After receiving heavy criticism for his absence as the East Coast flood in Peninsular Malaysia worsens, Prime Minister Najib Razak has flown back from the US direct to Kelantan.

Astro Awani reported that Najib Razak arrived at 1.40pm in Sultan Ismail Petra Airport and was promptly briefed by the National Security Council on the flood situation.

Following an outcry from opposition politicians and netizens alike, Najib announced his decision to return to Kelantan in a statement issued at around 4pm yesterday, while his official plane was in Los Angeles.

It is possible that the PM took a separate flight back to Malaysia from Honolulu, Hawaii, where had been caught in the news spotlight playing golf with US President Barack Obama.

This is the possible scenario as the last known location of his official aircraft 9M-NAA, on which he travelled to Honolulu, had flown the opposite direction from Malaysia yesterday, ending up eastward in Indianapolis , in the heart of USA.

That plane has since been untrackable publicly on flight tracking website Flightradar24.

 

Najib has likely returned via a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) VIP transport jet bearing the tail number M53-01, which arrived in Kota Bharu from Hong Kong at the time he is said to have landed.

Plane and PM go separate ways?

 

M53-01 earlier departed from Subang airport at about 5.35am this morning, and reached Hong Kong at 8.53am. It departed Hong Kong just two hours later at 10.33am, according to Flightradar24.

 

Upon reaching Kota Bharu, the aircraft took off again at 2.54pm and flew in a circle near Machang at a low altitude of around 4,000 feet (1,220 metres) before the Flightradar24 service lost contact with the flight.

 

If this is the case, it is unclear where 9M-NAA has ended up since landing in Indianapolis, nor who is on board and why it did not bring the PM directly home.

The aircraft M53-01 is a business jet variant of the Boeing 737, and is among the largest in the RMAF’s fleet of VIP jets.

 

It was previously used to carry senior government officials and representatives, including the prime minister and the agong, until the newer Airbus aircraft 9M-NAA took over the duties.