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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

MH370 mystery: missing plane's pilot 'joked with female passengers in cockpit at 30,000ft', focus shift to Thai gangs

Criticised for contradictory statements, slow reactions and a lack of information, the "incompetence" of Malaysian authorities in communicating effectively during a crisis on the scale of its missing jet is painfully evident, analysts say.

Last radio transmission from the cockpit of missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 was 'Alright, good night' as the plane switched from Malaysian to Vietnamese airspace 

Fariq Abdul Hamid invited two women into the cockpit of a of Malaysian airlines flight

A CO-PILOT at the controls of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 invited a Melbourne tourist and her friend into the cockpit where he smoked, took photos and entertained the pair during a previous international flight. 
 
In a worrying lapse of security, it’s been revealed pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid and his colleague broke Malaysia Airline rules when they invited passengers Jonti Roos and Jaan Maree to join them in the cabin for the one-hour flight from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur.

Ms Roos, who is travelling around Australia, told A Current Affair she and Ms Maree posed for pictures with the pilots, who smoked cigarettes during the midair rendezvous.

“Throughout the entire flight they were talking to us and they were actually smoking throughout the flight which I don’t think they’re allowed to do,” Ms Roos said.


Happy snap ... Jonti Roos and Jaan Maree with co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, right, in December 2011. Picture: A Current Affair. Source: Supplied
 
“At one stage they were pretty much turned around the whole time in their seats talking to us.

“They were so engaged in conversation that he took my friends hand and he was looking at her palm and said ‘your hand is very creased. That means you’re a very creative person’ and commented on her nail polish.”

Mr Hamid identified the South African nationals as they waited in the boarding queue at Phuket airport in December 2011.

As they took their seats on the aircraft, an air steward approached the women and invited them to join the pilots in the cockpit.

Despite pictures exposing the gross misconduct of the distracted pilots, Ms Roos said she wasn’t concerned for her safety.

“I did feel safe. I don’t think there was one instance where I felt threatened or I felt that they didn’t know what they were doing,” she said.

The whole time I felt they were very friendly. I felt they were very competent in what they were doing.

Not camera shy ... Jonti Roos and Jaan Maree in the cockpit of a Malaysia Airlines flight from Phuket to KL in December 2011. Picture: A Current Affair. Source: Supplied
 
“We wished they (would) stop smoking because it is such a confined space. But you can’t exactly tell a pilot to stop smoking.”

The plucky pilots reportedly wanted Ms Roos and Ms Maree to change their travel arrangements and extend their stay in Kuala Lumpur and join them on a night on the town.

Ms Roos said she was shocked to learn Mr Hamid was at the helm of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight.
“I thought it was crazy. I was just completely shocked. I couldn’t believe it,” she said.

“When I saw all his friends and family posting on his wall my heart really broke for them and my heart broke for the family of the passengers. It’s just a really sad story.”

Malaysia Airlines issued a statement about the incident late last night.

“Malaysia Airlines has become aware of the allegations being made against First Officer, Fariq Ab Hamid which we take very seriously.” the statement said.

“We are shocked by these allegations.

“We have not been able to confirm the validity of the pictures and videos of the alleged incident.

“As you are aware, we are in the midst of a crisis, and we do not want our attention to be diverted.

“We also urge the media and general public to respect the privacy of the families of our colleagues and passengers. It has been a difficult time for them.

“The welfare of both the crew and passenger’s families remain our focus. At the same time, the security and safety of our passengers is of the utmost importance to us.”

Special access ... Jaan Maree in the cockpit of a Malaysia Airlines flight in December 2011. Picture: A Current Affair. Source: Supplied
 
POLICE RELEASE IDENTITY OF ONE STOLEN PASSPORT HOLDER

One of the men travelling with a stolen passport on the Malaysia Airlines flight that mysteriously disappeared has been identified as a 19-year-old Iranian seeking asylum in Europe.

This comes as police downplayed the possibility of terrorist involvement in the disappearance of MH370 — giving four areas of investigation: hijack, sabotage, psychological or personal problems among the passengers and crew.

Malaysian police tonight said the man was Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, and intelligence suggested he was not likely to be a member of any terrorist group.

Malaysia’s Inspector General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, said Mehrdad was travelling on a stolen Austrian passport and was planning to meet up with his mother in Frankfurt.

The second passenger using a stolen passport has not been identified yet.

Revealed ... a Malaysian police official displays photographs of the two men who boarded
Revealed ... a Malaysian police official displays photographs of the two men who boarded the Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight using stolen European passports to the media. Source: AFP
 
However, he said police were still considering all possibilities in terms of criminal involvement in the plane’s disappearance, when asked whether police thought the revelation made them consider terrorism less likely in the case.

DID FLIGHT MH370 STALL BEFORE CRASHING?
 
“At this moment, I would not say less likely. Same weightage to all until we finish our investigations,” Khalid said.

He also contradicted an earlier statement made by Malaysia’s aviation chief that five people did not board the plane, saying they did not exist and everyone who booked a seat was on the flight.

FISHERMAN SAW ‘LOW FLYING LIGHTS’ 

Authorities are also investigating several reports of locals claiming to have seen the lights of a low-flying aircraft in an area off the Malaysian coast, just below the Malay-Thai border.

It is this area which is now included in the widened search area for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

A fisherman who was in his boat at sea, says that at about 1.30am he saw the lights of a low-flying aircraft in the area of Kuala Besar.

Azid Ibrahim told The Star newspaper in Malaysia that the plane was flying so low that the lights were “as big as coconuts”.

And another man, about 30km south of Kota Bharu, is reported to have seen “bright white lights” from what he thought was a fast-descending aircraft at about 1.45am on Saturday morning.

He has since reported what he saw to authorities after seeing the lights from his home that evening.

THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES OF MISSING FLIGHT MH370
 
DESPERATE SEARCH FOR MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT MH370
 
Malaysia Airlines said in a statement that the search and rescue teams (SAR) have expanded the scope beyond the flight path to the West Peninsular of Malaysia at the Straits of Malacca. The authorities are looking at a possibility of an attempt made by MH370 to turn back to Subang.

The search sphere now includes land on the Malaysian peninsula itself, the waters off its west coast and an area to the north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, an area far removed from flight MH370’s scheduled route.

