KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — To Sarah Bajc (pronounced as BAY-jack), the past 365 days has been a painful journey in her search for missing Flight MH370 passenger Philip Wood, the man she fell in love with four years ago and with whom she wants to spend the rest of her life.

The 49-year-old American has been scorned and called many names, including a conspiracy theorist, for her conviction that the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines plane and its 239 people on board was not accidental or that its final resting place is deep under the southern Indian Ocean as several governments have said.

“Even though it is painful, I’m glad to experience the pain because if I didn’t, it meant that he wasn’t as important as I thought he was to me, if that makes sense,” she told Malay Mail Online in a recent phone interview.

March 8

The former senior executive with tech giant Microsoft has given over 250 interviews to date; but she recently decided she would no longer conduct them in-person as she found them too time-consuming and emotionally-taxing.

The divorced mother of three college-going children has since made Malaysia’s capital city her home, saying she has found a good support network here to help her cope with the prolonged absence of Wood, whom she first met in China in 2011 and lived with for more than two years.

“I’ve made a number of friends locally, so that makes life here quite nice.

“But the trauma is that the plane is still missing and we don’t know why,” she said.

And even though friends had offered to be by her side on the first year anniversary of the aviation world’s biggest mystery, Bajc said she preferred to spend a quiet day at the home she was to share with Wood here, with only her cat Bourbon for company and to relive those joyful private moments.

“Philip deserves a celebration. The catastrophe that has taken him away from me, does not,” she said.

As time passes

Bajc is not alone in her reluctance to subscribe to the authorities’ statement on the lost plane; but she said that the year-long fruitless search has inflicted a huge toll on the families and friends of the passengers and crew.

Many members of Voice370 are now exhausted; some have moved on though not exactly given up, she said.

The group represents the kith and kin that believe the authorities have been less than transparent and forthcoming on the entire search and recovery process that has cost a whopping A$60 million so far with only 40 per cent of the Indian Ocean suspected area covered.

“We are just a bunch of people thrown into a terrible situation. I don’t know what to do at this point, we are tired,” she said.

Bajc said she has kept in touch with Wood’s family in Dallas, Texas and added that her lover’s father, an evangelical Christian, had recently asked her opinion on holding a memorial service for his son.

She related that she did not feel it was her place to comment if they should have it, but said she would not join in if they decided to hold one.

“I am not ready to give up yet, I know there is a tiny, tiny, tiny chance he will come back to us,” she said, adding that Wood’s family later decided against the memorial service. 

But the passage of time has also affected the tough woman despite her firm convictions.

In the first four to five months after the plane vanished, Bajc recounted spending 30 to 40 hours a week going over each tip received by Voice370 to assess their veracity and probabilities. 

Now with teaching maths, A-level economics and business and yoga taking up her time, she finds herself spending about 10 hours a week.

Bajc said her employment contract with the school will keep her in Malaysia for the next two years.

“I want to continue the life that we planned together so I have place for Philip to come home to,” she said. 

A picture of Philip Wood, who is still missing along with the 238 people on MH370. — File pic

Life with Philip

Bajc remembers her first meeting with the man she wants to grow old with: he was sitting at her regular spot at a Beijing bar called Nashville, she asked for a bourbon and he said he had never seen a woman order that drink at a bar.

They hit it off and found out they shared common interests: romantic candlelit dinners over a home-cooked meal with a glass of wine.

“I’m more of an inventive cook, and Philip was a good bartender. His specialty is a dry Manhattan,” she said.

“That was Philip’s philosophy. Live this life, and live it very well,” she said.

What would be the first thing she would say to him if and when he returned?

“I don’t think I would have a word,” she said, after a long pause.