Prime Minister Najib Razak today gave assurance that the government will do its utmost to provide closure to the families of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crew and passengers and it will also do its best to bring back the victims of the tragedy,

 

Najib said the Malaysian investigation team had arrived in Kiev, Ukraine, and was in the midst of making arrangements to access the location of the crash some 400km away.

 

"It is understood that insurgents have agreed to create a safe passage for the recovery and investigation team.

 

"We hope they will do so as this is a serious event and they must all demonstrate compassion for the countries affected and the innocent victims," Najib said in his latest posting in his Facebook account here today.

 

The prime minister said he had also asked Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai and Foreign Affairs Minister Anifah Aman ( left ) to go to Kiev as soon as possible to ensure that the team could do their work undisturbed.

 

 "They (Liow and Anifah) are to facilitate and ensure our demands are met. Other than logistics, this is a geopolitical matter," he said.

 

Najib said the handling of flight MH17's blackbox must follow the international laws of the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the recovery must be by Malaysia as owner of the blackbox.

 

Emergency Parliament session

 

Meanwhile the emergency Parliament session on Wednesday is believed to be the focus of all Malaysians who will certainly be affected by the tragedy that befell Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17, which was believed to have been shot down in Ukraine on Thursday.

Not only Malaysians, in fact the whole world has slammed the violent and inhumane act that had killed 298 passengers and crew members of the flight comprising people of various nationalities.

A similar solidarity will be demonstrated by the 222 members of the Dewan Rakyat, and to show the solidarity of Malaysians in criticising this inhumane act.

According to Dewan Rakyat secretary Roosme Hamzah ( left ), this is the first time that an emergency Parliamentary session is being called to discuss a humanitarian issue involving Malaysia.

A motion criticising the attacks of the Israeli Zionist Regime in Gaza was passed in 2009.

Roosme said all members of Parliament had been informed of the emergency session.

However, the council had so far not received any official motion to be tabled by the government, he said.

 

Najib, in his special message on the MH17 accident which was aired live on RTM1 Friday night, announced an emergency Parliamentary session to table a motion to criticise the inhumane act on the aircraft and to state the firm stand of Malaysians on the unfortunate tragedy.

Najib also hinted that three major motions would be debated including a demand on the relevant parties to ensure the safety of the rescue and investigating teams throughout their operations besides ensuring that the process of managing the victims proceeded smoothly.

He said the government had also urged the various parties to refrain from any act that would interfere and disturb the evidence at the scene of the incident.

The government, he said, had urged the parties concerned to not disturb the evidence at the site of the incident so that investigative work could be carried out in a transparent and effective manner.

"Thirdly, if the investigation proves that the flight MH17 was shot down, Malaysia demands that the parties responsible be brought to book immediately," he said.

 

Session welcomed

Meanwhile, several members of Parliament welcomed the decision to hold the special Parliament session and in fact described it as a necessary measure.

The BN MP for Sekijang, Annuar Abdul Manaf, had hoped that Malaysia's stand and firmness that would be conveyed through the special session would draw the world's attention.

"We want to urge the United Nations (UN), as the body that is responsible for maintaining world security to give a strong commitment to find a solution as well as the party responsible for the tragedy," he said.

He also said Malaysia did not want the major powers such as the United States and Russia to take the opportunity by exploiting the situation for their own gain.

"We don't want certain parties to exploit the situation to deviate the attention of the world from the Palestinian and Israeli issues," he said, while hoping that the members of Parliament would show a consensus on this issue.

PAS Parliamentary chief whip, Mahfuz Omar ( left ) said the party had directed all its MPs to be present.

 "We hope to also contribute our views and opinion on the measures that should be taken," he said.

He hoped that the government would listen to the views of the MPs from the various party background who were believed to be keen to also share their opinion.

In addition, PAS, he said, also welcomed the government's decision to raise the flag at half-mast throughout the country beginning tonight until Monday (July 21) as a result of the tragedy.

DAP Member of Parliament Dr Tan Seng Giaw said Malaysia must know the actual source of the tragedy and that an independent international investigation team must be allowed to make a detailed investigation without any restriction.

The emergency parliamentary session will begin at 10am.

- Bernama