The news of the search being widened comes as Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department said it had received a report from the crew of a Cathay Pacific plane flying from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur at about 3pm Saturday that more debris was spotted near Vung Tau, off southeast Vietnam, The South China Morning Post reports.

It is not known if the debris is from the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft.

Prayer ... Students in East China pray for the passengers from the missing Malaysia Airli
Prayer ... Students in East China pray for the passengers from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. Picture: Twitter Source: Supplied
 
As the search for the missing Boeing 777 continues into its fourth day, it also emerged that the aeroplane underwent maintenance on February 23, 12 days before it went missing bound for Beijing, China.

“The maintenance was conducted at the KLIA hangar and there were no issues on the health of the aircraft,” Malaysia Airlines said. Its next check was due on June 19.

Fisherman saw ‘low-flying lights’
In limbo ... Sarah Nor, 55, the mother of 34-year-old Norliakmar Hamid, a passenger on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Source: AFP
 
FINGERPRINTS BEING ANALYSED BY FBI

In other news, fingerprints from the mystery passengers travelling on missing Flight MH370 with stolen passports are being analysed by the FBI as it emerged they were reportedly Iranians looking for a new life in Europe.

The men are believed to have bought the fake travel documents because they were “looking for a place to settle” and it is thought their plane tickets were purchased in Thailand by an Iranian middleman known as “Mr Ali”.

The news came as officials reacted with scepticism to a claim of responsibility for the plane’s disappearance from a previously unheard of Chinese terror group.

mobile3
 
READ MORE: SHADOWY GROUP CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY
 
With authorities still scratching their heads about exactly what has happened to the Malaysia Airlines flight and conflicting information deepening the anguish of relatives, much of the focus of the investigation has fallen on those on board.

Director-general of Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, revealed late last night that the two men travelling on stolen passports were not Asian-looking as had been earlier speculated.

He said they had passed through all “security protocols” before boarding the flight, which disappeared with 239 passengers on board, including six Australians, in the early hours of Saturday en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Guo Shaochun
Under pressure ... an official in Malaysia is besieged by journalists. Source: AP
 
“We have looked at the footage of the video and the photographs and it is confirmed now that they are not Asian-looking men,” Mr Rahman told a press briefing in Kuala Lumpur.

“They have gone through screening, their baggage has been screened, their cabin baggage has been screened and they complied fully with the protocols of immigration security.”

READ MORE: TEARS FLOW FOR MISSING AUSSIES
 
The CCTV footage in question has reportedly been given to international security agencies and is expected to be released publicly at some stage.

He said authorities were now investigating the possibility of a stolen passport syndicate but he would not be drawn on what the mystery men looked like.

Initial reports that Mr Rahman had implied the men looked like African-Italian soccer star Mario Balotelli were clarified by Malaysia this afternoon.

Officials pointed out that Mr Rahman was actually saying a person’s appearance is not necessarily a reliable indicator of their nationality, using the footballer as an example.

Balotelli is Italian, having been born in Italy to Ghanaian parents.

Unwitting example ... AC Milan footballer Mario Balotelli.
Unwitting example ... AC Milan footballer Mario Balotelli. Source: AFP
 
Two European names were on the passenger list for the missing flight but neither Christian Kozel, an Austrian, nor Luigi Maraldi from Italy, ever boarded the plane — instead two passengers used their passports, which had been stolen from the men in separate incidents in Thailand.

LOOKING FOR A NEW LIFE

A man who says he is a friend of the two unidentified passengers has now told how they were Iranian nationals who travelled to Kuala Lumpur from Tehran several days ago.

According to London’s Daily Telegraph, the unnamed friend told BBC Persia that the pair bought the stolen passports in the Malaysian capital as well as tickets to Amsterdam via Beijing.

BBC Persia’s UN correspondent Bahman Kalbasi
The BBC’s Bahman Kalbasi Source: Supplied
 
One of the men wanted to eventually end up in Frankfurt, where his mother lives, while the other wanted to travel to Denmark.

BBC Persia’s UN correspondent Bahman Kalbasi said he was told the pair were “looking for a place to settle”.

READ MORE: RELATIVES CALL MOBILES OF PASSENGERS

Malaysia and neighbouring Thailand, where the passports were originally stolen, ho
st large and established Iranian communities.

Earlier, the Financial Times reported that the duo’s tickets had been arranged for by an Iranian known only as “Mr Ali”. According to Thai police, his full name is Kazem Ali.

A travel agent in Thailand told the newspaper that Mr Ali first asked her to book cheap tickets to Europe for the pair on March 1.

The tickets expired before Mr Ali called her again last Thursday to rebook them on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. A friend of Mr Ali’s paid cash for the tickets.

Benjaporn Krutnait, owner of the Grand Horizon travel agency in Thailand, said she had known the Iranian for about three years and he had booked tickets through her agency before.


There is no evidence Mr Ali knew the two men were travelling on stolen passports and, according to NBC News, he has come forward to authorities after learning they were under suspicion.

He is currently believed to be in Iran.

Authorities have made no comment on these reports but Thai police are thought to have visited two Pattaya travel agencies on Monday, who are believed to be involved in selling the tickets.

ANALYSING THE INTELLIGENCE

Malaysian authorities have released thumbprints of the pair that were taken at the airport check-in at Kuala Lumpur to intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world.

“They will compare that to what we have in our terrorist databases. These are lists of people on no-fly lists, people with possible terrorist connections, people we have reasons to be suspicious of,” US lawmaker Peter King told CNN.

“We have these listings, and those names and those biometrics will be compared to those.” Images of the men has also been shared.

READ MORE: WHY THE BLACK BOX WON’T HELP
 
There has been no further update on the five passengers who checked in for flight MH370 but didn’t board the plane. They had their luggage removed from the hold.

Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said they were being investigated but he didn’t say whether this was suspicious.

Aviation industry figures said five passengers failing to board an international flight was not unusual.

Searching ... Indonesian Navy pilots looking for the missing plane.
Searching ... Indonesian Navy pilots looking for the missing plane. Source: AP
 
“To have that many people — five to 10 — as no-shows is relatively common, particularly if they are connecting from elsewhere,” they said.

