MAY 8 — An open letter to:
Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Razak
Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott
President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping
1. We are the MH370 Victim Families and Crew Association, Voice370. Our purpose is to support each other, with the sole intention of finding MH370 and our loved ones. We represent over 300 family members so far. Our membership grows daily to include family members from all nations.
2. In view of the search entering a new phase and with regard to meetings, starting from yesterday to re-analyse data and information collected from the search so far, the Families Association urges all relevant authorities to carefully reconsider the data anew, without predetermination or bias as to any possible or probable outcome.
3. Due to the lack of physical evidence that MH370 ended in the Southern Indian Ocean, the families are in urgent need for the conclusion, based on Inmarsat data analysis, that the aircraft’s flight ended in that Ocean to be reconsidered to confirm its accuracy.
4. Further, if Inmarsat’s analysis is unable to rule out other flight paths as a possibility, that fact must be acknowledged. Given the lack of tangible evidence of what happened to MH370, in our view, data analysis that only indicates a probable southern flight path is an insufficient basis to support a definitive conclusion that no other flight path was possible.
5. We implore the Malaysian Government to share and release the raw Inmarsat satellite engine ping data for 9MMRO (every ping from Friday, March 7 12:00 until the final signal was received globally so that it can be subject to broader analysis by relevant experts.
6. The Inmarsat satellite data is the only lead we have and is key in identifying MH370’s flight path after the plane vanished from the civilian radar screens on Mar 8. In view of the lack of ELT activation, zero detected debris, and the lack of convincing JACC ping, we feel that it is necessary that the data be subject to independent third party review. Neutral broad minded review would assist in the data assessment. It is our hope that with out-of-the-box thinking, the whole world can help to look for the plane.
7. We also implore the Joint Agency Coordination Centre to share and release the pings recorded by the Towed Pinger Locator. Those pings have been characterised as a signal oscillating at 33.3kHz with each ping being 1.106s apart. The pings were non-continuous and the furthest distance between the locations of the pings is roughly 15miles. These recorded pings are another piece of evidence needed to verify not only the accuracy of the Inmarsat calculation but also to prove the transmissions are in fact from the flight data recorder and that it is within that area. Understanding whether the recorded pings are from the flight data recorder, will greatly enhance the chances of locating the plane. We understand that the specifications of the Towed Pinger Locator could be US classified information. We are not asking for that information, but merely the recorded pings which were analysed by Australia be allowed to be analysed by other independent experts.
8. In anticipation of non-governmental agencies or contractors being engaged to conduct a new phase in the search we make two requests. First, that the WHOI be engaged to take responsibility for the undersea search operations and to coordinate and conduct that search. In our view, that WHOI is not a commercial entity and its successful location of Air France 447 demonstrates that it has the experience and expertise to conduct the search for MH370 in an ethical manner.
9. Secondly, if the employ of expertise or resources of any commercial organisation would benefit the search, then WHOI remain engaged in and ultimately responsible for the search operation to the extent of its capabilities, together with oversight of any commercial organisation. We do not presume a lack of credibility or any intention on behalf of commercial entity to exploit the search operation, and appreciate that commercial expertise may be necessary. We would merely take comfort that oversight by a non-profit driven entity like WHOI would maintain levels of accountability and transparency.
10. We the families would like to take this opportunity to convey our sincere thanks to all the countries involved for their unrelenting efforts to help in the search.
Thank you.
Steve Wang, Jimmy Wang, Li Li (China)
Dr Yi-Kiong Hue, V.P.R Nathan Velayudhan, Lokman Bin Mustafa (Malaysia)
Sarah Bajc (USA)
K.S. Narendran, Pralhad Shirsath (India)
Prudence Tomblin, Danica Weeks, Peter Weeks (New Zealand)
The Committee Leaders for Voice370, the MH370 Family Association
* This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.
