Najib Helps Curb Critics, but Doubts Remain

The Straits Times

17 March 2014

AS THE Malaysia Airlines jetliner remains missing for the second week, Malaysia continues to face international fire for its crisis management, although domestic anger has cooled a little after the extraordinary aspects of the crisis became clear.

Prime Minister Najib Razak made an unexpected live television broadcast on Saturday, a week after the plane disappeared, to announce a dramatic twist in the search for the Beijing-bound MH370.

In his first major statement since the crisis began, he stressed the unprecedented nature of a situation where a plane had its communication systems disabled, and flew in the opposite direction for almost seven hours before vanishing.

… “China, in particularly, still clearly thinks that Malaysia is hiding something, or is plain incompetent,” said political analyst Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

He added that while it was not unusual for a top Malaysian leader to make major announcements, Mr Najib’s appearance could have been in response to criticism, especially from China, that the investigations were being left in the hands of a lesser-ranked minister.

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