Home Minister blames Chinese papers for anger shown by families of MH370 passengers
With
emotions still running high among families of the Chinese passengers of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi pic) has laid the blame on the Chinese print media for "stoking the anger" of the victims' families, especially those from China.
"The prime minister and acting transport minister have tried their best to resolve this but, unfortunately, the papers have manipulated this and played up the sentiments until the families, especially those from Beijing, are upset.
"This is an accident which no one wants to see happen," Zahid said when winding up the King's royal address in Parliament tonight.
However, he did not specify whether he was referring to China media or local Chinese dailies.
The red-eye flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, carrying 239 passengers and crew disappeared less than two hours after leaving the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8.
The passengers included 154 China and Taiwan nationals.
Anguished Chinese families in Beijing had accused the Malaysian government and MAS of being "liars" over the lack of information on the fate of the airliner.
Yesterday, some 200 distraught relatives and family members of MH370 passengers from China staged a protest near the Malaysian embassy in Beijing, demanding that Malaysia Airlines and Putrajaya explain what happened.
They clashed with police who formed a human wall outside the embassy, and shouted slogans condemning the Malaysian government as "murderers".
Ahmad Zahid issued a stern warning, saying that he would not hesitate to take action against any media or those in social media who try to fuel the anger of the families.
"Don't blame me if I take action," he added.
On accusations why the Immigration department failed to detect the two Iranians who used stolen Italian and Austrian passports to board the flight, Ahmad Zahid said the Interpol list of 40.2 million missing passport was too much for the department's system to store.
Furthermore, the vast database may slow down the process at Immigration counters, he said.
"It would be easier if they are in Interpol's Suspects' List," he said.
He said all standard operating procedures had been adhered to, and this included the department's officer questioning the duo on their reasons to visit Malaysia.
"The pictures in the passport matched their features. Their social visit were still valid so they were also allowed to leave," he said, stressing that they were not terrorists.
Contact with the Beijing-bound flight MH370, which took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12.40am on March 8, was lost at 1.40am, after vanishing from radar when flying over the Ho Chi Minh City air traffic control area in Vietnam.
After three weeks of searching for the jetliner with 239 passengers and crew, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced on Monday that the plane had ended in the southern Indian Ocean, with MAS saying there could be no survivors.
Investigators are now poring over the satellite data to find out what brought the Boeing 777-200ER to a remote area in the southern Indian Ocean, where search operation is currently focussed.
They are also probing whether the plane was deliberately crashed or flew on autopilot, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"If and when we get a more precise location, then we might be able to work out if it drifted on autopilot or if it was flown there," the paper said, quoting a Malaysian official involved in the probe.
"With the amount of fuel on board, did it go to the most remote location? Did it take a circuitous route?" – March 26, 2014.
