KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 — Lashing out at Putrajaya for playing “cat and mouse” yesterday with the relatives of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370’s passengers, Lim Kit Siang asked today if the authorities could offer a credible guarantee that Malaysia would not throw in the towel in the search for the still-missing aircraft.

The DAP veteran accused the authorities of insensitivity and lack of respect after the last-minute cancellation of a highly-awaited press conference by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), saying it was clear that Putrajaya has not learned its lesson, despite coming under heavy criticism last year for how it handled MH370’s disappearance on March 8 last year.

“Why didn’t the authorities first inform and consult the bereaved families before making any official announcement yesterday?” Lim asked in a statement here.

The DCA was initially scheduled to hold a press conference at 3.30pm yesterday but in a last-minute change of heart, decided to cancel the meet to hold a televised address hours later without the presence of the media and MH370’s next-of-kin.

During their 6pm announcement, the DCA formally declared the Boeing 777 jetliner lost and all 239 passengers on board dead, finally allowing their families to proceed with the process of claiming damages.

Despite finally getting some semblance of closure from the 11-month-old tragedy, the families cried foul at the way DCA handled the announcement, with some accusing the authorities of lacking the guts to speak to them face-to-face.

“All these were not disaster management practices at their best and one is reminded of the disaster management failures in the worst floods catastrophe in living memory in Malaysia only last month!” Lim said.

The greatest fear now, added the Gelang Patah MP, is that yesterday’s announcement and apparent move to avoid MH370’s next-of-kin, is the authorities’ first steps towards absolving themselves of responsibility for the aircraft disaster.

Even worse, he said, the authorities could be moving towards a decision to end the ongoing search for the still-missing jetliner.

“The absence of the Prime Minister and the Transport Minister only reinforces their (the families) fear and concern that the authorities were about to wash their hands of the disaster.

“How can the Prime Minister and Transport Minister give them, the country and world — as bereaved families are also from foreign nations — a firm, categorical and credible guarantee that the Malaysian government will not give up the search for the missing aircraft?” Lim asked.

On March 24 last year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak confirmed that the missing MAS jetliner MH370 “ended” its journey in the southern Indian Ocean, but stopped short of saying that the Boeing 777 aircraft had crashed into the vast ocean.

He said fresh data gleaned from British satellite firm Inmarsat confirmed that the plane had continued its journey towards the southern Indian Ocean and not along the northern arc, which was one of the possible sites identified earlier.

“Its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean west of Perth. This is a remote location... far from any possible landing site.

“It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean,” he said.

On Wednesday, news agency Reuters reported Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Aziz Kaprawi as saying the DCA will release an interim report on the investigation into the missing plane on March 7, a day before the one-year anniversary of the plane’s disappearance.

Retired Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who had led Australia’s response to MH370 and downed flight MH17 in Ukraine, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday that it was possible that the missing plane might never be found in the deep waters of the vast ocean.

On March 8 last year, Beijing-bound Flight MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board and remains missing till today, with months of searching failing to yield any clues of its resting place or debris.