MH370: Malaysia has nothing to hide

KUALA LUMPUR: Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein on Thursday reiterated that Malaysia has nothing to hide in the missing Malaysian Airlines (MAS) MH370 incident.

“Malaysia has nothing to hide,” he told reporters at a press conference at 5.30pm Thursday, responding to escalating criticism from international quarters on the way the authorities are managing the ongoing search and rescue mission for the missing aircraft.

Hishammuddin also said the government has gone to the extent of releasing military data to parties from other countries taking part in the search and rescue (SAR) operations.

“We will not ordinarily release raw data from our military radar. But in this case we have put the search efforts above our national security. We have shared our data with our international partners including the United States and China to help with search efforts,” he said.

He reiterated that the government, despite this being an unprecedented situation, is maintaining its focus to locate the missing aircraft and have done nothing to jeopardise search efforts.

Denying that the Malaysian authorities are slowing down search efforts, he then went on to say that the search area has been expanded to the Straits of Malacca based on the possibility that the aircraft made an ‘air turn back’ as suggested by the radar signals received.

Also, all protocols have been followed as stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), he said.

“We have been working closely with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on the issue of the possible ‘air turn back’. They have indicated to us based on the info and data given by the Malaysian authorities, the US team was on the view there was reasonable grounds to deploy resources to conduct search on Western side of peninsular Malaysia,” he added.

Hishammuddin also dismissed media reports that police searched the homes of the MH370 crew.

“Reports suggesting police searched homes of MH370 crew are not true. The police have issued a statement to that effect,” he said.

Astro Awani