MH370 : OPERATION SAVING FACE OF THE SUPERPOWER ?

Despite all the effort and the international co-operation in the search for MH370, the where-about of the aircraft remains a mystery. All 26 countries involved in the mission can only keep guessing and searching. All clues had led the team nowhere. All the satellites, radars, vessels, submarines, aircrafts that are used in the SAR have so far failed to locate the aircraft or its wreckage.

This is not the failure of the Malaysian government, nor is it the Malaysian Airline’s. In fact, I don’t think it is wrong to say that this, is a failure of the most sophisticated technology, developed and owned mostly by the superpower, the United States of America.

Ever since the flight went missing, Malaysian has been made into somewhat ‘punching bag’ by the foreign media. The Oppositions too, was quick to grab the opportunity to deride the government. Consequently, they managed to shake Malaysia-China relation, which could have been their objective all along.

The reluctance and the delay by the Chinese government in clearing the air doubled the frustration. With majority of the passengers are Chinese nationals, the least their government could do is help Malaysia provide a firm and clear message to their people.

Yet, Malaysia did not resort to pointing fingers or whine. We took it all in, continue to explain as best possible and swear to continue searching. If this is not a proof of credibility and professionalism, then what is?

If only foreign media has the same professionalism, then they should have known that ‘credibility in handling the press’ is not the issue here. That is why we didn’t hear the same accusation of ‘concealing information’ or ‘weak’ being shout at French Government when Air France went down in 2009, did we? We didn’t hear anybody questioning the time taken to find the wreckage of AF447 that is, after two years – even with all the expertise and assets they have.

So, why has ‘Malaysian government’ become the subject of reporting, instead of the ‘search’? Why is ‘handling the press’ more important than ‘why, despite all the sophistication in the technology, we have found nothing’?

Being a small developing country, Malaysia is very humble to admit our lack of expertise, assets and technology to deal with such disaster. It could be true that we are a little lost in handling the situation but that’s because we have never come across such a case before. Therefore, we were quick to accept all help and assistance that any country could offer. Not one offer for help was denied.

Of all the countries, Malaysia has high hopes on the world’s superpower – the United States of America, especially. The flight, a Boeing, is made by the Americans and we assumed that if anybody could help us find it, it must be the Americans. Obviously, we are wrong.

Therefore, instead of looking into the pilots and passengers and Malaysian leaders for fault, perhaps, we should be looking at the Americans. It would make more sense for the foreign media to ask about whatever happened to the most powerful U.S satellites on that fateful 8th of May?

It is funny how the U.S managed to locate Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein in some hidden holes, but they cannot detect a Boeing 777 flying in the open sky, on the open sea! Can the U.S explain why did their satellites failed to get anything at all when the Chinese’s and Australian’s had at least gave us some hope?

If there is any ‘weak’ factor in the case of the missing MH370, the weakness lies hugely on the Americans: the Boeing Commercial Airplanes and the US government themselves.

It seems that this state of the art Boeing 777 may not be as perfect as it is portrayed. Last 6 July, 2013 Asiana Airlines Flight 214, a Boeing 777, had landed short of the runway on a clear, sunny day and killed three passengers. The record shows no obvious explaination on why an experienced pilot of 20 years did not recognize the deteriorating airspeed and abandon the approach sooner.

Asiana then pointed out that Boeing 777’s airliner’s automation and warning system as a probable fault. The company also strongly encouraged Boeing to change the 777′s autothrottle so it would wake up when the aircraft deviates significantly from the desired speed. The issue had been flagged by European aviation regulators and the lead FAA test pilot for the Boeing 787, which has essentially the same auto-throttle system.

What I’m trying to point out here is that it is not impossible that MH370 had had a terrible system failure that it just shut down all emergency signals altogether.

As experts learn from mistakes, Malaysia Airlines has never had the chance to learn, because the airlines has always been well known for its excellent safety records. It boasts of its best pilots and cabin crews. However, we could only wish for a perfect record throughout, but then some things are just beyond our control.

This is the first time Malaysia has to deal with such complex situation but it is not the first time for the U.S.

Remember, the U.S had failed to see a plane coming towards the World Trade Center. Lesson learned and the U.S upgraded an improved all of their assets to the extent of ‘paranoia’, to ensure such things don’t recur. The U.S insists on detecting the enemy before the enemy even thought of coming to the U.S. So, how come with all these technology, we still have not find MH370?

I guess, the foreign media should just cut the crap on bashing Malaysia just to save face of the U.S and start asking the real question like, ‘have all the money spent on US military technology worth it?’