They said a passenger’s failure to board can simply be the result of a late connecting flight, a missed connection or simply changing their mind. If anything, they said it was an increasing problem due to the popularity of online check-in, which allows a passenger to register their intention to board the flight up to several days ahead.

While there has been a claim of responsibility of some kind for the disappearance of the flight by a shadowy group called the Chinese Martyrs’ Brigade, officials are sceptical and have said it could be a hoax.

The group — unheard of before now — on Sunday sent an email to journalists across China that read: “You kill one of our clan, we will kill 100 of you as payback,” but the message provided no other details.

Prayers ... candles are lit in Kuala Lumpur to send a message of hope.
Prayers ... candles are lit in Kuala Lumpur to send a message of hope. Source: AP
 
CRIMINAL HUB FOCUS

Thailand’s role as a hub for criminal networks using false documents is now in the spotlight after the stolen passports sparked fears of a terror attack.

The revelation has triggered a probe by Malaysian authorities, who are working with other intelligence agencies including the FBI.

READ MORE: DAUGHTER’S TWEETS TO MISSING FATHER
 
“Thailand has been used by some international terrorist groups as a zone of operation, to raise funds or to plan attacks,’’ said Rommel Banlaoi, an analyst on terrorism in South-East Asia.

In 2010, two Pakistanis and a Thai woman were arrested in Thailand on suspicion of making false passports for al Qaeda-linked groups, as part of an international operation linked to the 2008 attacks in Mumbai and the Madrid train bombings in 2004.

In shock ... relatives of passengers from the missing flight in Beijing.
In shock ... relatives of passengers from the missing flight in Beijing. Source: AFP
 
But Banlaoi stressed that the false passports used on the Malaysia flight “could also be linked to other criminal activities, like illegal immigration’’.

“Thailand is a destination for international crime organisations who use it to secure travel documents, financial documents,’’ a Thai intelligence source said.
READ MORE: STOLEN PASSPORTS REVEAL SECURITY LOOPHOLE
 
“It’s not just linked to terrorism but to other crimes. It’s a complex network, connected to other networks.’’

TRACKING STOLEN PASSPORTS TRAIL

The intricate web of clues surrounding the stolen passports includes Thais and foreigners, passport thieves, counterfeiters, intermediaries and clients, Banlaoi said.

Thai police have announced an investigation into a possible passport racket on the resort island of Phuket — Maraldi’s passport was stolen there in 2013 and Kozel’s on a flight from Phuket to Bangkok, according to authorities in Vienna.

Message of hope ... a poster carrying words of support for the passengers.
Message of hope ... a poster carrying words of support for the passengers. Source: AFP
 
Flight information seen by the AFP news agency shows that two tickets in Kozel and Maraldi’s names were issued in Pattaya, a beach resort south of Bangkok, on March 6, 2014, and were paid for in Thai baht.

READ MORE: PASSENGER LIST A RICH HUMAN TAPESTRY
 
Geographically well-placed and with a major international airport, Thailand is best known for being a hub for drug and wildlife trafficking, including elephant ivory from Africa.

But it also supplies documents to illegal immigrants moving within or passing through the region.

what we know update
The route of the two unknown MH370 passengers — from Kuala Lumpur via Beijing then on to Europe — was “a typical path’’ for illegal immigrants, one diplomatic source said, adding that a large proportion of passports stolen from tourists in Thailand were then used for illegal immigration.

“They (the passports) are genuine, so they find someone who looks like the owner, or they falsify the first page,’’ the source said.

The ease with which police officials can be paid off also helped the industry to thrive.

“The police can turn a blind eye if you have the money,’’ he added.

New scope ... Dato' Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of the Malaysian Department
New scope ... Mr Rahman briefs the media with the latest. Source: Getty Images
 
SEARCH PROVES FRUITLESS

The search effort for the missing plane, involving at least 34 aircraft and 40 ships from several countries, has been widened to a 100-nautical mile (185-kilometre) radius from the point the plane vanished from radar screens between Malaysia and Vietnam early Saturday with no distress signal.

READ MORE: THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES
 
Despite their best efforts, search teams have so far failed to find any trace of actual debris.

Laboratory analysis of oil samples from slicks spotted in the days after the disappearance showed they were not from the Malaysia Airlines jet but were a type of fuel used by ships, the Maritime Enforcement Agency said in Kuala Lumpur.

PLane Crash Theories-DESKTOP
The area became a focus for frantic international search efforts for the Boeing 777 after large tongues of oil were found in the water on Saturday, hours after the plane dropped off the radar.

In a day of conflicting information which deepened relatives’ anguish, initial reports of debris off southern Vietnam were ruled out, before an aircraft spotted another object which appeared to be a life raft.

Malaysia said it was sending ships to investigate the raft sighting, but a Vietnamese vessel that got there first found only flotsam in the busy shipping lane.

Vigil ... people in Kuala Lumpur are praying for a miracle.
Vigil ... people in Kuala Lumpur are praying for a miracle. Source: AFP
 
“When we reached the site we recovered only a mouldy cable reel cover,’’ Vietnamese army deputy chief of staff Vo Vo Tuan said.

“I think there was only one suspect floating object there,’’ he said, conceding the amount of rubbish floating in the sea made it hard to be “100 per cent sure’’ the ship had reached the location of the reported raft.

Boeing has joined an official US team investigating the disappearance, saying it would act as technical adviser to the US National Transportation Safety Board team already in South-East Asia to offer assistance.

A satellite imaging company from the US has even asked for public help in analysing high-resolution images for any sign of the missing airliner.

Passport fears ... a passenger holds his passport and boarding pass after he checked in h
Passport fears ... a passenger checks in at a Malaysia Airlines counter in Beijing. Source: AP
 
‘BERMUDA TRIANGLE STUFF’

Central Queensland University aviation expert Ron Bishop said the continuing lack of debris from the jet pointed towards the aircraft hitting the water intact.

He said that if the aircraft broke up at a cruising altitude, he would expect evidence of items from the plane floating over a 15-20km expanse of ocean.

“If it exploded midair, all the seat cushions would float, paper, magazines, anything made out of paper or wood would float,” he said.

“If it impacted the water in one piece, it possibly impacted at a high speed that drove everything into the water and meant that nothing floated out. And if it did, it would just be small stuff.”

“It could be like the Titanic and drill right into the water.”

