KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 – Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim today blamed the media for a series of conflicting statements attributed to government officials that put Putrajaya in the crosshairs for criticism over its handling of a missing Malaysia Airlines flight.
The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department also accused the press of “bullying” Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) chief Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman into issuing contradictory information on flight MH370 and the 239 passengers on board.
“The information he has given is good. It is the extra questions asked by reporters which is causing the problem… sometimes you can see reporters asking absurd questions.
“The international reporters, they always ask questions irrelevant to the issue. If the DCA chief is being inconsistent, you tell me... what is happening is he is being bullied by the questions,” Shahidan told The Malay Mail Online in Parliament today.
A report citing a Royal Malaysian Air Force source as saying it tracked the still-missing flight to the Straits of Malacca has now partially disrupted search efforts as rescuers suspended some activity while they verify the reported whereabouts of the MH370’s last known location.
RMAF chief Tan Sri Rodzali Daud later denied that the RMAF had tracked the flight to the Malacca Strait as reported.
Azharuddin’s remarks over the missing aircraft have met frequent controversy, after he provided information on passengers aboard MH370 that was later refuted by other agencies.
He also came under criticism for using Italian national footballer Mario Balotelli in his attempt to describe two Iranians who boarded the flight with stolen passports.
Shahidan brushed aside such concerns, however, and said what mattered most is the Malaysian authorities are working around the clock to locate the missing plane.
“Inconsistency is secondary. What’s important is the search and rescue operations are ongoing and we are working non-stop to look for the plane,” said the minister, who also sits on the National Security Council and is in charge of natural disasters.
He added that the relevant agencies are giving a top-notch performance in the search and rescue mission.
But experts have strongly criticised Malaysia for what they described as a chaotic lack of co-ordination in dealing with the crisis, pointing out that the contradictory statements, slow reactions and a lack of information expose the government’s limitation and “incompetence”.
