MH370 COMMENT The chaotic scenes of Chinese relatives of Flight MH370 passengers being dragged away from members of the media have reminded the world of the human faces to the mystifying disappearance of the Boeing 777-200ER.

With so few facts about the plane’s fate available, speculation has run rife over what happened on March 8 that caused the Malaysia Airlines flight to change course, and vanish off aviation radars.

The investigation has focused on what happened on board MH370 in the crucial period after one of the plane’s communications systems last transmitted, and when it failed to do so again half-an-hour later.

Journalists work around the clock at the Sama Sama Hotel next to the KL International Airport to provide updates on the plane’s fate. In Malaysia, and around the world, families and friends are still waiting for information to be provided on their loved ones.

Malaysia Airlines has assigned a staff member to each family to provide updates and support, but it is clearly not enough.

Journalists say they have been held hostage by the lack of information provided each night at the media briefing. And it is hard to imagine families being given much, or any more, details than the scant information provided to the press.

No right to control grieving relatives

The government may control the mainstream media in Malaysia, but it has no right to control the grieving relatives of the 239 people missing, or the foreign press.

If the families of the MH370 passengers want to speak to the media, to tell the press they aren’t being given adequate information, they should be allowed to do so. More than that, they should be provided a forum to do so - not forcibly dragged away, even as they are clearly in distress.

Scenes like that witnessed at the Sama Sama Hotel, where sobbing relatives were manhandled by the authorities, have attracted much more attention than if the families had been allowed to speak at an organised press event.  

Footage of the mayhem that erupted was instantly sent around the world, and it does not reflect well on the Malaysian authorities that families of those on board a mysteriously missing state-owned aircraft are denied their chance to speak.

Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has ordered an inquiry into what happened at the hotel, but he is not clear what aspect of it will be investigated. The only question that needs answering on the incident is: why were the relatives not allowed to speak to media?

Has the government something to hide?

Hishammuddin’s time would be better spent focused on the investigation, and the families left to speak to who they choose, and as often as they choose. They are in the middle of an unimaginable tragedy, and deserve much better support and treatment than they are getting.

Whisking these families away from journalists, and in such a forceful fashion, does nothing to dispel the widespread perception that the Malaysian government has something to hide.

Asked at the press conference after the incident yesterday whether it was now time to apologise to the families, Hishammuddin said it was still time to locate the aircraft.

He could empathise with what the families were going through, Hishammuddin said, adding that one of the government’s main priorities was how to handle the emotions of the families.

If it was a deliberate act of foul play by someone on board the plane, as investigators suspect, Malaysian authorities and Malaysia Airlines may have nothing to apologise for in the plane’s disappearance.

However, an apology is surely due to the families for leaving them in the dark.

Even if it is not time to apologise, at the very least, it is time to let them speak.

AIMEE GULLIVER is a New Zealand journalist interning with Malaysiakini for six weeks, courtesy of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.