He said this might have trapped any remaining oil within the aircraft. However, if it did leak out, it could easily be carried away on the current, leaving little trace of the aircraft.

“It’s pretty spooky when this happens and is particularly upsetting for the families who just want to know what occurred,” he said.

“It becomes like Bermuda Triangle stuff.”

While suggesting it was very unlikely the Boeing 777 crashed on land, Mr Bishop said it was possible.

—AFP with wires/http://www.news.com.au/http://www.telegraph.co.uk

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The hypocrisy of some nations


Video:U.S. Hypocrisy? Telling Russia To Stay Out of Ukraine

Double standards are on display as Western leaders attack Russia regarding Ukraine, while they themselves commit or endorse worse aggression on other countries.

WORLD attention has focused on Ukraine recently. With President Victor Yanukovych making his exit and a new government formed, events shifted to Crimea, with accusations that the Russian military took over the region.

Yanukovych, resurfacing in a Russian town, said he left as his life was at risk, the new regime is illegitimate, and he is still the president.

Sizeable crowds in Crimea (many of whose population are ethnic Russian) are showing anti-Kiev and pro-Russian feelings and the Crimean Parliament had decided to hold a referendum on whether to remain in Ukraine or break away and be part of Russia.

Western leaders have attacked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his alleged invasion of Crimea.

The Russian argument is that it has not invaded, that in any case it has a legitimate interest in Crimea due to historical links and the ethnic Russians who live there have asked for protection against the new and illegitimate Kiev regime.

Whatever the merits or otherwise of Russia’s position and actions, it is clear that there has been a long historical Russian-Crimea-Ukraine relationship. The complex condition requires a correspondingly complex solution.

The rhetoric of some Western leaders is aggressive. They accused Russia of violating sovereignty and international law, among other things.

The United States plans to ban visas for selected Russian officials, followed by sanctions on Russian banks, freezing assets of its companies, and possibly trade measures.

US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have accused Putin of making use of false claims for its invasion, that Crimea is in danger.

“This is the 21st century and we should not see nations step backwards to behave in a 19th or 20th century fashion,” said Kerry. “It is not appropriate to invade a country and at the end of a barrel of a gun dictate what you are trying to achieve.”

Obama said “Russia cannot with impunity put its soldiers on the ground and violate basic principles that are recognised around the world”, adding that Russia is “on the wrong side of history”.

Listening to the American leaders lecturing Russia in their self-righteous tone, one is struck by the double standards and hypocrisy involved.

They don’t seem to realise how they have violated the same principles and behaviour they demand of Russia.

It was after all the United States that invaded Iraq in 2003, massively bombing its territory and killing hundreds of thousands, on the grounds that Saddam Hussein had amassed weapons of mass destruction.

The UN Security Council would not give the green light. No weapons of mass destruction were found. Many experts considered the war against Iraq a violation of international law, a view also expressed in a media interview by the then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal in 2011 found former US president George W. Bush and former British prime minister Tony Blair guilty of crimes against humanity and genocide as a result of their roles in the Iraq war.

The United States also waged war in Afghanistan, changing the regime, resulting in thousands of deaths. In Libya, the US and its allies carried out massive bombing, which aided opposition forces and led to the killing of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Even now there are sanctions and the threat of military action against Iran on the suspicion it wants to develop nuclear weapons, which Iran has denied.

In contrast, the US turns a blind eye on Israel’s ownership of nuclear weapons. And when Israel conducted the blanket bombing of Lebanon and Gaza in recent years, with thousands of deaths, there was no condemnation at all from the US, which has also blocked UN Security Council resolutions and actions on its ally.

The US has also come under attack from human rights groups for its use of drones against suspected terrorists but which has also killed many civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.

Last week, the UN Human Rights Council published a Special Rapporteur’s report which detailed the deaths of civilians caused by US drone attacks, and raised many questions of possible violations of international human rights law.

All these actions were done in the 21st century, which adds to many other actions in the 20th century.

It’s thus remarkable that Obama and Kerry could with a straight face accuse Russia of not acting in a 21st century manner, and being on the wrong side of history.

There appears to be still one law for the most powerful, and another for others. The former can invade and kill, while lecturing self-righteously to others.

Whatever one thinks of Russia’s action in Crimea, it should be noted that no one has been killed because of it, at least not yet. Compare that to the hundreds of thousands or millions, who have died and suffered from past and present wars of the US and other Western countries.

Though much of the mainstream media also takes the establishment view, some Western journalists have also pointed out their leaders’ hypocrisy.

In an article, “America’s Staggering Hypocrisy in Ukraine,” the well-known American journalist Robert Parry remarked: “Since World War II, the United States has invaded or otherwise intervened in so many countries that it would be challenging to compile a complete list …

“So, what is one to make of Secretary of State John Kerry’s pronouncement that Russia’s military intervention in the Crimea section of Ukraine – at the behest of the country’s deposed president – is a violation of international law that the United States would never countenance?

“Are Kerry and pretty much everyone else in Official Washington so lacking in self-awareness that they don’t realise that they are condemning actions by Russian President Vladimir Putin that are far less egregious than what they themselves have done?”

Parry concludes that the overriding hypocrisy of the media, Kerry and nearly all of Official Washington is their insistence that the United States actually promotes the principle of democracy or, for that matter, the rule of international law.

Global Trends - By Martin Khor

> The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own.

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Related: 

Nation of Hypocrites 

America is tragically becoming a “Nation of Hypocrites”. How is this so? ... Is it any wonder then that some people look down upon us rather than respect us?

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Terrorist attack on missing MH370 not ruled out

Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, the chief of Malaysia's civil aviation, said hijacking has not been ruled out as a cause of the plane's disappearance. He told the BBC that what happened to the jet remains "a mystery". No sightings of debris from the plane in the seas south of Vietnam have been confirmed.

Terrorism has not been ruled out as a possible cause. Counter-terrorism agencies and the FBI are involved in the operation. It emerged that two passengers who boarded the flight were using passports stolen in Thailand some years back.

The passports were Italian and Austrian. The passengers travelling with them had bought their tickets at the same time from China Southern Airlines which shared the flight with Malaysia Airlines, had consecutive ticket numbers and were both booked on the same onward flight from Beijing to Europe on Saturday. The news emerged when the real owners of the passports were reported safe and sound and not on any flight.

