Now is not the time to play the blame game, says Dr Mahathir

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today criticised certain quarters who were playing the blame game over the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Dr Mahathir said Malaysia Airlines had done its best to prevent untoward incidents from occurring and now was not the time to point fingers at the national carrier.

"I think MAS has done its best. Playing the blame game now is not helpful," he told reporters after visiting family and relatives of the 239 passengers on board the missing flight.

The families and relatives are being put up at the Everly Hotel in Putrajaya.

He also said that Malaysia Airports Berhad, which manages all airports in the country, should learn from the incident where two foreigners, using stolen passports, had boarded the flight.

The missing Boeing 777-200 aircraft left the Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Beijing at 12.41am on Saturday.

Contact with the plane along with its radar signal was lost at 1.20am when it was flying over the airspace manned by Ho Chi Minh City air traffic control in Vietnam.

"There is a lesson to be learnt from every incident. It is up to them," said Dr Mahathir, who was accompanied by his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yesterday hit out at immigration officers based at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport for not verifying the identities of two passengers who boarded MH370 using stolen passports.

The Home Minister had also identified the two passengers as "Asians".

"I am puzzled how come (immigration officers) cannot think, Italian and Austrian (passengers) but with Asian facial features," he was quoted saying by national news agency Bernama.

He added that an internal investigation of the Immigration Department has commenced.

"We will conduct an internal probe, particularly of the officers who were on duty at the KLIA Immigration counter for flight MH370." – March 10, 2014.