Kit Siang reiterates call for parliamentary committee on MH370 to be set up
The Parliament should convene an emergency meeting before next month to set up a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) headed by the opposition to look into issues surrounding the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, veteran DAP leader Lim Kit Siang (pic) said today.
The Gelang Patah MP urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to call for an emergency Parliament meeting and repeated the need for the setting up of a PSC.
"A PSC with comprehensive terms of reference will go a long way in assuaging the widespread unhappiness over Malaysia's handling of the MH370 crisis," Lim said in a statement.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 along with 12 crew members and 227 passengers.
Despite more than a month of search and rescue operations, there have been no clues to indicate the aircraft's whereabouts.
"Malaysia must send a clear message to the international community that it is prepared to carry out a full-scale investigation into the MH370 crisis," Lim said.
He said confusion, contradictions and denials continued to be the daily staple in Malaysia, following reports by local and international media over the past few days.
On Thursday night, CNN had quoted a senior Malaysian government official as saying that the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) had scrambled aircraft in the early hours of March 8.
The following day, acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and RMAF denied the report and said it was baseless.
Yesterday, the New Straits Times carried a front-page story claiming that MH370 co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, had made a call from his mobile phone while the aircraft was flying low near Penang after having turned back from its original flight path to Beijing.
Hours later, Bernama quoted Hishammuddin as saying that he would have been briefed about the phone call if indeed it had happened.
"There have also been surprise announcements such as Hishammuddin saying Malaysia was sending two Civil Aviation Department officials to Australia," Lim said.
The two DCA representatives were sent to Perth to join Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC), which is overseeing the search in the Indian Ocean.
"Why is Malaysia only now sending representatives to join the JACC when the search in the Indian Ocean has been ongoing for the past three weeks?" Lim asked.
"Does this mean that Malaysia was never represented at all in the higher councils of the search operation based in Perth for nearly three weeks?"
Lim also questioned the setting up of three ministerial committees to handle the MH370 crisis, which was announced by Hishammuddin a week ago.
The three committees to look into matters pertaining to next-of-kin, technical and deployment of assets, are each led by a deputy minister.
"The government had set up the various expert groups which neither Parliament nor the public know anything about.
"Hishammuddin appears to have taken the position that all inquiries should wait and be held in abeyance until the discovery of the aircraft's black box," Lim said.
He said the public and lawmakers only knew about the setting up of a Multi-Economic Impact Committee to minimise the backlash of the MH370 tragedy to the country's tourism, trade and investments links with China through the media today.
Lim said the manner in which information was being supplied by Putrajaya was most unsatisfactory and among the causes of the loss of trust and confidence in Malaysia's crisis management. – April 13, 2014.