Ronald Noble, the secretary general of Interpol, said in a statement that while it was too soon to speculate on any connection between the theft and the plane's disappearance, it was "clearly of great concern that any passenger was able to board an international flight using a stolen passport listed in Interpol databases".

The passengers on the flight were of 14 different nationalities. Two-thirds were from China, while others were from elsewhere in Asia, North America and Europe.

Five passengers booked on the flight did not board, and their luggage was consequently removed.

China has sent a team of government officials to Kuala Lumpur to look into the case.

Malaysian King Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah offered his condolences to the passengers.

He said he and the Queen "would like to express our sympathy to the passengers and crew, especially to their family".

However, relatives waiting for news are getting increasingly frustrated, saying they are not getting information on time and that no government officials have visited them, the BBC's correspondent in Beijing adds.

- http://paper.standartnews.com/

China deploys satellites for search operation

China has sent nine vessels to join the search and rescue operation for the plane. The first Chinese...


Two Chinese working groups in Malaysia

Two teams of officials sent by the Chinese government are now in Kuala Lumpur. A delegation from the...


China goes all-out to search for missing jet

Terror group Chinese Martyrs Brigade claims missing flight was ‘payback’, officials label it hoax 

A SHADOWY group called the Chinese Martyrs’ Brigade claimed responsibility for the disappearance of Flight MH370 — but officials were sceptical and said the claim could be a hoax.

The group — unheard of before now — on Sunday sent an email to journalists across China that read: “You kill one of our clan, we will kill 100 of you as pay back,” but the message provided no details of what brought the flight down.

Malaysian Defense Minister Hishamuddin Hussein told reporters he doubted the claim’s legitimacy.

“There is no sound or credible grounds to justify their claims,” he said, according to Malaysian news reports.

Other officials said the claim could be a hoax aimed at increasing ethnic tensions between Uighurs and Han Chinese in the wake of the March 1 knife attacks in the south-western city of Kunming that left 29 people dead and about 140 others injured.

The message was delivered through an encrypted, anonymous Hushmail service that is virtually impossible to trace, they said.

GHOST FLIGHTS: THE PLANES THAT DISAPPEARED
No lead: Officials said the oil slicks discovered by Vietnamese search aircraft were not
No lead: Officials said the oil slicks discovered by Vietnamese search aircraft were not aircraft fuel. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
 
Investigators also said Monday that debris spotted from the air that was originally believed to be from the plane turned out to be a large cable spool unconnected to the aircraft.

They also said an oil slick discovered in the region was not connected to the flight.

Investigators suspect the vanished Malaysian airliner may have been blown out of the sky — just like the jumbo jet that rained deadly wreckage onto Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.

A senior official involved in the probe of its disappearance said the evidence so far “appears to indicate that the aircraft is likely to have disintegrated at around 35,000 feet,” Reuters reported.

Asked if that suggested a bomb blew up the Boeing 777, the source said there was no evidence yet of foul play, but noted the closest parallels to the plane’s disappearance early Saturday over the South China Sea were the 1980s bombings of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie and Air India Flight 182 off the coast of Ireland.

Although the source added that the flight, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, could have broken apart due to mechanical failure, Malaysian officials have not ruled out a hijacking.

Chinese officials arrive in Malaysia to aid the search. Picture: Getty Images
Chinese officials arrive in Malaysia to aid the search. Picture: Getty Images Source: Getty Images
 
Meanwhile, Hussein said authorities have surveillance video of the two passengers who boarded the plane using stolen passports.

Rahman, the civil aviation chief, said officials had reviewed surveillance tape of the plane’s boarding and are now saying the pair were not Asian, as they had originally indicated.

“We confirmed now they are not Asian-looking males,” Rahman said, adding that one of the men was black.
One had been identified, officials said, though they refused to release a name or nationality.

Malaysian Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the other passenger also appeared to be Asian, and blasted the border officials who let them through while carrying passports from Austria and Italy.

“Can’t these immigration officials think? Italian and Austrian [passport holders] but with Asian faces,” Hamidi fumed.

Five booked passengers failed to show up for the flight, according to The Wall Street Journal.

- http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates



 Possibilities:


Passenger Manifest
 

Related post:

Sunday, March 9, 2014

MH370 deepens mystery !

Four names on manifest considered suspect on plane disappearance

Video:


KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Military radar indicates that the missing Boeing 777 jet turned back before vanishing, Malaysia's air force chief said Sunday as authorities were investigating up to four passengers with suspicious identifications who may have boarded the flight.

The revelations add to the uncertainties surrounding the final minutes of flight MH370, which was carrying 239 people when it lost contact with ground controllers somewhere between Malaysia and Vietnam after leaving Kuala Lumpur early Saturday morning bound for Beijing.

A massive international sea has so far turned up no trace of the plane, which lost contact with the ground when the weather was fine, the plane was already cruising and the pilots didn't send a distress signal — unusual circumstance for a modern jetliner operated by a professional airline to crash.

Air force chief Rodzali Daud didn't say which direction the plane might have taken or how long for when it apparently went off route.

"We are trying to make sense of this," he told a media conference. "The military radar indicated that the aircraft may have made a turn back and in some parts, this was corroborated by civilian radar."

Raw: Airline CEO Discusses Search EffortsMalaysia Airlines Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said pilots were supposed to inform the airline and traffic control authorities if the plane does a U-turn. "From what we have, there was no such distress signal or distress call per se, so we are equally puzzled," he said.

Authorities were checking on the suspect identities of at least two passengers who appear to have boarded with stolen passports. On Saturday, the foreign ministries in Italy and Austria said the names of two citizens listed on the flight's manifest matched the names on two passports reported stolen in Thailand.

Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that authorities were looking at two more possible cases of suspicious identities. He said Malaysian intelligence agencies were in contact with their international counterparts, including the FBI. He gave no more details.

"All the four names are with me and have been given to our intelligence agencies," he said. "We are looking at all possibilities."
A Chinese relative of passengers aboard a missing Malaysia …
A total of 22 aircraft and 40 ships have been deployed to the area by Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, China and the United States, not counting Vietnam's fleet.

Two-thirds of the jet's passengers were Chinese. The rest were from elsewhere in Asia, North America and Europe.

