COMMENT People often say that information is power, and with the multitude of social media platforms available at the tip of our fingers today, many of us don't realise just how much of it we have.

The beauty of accessible information that the Internet has brought us runs in parallel to a responsibility that many of its users have yet to come to grips with. And this has become pronouncedly evident during the 13 days since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing.

Over this period, I have scoured news sources diligently enough to witness the descent of reporting from timely live updates to sensationalistic disaster porn pieces and controversial conspiracy theories, as well as shameless politicking by both international and Malaysian news sources alike.

As a Malaysian living abroad, I’ve been glued to the news, feeling simultaneously relieved that no one I know personally was on board, as well as helpless that I am not able to offer support to those affected in any tangible way.

Increasingly, however, I have become irate not only with the media’s almost callous representation of this incident but also the click-happy, comment-driving manner in which these stories are shared and spread - like wildfire on a hot summer day.

Since Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak confirmed that the plane had been deliberately diverted , the bright and unforgiving lights of media have shone relentlessly on the two MAS pilots, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid.

The Daily Mail , a well-known sensationalistic British tabloid, was quick to label Zaharie ( left ) a political fanatic on the basis that colleagues said he is an active supporter of PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim, and that Zaharie was “profoundly upset” with the court’s five-year jail sentence on Anwar after convicting him of Sodomy II a day before he captained MH370.

Irresponsibly taken out of context, subsequent articles on international news websites have built on this to question the psychological state of Zaharie and the possibility of a pilot suicide.

However, to say the least, many of us also did not acquiesce in the court’s decision against Anwar, who sits at the helm of one of the rare multiracial political parties that vows to abolish ethno-centric policies that have been at the core of many rifts among Malaysians. It has been a struggle that has spanned years and served many political agendas.

Furthermore, the relationship between this and bringing down a plane is tenuous at best, and downright vicious at worst. PKR leaders themselves have called these “wild speculation” , at least until actual evidence surfaces.

More recent theories have suggested that Zaharie might have been a hero in his last moments, trying to steer the plane to safety when faced with an electrical fire (this theory, too, was debunked by a number of experts).

As one of the seemingly few people left on the Internet who isn’t an aviation pundit, I am not able to speculate as to which possibility is more likely.

Leave politics aside

However, while theories are often what drive innovation, it is vital that media and Internet users alike should caution against sensationalising and spreading ill-founded notions that can have detrimental effects on people who are already suffering beyond imagination.

The media has used similar character assassination tactics on co-pilot Fariq, as reports arose that he brought two Australian girls to the cockpit three years ago on a flight from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur.

Again, while this might be useful information for investigation, painting a caricature of a flirtatious young man and his penchant for blondes in a dozen articles to question his integrity as a pilot does nothing but fuel sensationalism, and possibly further breaking the heart of his future bride-to-be , Captain Nadira Ramli, a pilot working for a different airline, in the process.

Apart from attacks on the crew, our government has also been the target for a lot of fire from the media. It is a rare occasion that a country of seeming temperance such as Malaysia becomes the focus of international spotlight.

A couple of years ago, you would be hard-pressed to find any global news outlet that would run a story on Malaysian politics. But now, with the potential tragedy of 239 lives being lost looming over our country’s head, the world is suddenly rife with interest and opinion.

Honestly speaking, our government often behaves no more maturely than a spoilt child desperate to stay atop the political jungle gym in the playground that is our beloved country.

I, along with many others, would have found international accountability a timely requirement for our arguably authoritarian regime during the last two national elections when corruption was both rampant and blatant.

However, that time isn’t now. Not only do the broad strokes and academic terms used in recent articles fail to capture the intricacies of Malaysian lives and politics, I am also unable to see how this is relevant to the disaster at hand.

Perhaps it’s simply because this is our home (tiny, messy and imperfect as it is) that it’s become so distasteful to see the struggles that are very real and familiar to me, unravelled through the detached and calculated words of foreign regional experts or political analysts, especially in light of this tragedy.

Now, more than ever, we shouldn’t be divided as Pakatan or BN; Malay, Chinese or Indian; pointing fingers and shifting blame. Now is the time we should stand behind Malaysia as a united front.

Need to hold ourselves accountable

Possibly even worse than these attempts at politicking are users of Reddit and Imgur posting jokes about the missing aircraft, as well as those who feel it is appropriate to share these on their own social networking sites, while families of those onboard continue to mourn, hope and pray in a constant state of purgatory.

Lest we forget ourselves, when disaster strikes, we should not be reduced to being a human-interest piece. We are real people and this missing plane isn’t just an unprecedented mystery, it is a heartbreaking tragedy involving someone’s best friend, sister, brother, mother, father…

Where the mainstream media fails to capture humanity, we need to be there to remind each other of our compassion.

I’m not saying that we should restrict information. I believe in the freedom of speech. Rather, now that we are masters at sharing information instantaneously and widely, it is the way by which we choose to disseminate this that we show our immaturity.

At some point we need to realise that the Internet is not a vacuum into which all unfiltered thoughts should be poured, because words on the Internet exist to touch real lives and people, and it is time we hold ourselves accountable for the things we say.

We have a responsibility to ensure not only the veracity of the statements we make, but also the real life consequences they may have.

Not knowing whether the people you love are alive or dead is not something most of us can even begin to comprehend. On top of this, to be disaster porn for the international community, potential terrorists to suspicious governments, ammunition for further political division in local newspapers, and worst of all, a source of scandal and mystery for your fellow countrymen is an experience no one should even be expected to endure.

If information is power, then misinformation is surely the abuse of it. With this in mind, I implore upon all of you, Malaysian or otherwise, journalist or simply avid social media user, to pause and think about the impact your words might have on those who read it before you click on the magical “publish” or “share” buttons. You have more power than you realise.

We constantly protest against people in positions of authority for abusing their power. Let’s take a step back and acknowledge the power we all have. Let’s not make the same mistakes as those we claim to detest.

CHII FEN HIU is a postgraduate student at Oxford University and is originally from Kuala Lumpur.