KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 20 — Local relatives of victims onboard the missing Flight MH370 have denounced the murder-suicide theory which has surfaced yet again yesterday, but demanded that Putrajaya respond to the allegation and come clean on what really happened.

Separate reports in Malay dailies Sinar Harian (SH) and Harian Metro (HM) quoted two relatives of those on the Malaysia Airlines flight who rubbished the murder-suicide theory as nonsensical.

Nurlaila Ngah@Awang, the 46-year-old wife of senior flight attendant Wan Swaid Wan Ismail, questioned the timing of the revelation, considering it has been six years since the plane went missing

“I do not believe theories like this, personally I salute Captain (Zaharie Ahmad Shah] as an experienced pilot.

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“In fact, I am confident that he as a person of the Islamic faith, he would not have done such a thing, especially considering the fact he wasn’t working for only a year or two, but has been doing so for many years, so what reason is there for him to gamble with the lives of 239 people,” she was quoted in HM’s report.

Nurlaila was quoted saying she was aware of theories that blamed Zaharie were among the suspected causes identified by authorities, saying it was partly due to his pre-flight behaviour.

However, she explained the allegations remained theories and never went beyond that.

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“They (authorities) only suspected such things but never provided concrete reasoning, with the only questionable actions by Captain Zaharie is how he was seen smoking before a flight and his physical behaviour.

“But they failed to provide an explanation to back these questionable actions; is he being seen smoking before a flight a fair enough reason to put the entire blame on him?” she asked.

Meanwhile, SH’s report quoted 65-year-old Selamat Omar, who demanded answers from the Malaysian government over Abott’s revelation, saying he was stunned and disappointed such information was released over the incident that involved his son Mohd Khairul Amri.

“[The revelation] was supposed to be informed to the Malaysian government. It is improper for it to be told the public, and I felt disappointed and shocked when I heard such things being publicised,” he said.

“It is completely illogical when the pilot himself acts and commits suicide. The pilot is a Muslim.

“From the information obtained, [the pilot] had no family problems, or with his friends or was in debt,” Selamat claimed.

He also revealed that he was made to understand the murder-suicide theory was looked at during initial investigations by authorities, but said he had from the onset refused to believe it was the actual cause.

He said it has been six year since the incident and all the next-of-kin have yet to receive any positive news, demanding the government take action and provide answers to family members.

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbot alleged in a Sky News Australia documentary that the Malaysian government believed from the outset the disappearance of the aircraft was likely a mass murder-suicide plot.

Abbott was the prime minister during the MH370 tragedy. Six Australians were among the passengers of the doomed flight.

Abbott’s Malaysian counterpart at that time was Datuk Seri Najib Razak, with Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai as his transport minister. Both were from Barisan Nasional that was shockingly defeated by Pakatan Harapan in the 2018 general election amid accusations of graft and abuse of power.

Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared on March 8, 2014 with all 239 people on board.

Underwater searches for the plane in the Indian Ocean, covering 120,000 square kilometres and costing about A$200 million, was subsequently suspended indefinitely in January 2017 until Malaysia accepted a “no-cure, no-fee” offer from US exploration firm Ocean Infinity in 2018.