After more than 30 hours without contact with the aircraft, Malaysia Airlines told family members they should "prepare themselves for the worst," Hugh Dunleavy, the commercial director for the airline told reporters.

Finding traces of an aircraft that disappears over sea can take days or longer, even with a sustained search effort. Depending on the circumstances of the crash, wreckage can be scattered over many square kilometers (miles). If the plane enters the water before breaking up, there can be relatively little debris.

A team of American experts was en route to Asia to be ready to assist in the investigation into the crash. The team includes accident investigators from National Transportation Safety Board, as well as technical experts from the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing, the safety board said in a statement.

A Chinese relative of passengers aboard a missing Malaysia …

Malaysia Airlines has a good safety record, as does the 777, which had not had a fatal crash in its 19-year history until an Asiana Airlines plane crashed last July in San Francisco, killing three passengers, all Chinese teenagers.

Investigators will need access to the flight data recorders to determine what happened.

Aviation and terrorism experts said revelations about stolen passports would strengthen speculation of foul play. They also acknowledged other scenarios, including some catastrophic failure of the engines or structure of the plane, extreme turbulence or pilot error or even suicide, were also possible.

Jason Middleton, the head of the Sydney-based University of New South Wales' School of Aviation, said terrorism or some other form of foul play seemed a likely explanation.

"You're looking at some highly unexpected thing, and the only ones people can think of are basically foul play, being either a bomb or some immediate incapacitating of the pilots by someone doing the wrong thing and that might lead to an airplane going straight into the ocean," Middleton said. "With two stolen passports (on board), you'd have to suspect that that's one of the likely options."


Just 9 percent of fatal accidents happen when a plane is at cruising altitude, according to a statistical summary of commercial jet accidents done by Boeing. Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said Saturday there was no indication the pilots had sent a distress signal.

The plane was last inspected 10 days ago and found to be "in proper condition," Ignatius Ong, CEO of Malaysia Airlines subsidiary Firefly airlines, said at a news conference.

Associated Press - Brummitt reported from Hanoi, Vietnam.

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Tracking the mysterious MH370: 2 impostors on board, plane missing 50 min not 2 hrs after take off...

  
Missing MAS flight: Two passengers using passports stolen in Thailand

PETALING JAYA: The mystery of the missing MH370 deepened when it was reported that there were two impostors on board, both with passports that were stolen in Thailand.

Italian Luigi Maraldi, whose name is on the manifest, was not on the missing MH370 flight. Someone else had used his passport to board the plane.

According to news reports from Italy which quoted its Foreign Ministry, Luigi Maraldi’s passport was stolen last August while he was in Thailand.

Maraldi, 37, is now in Thailand.

According to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Maraldi returned home after his passport was stolen and had a new one issued.

When officials heard of the missing plane, they went to his parents’ home but they said their son was alive and well in Thailand, and had called to say he was fine.

“I am fine, I was not on the flight,” he told his parents.

Meanwhile, London’s Daily Mirror reported that a second passenger was also using a stolen passport.

Austrian Christan Kozel has been confirmed as safe and well by authorities.

He told Austrian newspaper De Standard that his passport was stolen when he visited Thailand two years ago.

It is still unclear as to who had travelled on MH370 under the two names. - The Star/Asia News Network

Tracking firm: Plane missing about 50min after departure

PETALING JAYA: Sweden-based flight tracking service FlightRadar24 was the first to report that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 had disappeared from radar about 50 minutes of departure, and not two hours as initially stated.

"Flight #MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur at 1641 UTC time (12.41am local time) and disappeared from www.flightradar24.com at 1720 UTC time (about 1.21am local time) between Malaysia and Vietnam," said the company’s chief executive officer Fredrik Lindahl in an e-mail response to The Star.

Flight MH370, on a B777-200 aircraft, departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am on March 8. It was expected to land in Beijing at 6.30am the same day.

"Also, based on our data, there is no doubt that the last reported position of MH370 is about 150km northeast of Kuala Terengganu.

"We have good radar coverage in the area the flight went missing and the last signal was received from an altitude of 35,000 feet," said Lindahl.

MAS group chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya had initially said at a press conference at 11am yesterday that the Subang Air Traffic Control had lost contact with the plane around 2.40am.

However, Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) director-general Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman clarified later in the evening that contact was lost at 1.30am.

Meanwhile, aviation website The Aviation Herald stated that the plane was last regularly seen at 1.22am about halfway between Kuala Lumpur and Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City.

"The aircraft was spotted over the Gulf of Thailand about 260 nautical miles north northeast of Kuala Lumpur and 120 nautical miles northeast of Kota Baru 50 minutes into the flight.

"This was followed by anomalies in the radar data of the aircraft over the next minute. Although these may be related to the aircraft, it could also be caused by the flight leaving the receiver range," it stated.

The website also reported aviation sources in China as saying that radar data suggested a steep and sudden descent of the flight, during which time the aircraft had changed track from 24 degrees to 333 degrees.

- The Star/Asia News Network

No sign of Malaysia Airline wreckage; questions over stolen passports

Watch this video

Traces of oil may be clue in plane search


STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: "We have not been able to locate anything," an airline official says
  • U.S. law enforcement sources say both passports were stolen in Thailand
  • One of the two stolen passports is listed in Interpol's database, sources say
  • Vietnamese searchers spot oil slicks in the South China Sea

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (CNN) -- There were few answers Sunday about the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a day after contact was lost with the commercial jetliner en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

An aerial search resumed at first light, with aircraft searching an area of the South China Sea for any sign of where the flight may have gone down, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, the director general of civil aviation in Malaysia, told reporters

"We have not been able to locate anything, see anything," Rahman said. "There's nothing new to report."

The closest things to clues in the search for the missing jetliner are oil slicks in the Gulf of Thailand, about 90 miles south of Vietnam's Tho Chu Island -- the same area where the flight disappeared from radar early Saturday morning. A Vietnamese reconnaissance plane, part of a massive, multinational search effort, spotted the oil slicks that stretch between six and nine miles, the Vietnam government's official news agency reported.

Malaysian authorities have not yet confirmed the Vietnamese report, Rahman said.

The reported oil discovery has only added to a growing list of questions about the fate of the plane carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members: What happened to the plane, why was no distress signal issued, and who exactly was aboard?

