of the Pan Am 103 terrorist bombing.

After leaving the FAA he led an international consulting firm which was contracted in the 1990s to design and implement the security system of Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport where Flight 370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, started its journey at 12.41 am on March 8 before disappearing from civilian radar en route to Beijing at 1.21 am.

Officials in Malaysia claim that, based on ‘pings’ sent from the aircraft to an Inmarsat satellite, the aircraft was deliberately diverted and may have flown as far north as Central Asia or south over the Indian Ocean. They suspect that someone on board the aircraft first disabled one of its communications systems – the Aircraft and Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) around 40 minutes after takeoff before switching off the aircraft’s transponder in a systematic effort to render the aircraft invisible to air traffic surveillance.

Speaking exclusively to Air Traffic Management, Vincent dismisses the likelihood of a bomb being detonated on board which would have ruptured the pressure hull of the aircraft citing the fact that the aircraft was tracked by a series of satellite ‘pings’. That would indicate that Flight MH370 flew for up to seven more hours which would not have been possible if it had been compromised.

“The data released thus far most likely points to a problem with hazardous materials. This scenario begins with the eruption of hazardous materials within the cargo hold – either improperly packaged or illegally shipped – or both,” says Vincent.

In his view, a fire which started in the cargo hold progressively and serially destroyed the aircraft’s communications systems; toxic fumes quickly overwhelmed the passenger cabin and the cockpit where at least one of the flight crew managed to don an oxygen mask allowing them to turn the aircraft back to Kuala Lumpur.

Flight 370 is reported to have climbed to 45,000ft which Vincent believes could have been due simply to the inability of the flight crew to clearly see and set the controls for a return to Kuala Lumpur.

Vincent guesses that control could have been regained and the aircraft sent back to a lower altitude of around 23,000 ft – which is a diversion altitude set by manufacturers of large transport aircraft to prevent a fire taking further hold and which both allows better survivability for those on board and vents the avionics bays.

The final report of a UPS B747 crash in Dubai in 2010, details how that crew similarly attempted to depressurise the freighter aircraft to slow down the fire 30 seconds after the loss of aircraft systems and flight controls. In that accident, the time interval between fire detection and the onset of aircraft system failures was around two and a half minutes.
The last verbal communication from Flight 370 was issued at 1.19 am as the aircraft left Malaysian airspace. It then disappeared from air traffic controllers’ screens at 1.21 am whilst flying over the South China Sea.

Vincent guesses that the crew did manage to stabilise the aircraft and set it on a new course before once again succumbing to either a loss of oxygen or the remaining toxic fumes.

“The airplane then continues flying until no fuel remains and crashes – most likely into the ocean as there has been no report of any Emergency Locater Transmitter (ELT) signal which can be received by satellite if the crash were on land,” says Vincent.

Vincent insists other scenarios involving hijacking and sabotage are improbable. “For instance, there is no indication that either of the pilots was criminally involved in the disappearance of this airplane. Neither has Malaysia released any data indicating anything amiss in the security clearance of the passengers for this flight. The one question raised about the two passengers travelling on stolen passports has been cleared indicating that they were planning on illegally claiming refugee status in another country, probably Germany.”

“I have yet to see anything released about the nature and content of the cargo carried in the cargo hold of Flight 370. Hazardous cargo can be legally carried on passenger aircraft. However, the amount and type of such hazardous materials are strictly controlled,” says Vincent.

While all hazardous materials must be properly contained and labelled – and declared to the airline transporting it, Vincent notes that hazardous materials have been – knowingly and unknowingly – labelled improperly for carriage on passenger aircraft in addition to having been carried on board unlawfully by passengers.

Though entirely within the law, a 2013 report by the UK’s Royal Aeronautical Society warned that passengers flying on a typical single aisle jet could be bringing more than 500 potentially lethal batteries on board – both in the cabin and the hold – to power personal gadgets.

