KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Malaysia will not hesitate to apologise over the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 if the country is in the wrong, Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said.
But Hishammuddin said the apology from Malaysia would have to wait until the conclusion of the probe into the disappearance of the plane on March 8.
“We will not hesitate to do so but that will only be done when all investigations related to the missing MH370 aircraft is done,” the defence minister was quoted saying in an interview with local daily Sinar Harian.
“Malaysia is always transparent and when the time comes, if we feel we are wrong, Malaysia has never felt ashamed to apologise. If we are wrong why would we not apologise?
“We don’t have ego, but even if we wanted to apologise, let it be based on investigations and based on matters that have been determined by independent parties that find wrongdoing,” he added.
Families of Chinese passengers on the MH370 flight had yesterday demanded for an apology from Malaysia for allegedly releasing contradicting information earlier on and declaring that the flight had ended in the Indian Ocean without giving “concrete evidence”.
When asked to clear the apparent confusion where the Malaysian prime minister said the plane was assumed to have been “ended” while others consider it as a “crash”, Hishammuddin said that everyone should refer to the official statement issued by the Malaysian government.
“I stress that I never announced that there are no victims who did not survive,” he said when replying claims that there are no survivors of flight MH370, also directing attention to the government’s official statement.
Noting that various international news agencies such as CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera frequently make statements on the MH370 search, Hishammuddin said: “But iIf you want accurate information, I suggest you hold to the official statement that we issued. That was issued by me and also Datuk Seri Najib Razak.”
He also singled out CNN, saying that the US news channel had acted “unfairly” towards Malaysia, but said their allegedly “irresponsible” behaviour would ultimately cause their credibility to be questioned.
Hishammuddin said that Malaysia would one day disclose all the news agencies that had spread false information.
“Whoever that spreads false information and make baseless speculations, we will reveal. Not now, because now we give our main focus to the MH370 search, but we will reveal to the public one day,” he said in the interview.
Hishammuddin said no charges have been imposed on Malaysia for all the aid offered by the 26 countries and the satellite firm in the MH370 search.
“So far, all of it is free.
"This is what I am confused about because there is no one who raised the issue of finances because it would necessarily involve a huge cost,” he said, but did not directly reply a question on whether charges would be imposed later.
The multinational search for the plane and the 239 people on board is now in its fourth week.