Passenger manifest questioned

Bits and pieces of information have begun to form, but it remains unclear how they fit into the bigger picture, if at all.


Photos: Malaysia airliner loses contact Photos: Malaysia airliner loses contact

Map: Malaysia airliner lost contactMap: Malaysia airliner lost contact

Traces of oil may be clue in search

Quest: I flew with missing first officer

Quest: Odd to lose contact while cruising
 
For instance, after the airline released a manifest, Austria denied that one of its citizens was aboard the flight. The Austrian citizen was safe and sound, and his passport had been stolen two years ago, Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss said.

Similarly, Italy's foreign ministry confirmed none of its citizens were on Flight 370, even though an Italian was listed on the manifest.

On Saturday, Italian police visited the home of the parents of Luigi Maraldi, the man whose name appeared on the manifest, to inform them about the missing flight, said a police official in Cesena, in northern Italy.

Maraldi's father, Walter, told police he had just spoken to his son, who was fine and not on the missing flight, said the official, who is not authorized to speak to the media. Maraldi was vacationing in Thailand, his father said.

The police official said Maraldi had reported his passport stolen in Malaysia last August and had obtained a new one. But U.S. law enforcement sources told CNN that both the Austrian and Italian passports were stolen in Thailand.

"No nexus to terrorism yet," a U.S. intelligence official said, "although that's by no means definitive. We're still tracking."

Rahman, Malaysia's top civil aviation official, declined to answer questions Sunday about the stolen passports, and how people using them managed to get past security and on to the plane.

"This is part of the investigation," Rahman said at a news conference.

The U.S. government has been briefed on the stolen passports and reviewed the names of the passengers in question but found nothing at this point to indicate foul play, said a U.S. law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Of the two passports in question, the Italian one had been reported stolen and was in Interpol's database, CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Tom Fuentes said, citing sources at Interpol.

Additionally, no inquiry was made by Malaysia Airlines to determine if any passengers on the flight were traveling on stolen passports, he said. Many airlines do not check the database, he said.

During the news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Rahman declined to say whether the airline or Malaysian authorities had checked the database.

Not ruling anything out

Malaysian authorities reiterated during a news conference that they are not ruling anything out regarding the missing aircraft.

The Boeing 777-200ER departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12:41 a.m. Saturday in good weather, and it was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m., a 2,300-mile (3,700-kilometer) trip.

Air traffic controllers in Subang, outside Kuala Lumpur, lost contact with the plane about 1:30 a.m., Rahman said. Earlier, the airline said the jetliner lost contact at 2:40 a.m.

The pilots did not indicate to the tower there may be a problem, and no distress signal was issued, the airline said.

It may be days, possibly weeks or months, before authorities can offer any firm answers.

It took five days for authorities to locate the wreckage of Air France Flight 447 when it crashed June 1, 2009, in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board.

It took four searches over the course of nearly two years to locate the bulk of Flight 447's wreckage and the majority of the bodies in a mountain range deep under the ocean.

If Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went down in the Gulf of Thailand, the recovery may be a bit easier because it is a relatively shallow area of the South China Sea, according to marine officials.

China, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia were conducting search and rescue operations south of Tho Chu island in the South China Sea, according to the airline and reports from Xinhua, China's official news agency. Ships, helicopters and airplanes are being utilized.

The USS Pinckney, a destroyer conducting training in the South China Sea, is being routed to the southern Vietnamese coast to aid in the search, the U.S. Navy said. The United States is also sending a P-3C Orion surveillance plane from Japan to provide long-range search, radar and communications capabilities, the Navy said.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Coast Guard has ordered on-duty vessels to aid in the search, Xinhua reported, citing government officials. China also sent a diving and salvage team to the area where the airplane is suspected to have gone down, the news agency reported.

Because of the Americans aboard the flight, the FBI has offered to send a team of agents to Malaysia to support the investigation into the disappearance if asked, a U.S. official familiar with the issue told CNN on condition of anonymity. Earlier, an official had said FBI agents were heading to the area.

The FBI is not ruling out terrorism or any other issue as a possible cause in the jetliner's disappearance, the official said.

Officials appeared resigned to accepting the worst outcome.

"I'd just like to say our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said during a news conference.

Grief, especially in China

The plane carried 227 passengers, including five children under 5 years old, and 12 crew members, the airline said. At the time of its disappearance, the Malaysia Airlines plane was carrying about 7.5 hours of fuel, an airline official said.

Among the passengers there were 154 people from China or Taiwan; 38 Malaysians, and three U.S. citizens.

Relatives of the Chinese citizens on board gathered Saturday at a hotel complex in the Lido district of Beijing as a large crowd of reporters gathered outside.

"My son was only 40 years old," one woman wailed as she was led inside. "My son, my son. What am I going to do?"

Family members were kept in a hotel conference room, where media outlets had no access. Most of the family members have so far refused to talk to reporters. The airline said the public can call 603 7884 1234 for further information.

In Malaysia, the families and loved ones of those aboard the flight were gathered at the Everly Hotel in Putrajaya, south of Kuala Lumpur, according to Bernama, the Malaysian national news agency.

Twenty of the passengers aboard the flight work with Freescale Semiconductor, a company based in Austin, Texas. The company said that 12 of the employees are from Malaysia and eight are from China.

The airline's website said the flight was piloted by a veteran.

Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a 53-year-old Malaysian, has 18,365 total flying hours and joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981, the website said. The first officer is Fariq Ab Hamid, 27, a Malaysian with a total of 2,763 flying hours. He joined Malaysia Airlines in 2007.

Still an 'urgent need' to find plane

"The lack of communications suggests to me that something most unfortunate has happened," said Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation, in an interview with CNN International.

"But that, of course, does not mean that there are not many persons that need to be rescued and secured. There's still a very urgent need to find that plane and to render aid," she said.

Malaysia Airlines operates in Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and on the route between Europe and Australasia.

It has 15 Boeing 777-200ER planes in its fleet, CNN's Richard Quest reported. The missing airplane was delivered to Malaysia Airlines in 2002.

Part of the company is in the private sector, but the government owns most of it.

Malayan Airways Limited began flying in 1937 as an air service between Penang and Singapore. A decade later, it began flying commercially as the national airline.

In 1963, when Malaysia was formed, the airline was renamed Malaysian Airlines Limited.