The report documents how a fire occurred in April 2012 on a flight from Toronto to Minneapolis at 28,000ft when the battery from a passenger’s air purifier device combusted. A cabin crew member wet paper towels to put out the fire before submerging the smouldering battery in a cup of water. On the flight deck, meanwhile, the captain, smelling a strong burning electrical odour, declared an emergency and diverted to Michigan.

Public nominations for Human Rights Awards 2014

The Sun

PETALING JAYA: The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) is calling for public nominations for its Human Rights Awards 2014.

The award will honour Malaysians in five categories namely individual awards, organisation or group awards, media awards, as well as awards for government agencies and business entities.

Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Hasmy Agam said this provides a broader opportunity for the Commission to pay tribute to those who have dedicated their time and energy towards upholding human rights in their own meaningful ways.

Nominations will close on 30 June 2014. Nomination forms and other relevant information can be obtained from the Commission's official portal at www.suhakam.org.my.

Statement By Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Tuesday On Missing MAS Plane

KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 (Bernama) -- Following is the statement by Defence Minister and acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein at a press briefing on the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370, in Sepang, Selangor, Tuesday:

Introductory Statement

Yesterday, I stated that the search for MH370 had entered a new phase, which brings new diplomatic, technical and logistical challenges.

Today, I would like to give you an update on the logistical and diplomatic aspects of the search.

The search and rescue operations have taken on a new international dimension. The search is still coordinated by Malaysia, but our partners have taken an increasing role in organising and carrying out operations, both within their own territory and also within agreed search sectors. My colleague, the Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, will give a more detailed statement on our diplomatic efforts in a moment.

On the logistical front, over the past 24 hours we have been working hard with other countries to narrow the search corridors. Our focus is on four tasks: gathering information from satellite surveillance, analysis of surveillance radar data, increasing air and surface assets, and increasing the number of technical and subject matter experts.

On satellite surveillance, I cannot disclose who has what satellite capability, but I can confirm we have contacted every relevant country that has access to satellite data.

On analysis of radar data, in the southern corridor Australia and Indonesia have agreed to take the lead of their respective parts of the search corridor.

In the northern corridor, China and Kazakhstan have agreed to lead in the search areas closest to their countries.

On air and surface assets, I have spoken to almost all Asean leaders to request further support, including assets with deep ocean surveillance detection capabilities. We are also asking international partners who have assisted us before to take another look at their primary radar data.

1. Operational Update

In the northern corridor, we have divided the search area into seven quadrants. Each of the seven quadrants is 400 nautical miles by 400 nautical miles

or 160,000 square nautical miles in total.

We have also divided up the southern corridor into seven quadrants. Just like in the north, each quadrant covers an area of 160,000 square nautical miles.

The entire search area is now 2.24 million square nautical miles.

This is an enormous search area. And it is something that Malaysia cannot possibly search on its own. I am therefore very pleased that so many countries have come forward to offer assistance and support to the search and rescue operation.

In terms of the deployment of specific assets:

Today, the Royal Malaysian Navy deployed two more ships to the southern corridor. This deployment includes a Super Lynx helicopter, which can operate from either ship. This brings the total number of Malaysian ships deployed to the southern corridor to four, with two Super Lynx helicopters.

Today, Malaysia also deployed two C-130 aircraft to the Indonesian sector of the southern search corridor.

Other countries are also contributing the following assets:

The United States has deployed one P-8 Poseidon, and will redeploy a P-3 Orion aircraft.

Australia, as I mentioned yesterday, has deployed three P-3 Orion and one C-130 Hercules.

In terms of the deployment of specific assets:

Today, the Royal Malaysian Navy deployed two more ships to the southern corridor. This deployment includes a Super Lynx helicopter, which can operate from either ship. This brings the total number of Malaysian ships deployed to the southern corridor to four, with two Super Lynx helicopters.

Today, Malaysia also deployed two C-130 aircraft to the Indonesian sector of the southern search corridor.

Other countries are also contributing the following assets:

The United States has deployed one P-8 Poseidon, and will redeploy a P-3 Orion aircraft.

Australia, as I mentioned yesterday, has deployed three P-3 Orion and one C-130 Hercules.

