generalspeaking

That Puzzling Riddle of a Mystery

"[It was] baffling [that Malaysia's air force had] remained silent. [It] should take three minutes under SOP [standard operating procedure] for the air force planes to go and there was no response."
"Why didn't we alert the Chinese, the Vietnamese that the operation should cease in the South China Sea and let them spend millions on search and rescue in a place that they know fairly well cannot be the site of the plane?"
Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian political opposition leader

According to 66-year-old Mr. Anwar, formerly deputy prime minister in the country's ruling coalition, it was "not only unacceptable but not possible, not feasible", that the Malaysian missing Flight MH370 hadn't been sighted by the military radar system immediately after changing course. According to Mr. Anwar, the radar would instantly have detected the Boeing 777 as it moved east to west across "at least four" Malaysian provinces.

And evidently, Mr. Anwar should know, since he had himself authorized the installation of "one of the most sophisticated radar" systems in the world, based near the South China Sea, covering the country's mainland, and east and west coastlines. It was one of the issues he had undertaken while he was the country's finance minister in 1994. Since that time, when Mr. Anwar held those important posts, he has been charged in a falling out with the country's leaders, with sodomy, imprisoned and beaten in custody.

He is now the leader of a pro-democracy coalition of parties that mysteriously lost last year's election, irrespective of the fact that they had managed to win over 50% of the popular vote. Mr. Anwar is furious over what has occurred with the Malaysian-led search-and-rescue operation, now sadly only a search operation, because, as he says, "the integrity of the whole nation is at stake".  He hints at possible complicity by authorities on the related to the disappearance of the plane and its 239 passengers.

The country's "sophisticated" radar system should have identified the plane and its trajectory after it changed course, crossing back over Malaysia. Mr. Anwar has spoken of the need for an international committee to take on the operation now led by the Malaysian government. But in fact, this appears precisely what has occurred, with the recognition of the Malaysian government's inept response to the tragedy. Most notably, Australia, Britain, and China appear to have distinguished themselves in this respect.

The outspoken, furious, bereaved families of the 153 Chinese nationals on board the plane were, Mr. Anwar asserted, quite correct to demand information from his government. The multinational search operation was deliberately allowed to launch a search and spend a week looking in the wrong places, when the government of Malaysia knew better. No evidence exists against Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, who piloted the plane, a supporter of Mr. Anwar's political coalition.

Malaysian police have looked into the backgrounds of the 227 passengers and they have been cleared of suspicion, which no doubt brings huge relief to their family members; their dead loved ones will no longer have suspicion of wrong-doing cast upon them. Authorities have expanded their investigation to include ground crew, caterers and the farmers whose four tonnes of mangosteens were being conveyed in the plane's hold.

Even suspicions as bizarre as the potential for the caterers to have poisoned the food to be served on board have been bandied about. And meanwhile, the international air and sea search continues, without having turned up any wreckage from the Boeing 777. Flotsam on the ocean surface is what has captured the attention of searchers up until now, with one false alarm after another boosting the hopes that the mystery might yet be solved.

"No hard evidence has been found to date, so we have made the decision to search a sub-surface area on which the analysis has predicted MH370 is likely to have flown", said Cmdr. Peter Leahy, commander of military forces involved in the search. The Australian navy ship Ocean Shield towed a pinger locator from the U.S. Navy and the British navy's HMS Echo, equipped with like gear is also engaged in looking for the flight recorders (black boxes).

But it is a Chinese patrol ship that appears to have detected an elusive but perhaps definite contact with the downed airliner, picking up an electronic pulse (ping) that must surely be emanating from MH370's still-, but barely-functioning black box.

Labels: Australia, Britain, Disaster, Malaysia

posted by Pieface @ Saturday, April 05, 2014