Within 20 years, it had grown from a single aircraft operator into a company with 2,400 employees and a fleet operator.

If this aircraft has crashed with a total loss, it would the deadliest aviation incident since November 2001, when an American Airlines Airbus A300 crashed in Belle Harbor, Queens, shortly after takeoff from JFK Airport. Killed were 265 people, including five people on the ground.

- Contributed by Chelsea J. Carter and Jim Clancy, CNN

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Saturday, March 8, 2014

Malaysia plane carrying 239 people missing, crashed off Vietnam? Malaysian minister denies crash report!

Chinese Foreign Miniser Wang Yi said in today´s press conference that he is very worried about...Reports from China's Xinhua news agency say the plane was lost in airspace controlled by Vietnam.

The aircraft did not enter airspace controlled by China and did not make contact with Chinese controllers, Xinhua said.

A report on a Chinese TV network, citing the microblogging website Weibo, said 160 Chinese nationals were on board the flight.


Distressed family members of those on board the flight have also been gathering at Beijing airport.

Chang Ken Fei, a Malaysian waiting at the airport for friends to arrive, said: "I got here at 7:00am. At first I thought the plane was just delayed as normal, so I came a bit later, I've just been waiting and waiting."

"I asked them what was going on but they just tell us, 'we don't know'."

If the plane is found to have crashed, the loss would mark the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 777 in less than a year, after an unblemished safety record since the jet entered service in 1995.

Last year, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crash landed in San Francisco, killing three passengers.

Boeing said it was aware of reports that the Malaysia Airlines plane was missing and was monitoring the situation but had no further comment.

Among previous accidents involving Malaysia Airlines planes, one of the smaller Twin Otter aircraft crashed upon landing in Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo island last October, killing a co-pilot and a passenger.

And a jet crashed in 1977 in southern Malaysia, killing all 93 passengers and seven crew.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malaysia Airlines has still not been able to confirm what happened to the flight. The airline has confirmed that there were 4 Americans — 3 adults and one infant — aboard the flight, which also carried Canadians and Australians, and a majority of Chinese and Malay passengers.
 
Malaysia Airlines lost contact with a commercial aircraft bound from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China, the airline reported Saturday morning.

Flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER that was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, was scheduled to land at 6:30 a.m., but lost contact with air traffic control at 2:40 a.m. on March 8. Its whereabouts are unknown.

At 7:24 a.m. local time, the airline posted a message to its Facebook page stating it was working with local search and rescue authorities to find the aircraft, and that it would continue to provide updates. It encouraged the public to contact a number provided for information.

Screen Shot 2014-03-07 at 5.34.03 PMA search for the flight on FlightAware.com showed its status as "result unknown" and included a map that depicted its partially completed route.

Malaysia Airlines VP of operations Fuad Sharuji told CNN's Anderson Cooper that it had tried but "failed to establish any contact" with the plane before he detailed concerns about how much fuel it was carrying.

There were "about seven hours of fuel on board this aircraft and we suspect that by 8:30 this aircraft would have run out of fuel," Faruji said. He added, "At the moment we have no idea where this aircraft is right now."

Kuala Lumpur is the hub for Malaysia Airlines, which services over 60 destinations globally with a heavy presence in Asia, according to its website. The airline told the BBC that it would hold a press conference on the situation later in the day.

According to Reuters, Boeing's 777 had a solid safety record after its 1995 introduction up until last summer's Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco, Calif.

We will continue to update this post with more information as it arises.

-  mashable.com

Friday, March 7, 2014

Malaysia sacrifices talent to keep one race on top, said Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore

SINGAPORE - Straits Times Press, the book publishing unit of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), announced in  Jul 29, 2013 the launch of Mr Lee Kuan Yew's new book

Malaysia is prepared to lose its talent through its race-based policies in order to maintain the dominance of one race, said Lee Kuan Yew in his new book which was launched August 6, 2013 in Singapore.

And although Malaysia has acknowledged the fact that they are losing these talents and is making an attempt to lure Malaysians back from overseas, such efforts may be too little too late, he said.

"This is putting the country at a disadvantage. It is voluntarily shrinking the talent pool needed to build the kind of society that makes use of talent from all races.

"They are prepared to lose that talent in order to maintain the dominance of one race," he said in the 400-page book called "One Man's View of the World" (pic).

It features conversations between Lee and his long-time admirer, Helmut Schmidt, former leader of West Germany. They discussed world affairs when Schmidt visited Singapore last year.

In the book, Lee pointed out that Malaysia is losing ground and  giving other countries a head start in the external competition.

About 400,000 of some one million Malaysians overseas are in Singapore, according to the World Bank.

When announcing the five-year plan for Malaysia, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in Parliament in 2011, the government would set up a talent corporation to lure some 700,000 Malaysians working abroad back to the country.

But in his book, Lee said the demographic changes in Malaysia will lead to a further entrenchment of Malay privileges.

He noted that in the last 10 years, since the enactment of the New Economic Policy, the proportion of Malaysian Chinese and Indians of the total population has fallen dramatically.

"The Chinese made up 35.6 percent of the population in 1970. They were down to 24.6 percent at the last census in 2010. Over that same period, the Indian numbers fell from 10.8 percent to 7.3 percent," he said.

He added, "40 percent of our migrants are from Malaysia.

"Those with the means to do so leave for countries farther afield. In the early days, Taiwan was a popular destination among the Chinese-educated.

"In recent years, Malaysian Chinese and Indians have been settling in Europe, America and Australia. Some have done very well for themselves, such as Penny Wong, Australia’s current finance minister.

"Among those who have chosen to remain in Malaysia, some lack the means to leave and others are making a good living through business despite the discriminatory policies. Many in this latter class partner with Malays who have connections."

World Bank data for 2012 showed that the island republic has raced ahead of its neighbour, with gross domestic product per capita of US$51,709 compared with Malaysia’s US$10,381.

Najib had said Malaysia is set to become a high income developed nation as early as 2018, two years earlier than the targeted 2020.

Lee said in his book the separation of Singapore and Malaysia in 1965 marked "the end of a different vision in Malaysia on the race issue".

He added, "Much of what has been achieved in Singapore could have been replicated throughout Malaysia. Both countries would have been better off."

Sources: The Malaysian Insider

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