New Zealand is redeploying a P-3 Orion to support Australian search efforts.

The Republic of Korea has committed one P-3 Orion and one C-130 Hercules.

Japan has committed two P-3 Orion, two C-130 and one Gulfstream jet.

The UAE has committed one C-17 aircraft and one Bombardier Dash-8 aircraft.

The assets from Korea, Japan, and the UAE are currently in Malaysia awaiting orders from their respective governments.

Aside from deploying its assets to the northern corridor, China has also made arrangements with Australia to deploy an aircraft to the southern corridor.

2. ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System)

I would like to clarify what has been said about ACARS and the sequence of events before the air turn-back.

On Saturday, we stated that

and I quote: Based on new satellite information, we can say with a high degree of certainty that the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was disabled just before the aircraft reached the east coast of peninsular Malaysia.

"Shortly afterwards, near the border between Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic control, the aircraft s transponder was switched off.

These findings were drafted together with representatives from the lead international investigators, based on the information available at the time.

Yesterday, Malaysia Airlines clarified that we cannot determine exactly when ACARS had been disabled, only that it occurred within a specific time range: from 01:07

approximately when the aircraft reached the east coast of peninsular Malaysia, and the last ACARS transmission occurred

to 01:37, which was the next scheduled reporting time. That is indeed the case.

This does not change our belief, as stated, that up until the point at which it left military primary radar coverage, the aircraft s movements were consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane. That remains the position of the investigating team.

It is also important to recognise that the precise time ACARS was disabled has no bearing on the search and rescue operation. We know that the last known position of the plane as confirmed by the international investigations team was in either the northern or southern corridors, which is where our search and rescue efforts are focused. Our priority has always been to find the aircraft.

3. Police Investigation

I am aware there is a lot of interest in the Royal Malaysia Police investigation into the passengers and crew of MH370. I hope you understand that I cannot comment on the specifics of the investigation, which is still ongoing.

I would also like to state that the search for MH370 is bigger than politics. I urge all Malaysians to put our differences aside and unite during this difficult time as we focus on finding the aircraft and the 239 people on board. 4. Concluding Remarks

The search for MH370 remains our top priority. We will continue to provide you with operational updates, including further information about assets being deployed, as soon as they are available.

In the last few days we have been intensively contacting our friends across the search regions. The cooperation we saw in the first phase continues in this new phase. In fact, there is even more commitment to assist us in this much larger and more complex multinational operation.

In the meantime, our thoughts remain with the families and friends of those on board.

China urged to re-look into passenger manifest

Minneapolis Lesbian Police Chief Dons Hijab for “Hijab Day”

When the left finally cracks up, the few survivors will have a really good laugh.

According to a Facebook post, Somali staffers that work at Minneapolis City Hall declared February 28 “Hijab Day” at City Hall and convinced the police chief and female city council reps to wear hijabs on the job.

Pictures include: Minneapolis police chief Janee Harteau (who recently married her favorite female sergeant – not very hijab like), city council members Elizabeth Glidden and Lisa Bender as well as other staffers.

There’s nothing like a lesbian feminist authority figure who boasts of being the first female police chief in Minneapolis donning a symbol of male ownership in a patriarchal tribal society to express the deep schizophrenia of the left in its enthusiastic enabling of Islamists.

But I’m sure now that Janee donned the hijab, she thinks everything is going to be okay. Spoiler alert; it’s not.

Two women accused of having a lesbian relationship have been sentenced to death by a court in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland in northern Somalia. In the first case of its kind in Somalia, a culturally conservative and Muslim nation, the two — whose names were not revealed — were found guilty of “exercising unnatural behaviour”.

The relationship between the two women was discovered after one of them sued her partner, who had lived in the United States, for infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease.

Hundreds packed the court in the northern coastal town of Boosaaso earlier this week to hear the case. They cheered as the judge handed down death sentences on the two women. The pair are reported to have been tried under Somali Criminal Punishment Law, which is loosely based on Islamic Sharia law.


Coming soon to Minneapolis…