PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has questioned attempts to link the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 with the pilot’s membership in the party.

He also slammed a foreign media report claiming that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah (right) was despondent after witnessing Anwar being found guilty of sodomy by the Court of Appeal on March 7, before the plane went missing in the early hours of March 8.

"All sorts of foreign media wrote that apparently the captain was sad about the court decision to jail me for five years,” Anwar told a rally in Kampung Baru Sungai Chua last night.

"What kind of report is this? If they want to say he was sad, there are many who are even more sad.”

Yesterday, UK tabloid Daily Mail had reported that Zaharie was a "political fanatic" and "vocal social activist", and that he had been at the court to find out the decision on the government’s appeal against Anwar’s acquittal of sodomy by a lower court.

Berita Harian also published an article that floated several theories for the disappearance of the aircraft, including the claim that there is a large number of Pakatan Rakyat supporters among MAS pilots.

Quoting a former military officer, who chose to remain anonymous, the article said the disappearance of the aircraft could be linked to the Lahad Datu intruders, Pakatan supporters and Syiah believers.

Although he had earlier censured Pakatan for its ‘”cheap” criticism of government handling of the investigations on the campaign trail, Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang (left) has since jumped on the 'Pakatan fanatic' bandwagon.

‘Anything can happen when dealing with political fanatics. Riots, terrorism, hijack etc,’ he repeatedly tweeted in both Bahasa Malaysia and English last night.

‘An example of a political fanatic is a Pakatan supporter. Look at the violence they committed during street rallies in 2012.’

MCA president Liow Tiong Lai had on Friday also spoken out against parties using the Flight MH370 crisis for political mileage.

Yesterday, PKR vice-president Tian Chua and Subang chief R Sivarasa urged an end to speculation about the pilot, a Subang division member, as well as about the party.

Zaharie's PKR membership was made known by party leaders soon after the plane disappeared but did not feature prominently as Malaysians rallied behind the extensive search and rescue team.

But this has been highlighted after police said they are investigating possible sabotage, among four factors, after it was determined that the plane's transponders had been deliberately shut down and the aircraft was diverted sharply off course.

Anwar ticks off Najib

Last night, Pakatan continued to slam the government for its handling of the crisis, in tune with several international media reports.

Anwar said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his cabinet are weak and have issued contradictory statements which has affected the nation's standing in the eyes of the international media.

He also chided Najib for not allowing questions to be asked during the March 15 press conference, which he had called to announce that someone has deliberately turned off  the transponders and flown Flight MH370 off course.

Anwar said Najib is used to controlling the local media and that he does not know how to handle international media.

"They came from the New York Times , Xinhua China , Hindustan Times , Jakarta Post . He (Najib) did not dare face them," he said.

Anwar was campaigning for party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who will contest the Kajang by-election against BN's Chew Mei Fun on Sunday.