KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — Malaysia may have to reconsider its standard operating procedures during emergencies such as the recent disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today.
Hishammuddin, also Malaysia’s defence minister, said the country had not been in a heightened state of alert when the airliner disappeared and that air force jets had not been scrambled to tail the flight as it changed course.
“SOPs (standard operating procedures) may have to change but we did not go through September 11 and ....we are not in the state of alert as in the US or in some other countries,” he said.
He was speaking to a packed hall of military personnel at the 3rd Putrajaya forum on “Emerging Regional Security Threats”.
“Even if you do scramble our aircraft, who is going to give the orders to shoot down an MAS commercial airline with 14 foreign nationals on it?”
“Putrajaya was not attacked but we need to consider that as a possible future threat,” he added.
