A double-edged sword, truth is...
By Haris Hussain
SEARCH FOR MH370: Closure isn't only for China to seek
IN the absence of concrete evidence -- a debris field, wreckage and fuselage pieces, black box, wing spar, cockpit voice recorder, pieces of human tissue, flaps, slats and spoilers -- how does a government, any government, handle the issue of a missing jetliner with all souls on board?
From the moment contact was lost with Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on March 8, Malaysia had sought to be upfront with all the facts. And, why wouldn't we?
MAS has a sterling safety record. Its pilots and cabin crew are among the best in the world, winning international awards and accolades. There's no reason for us to hold back anything.
Every lead was announced. Nothing was surreptitiously packed away and tucked into a darkened corner with a quiet and hushed "sshhh".
When these leads turned out to be false, they, too, were relayed to a waiting world. Over time, this worked against us.
Soon, the perception was that there were too many about-turns, retractions, clarifications and non-leads.
In our desire to be open in our investigations, we were painted as inept, when the overriding concern and the only mantra had always been to tell the truth.
Over the last three weeks, assigning blame had been taken to ugly, vile extremes.
MAS chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya was not spared. The most visible face of MAS, Jauhari was asked to resign, as though he had "terminated" the flight himself.
For three weeks, Malaysian authorities were told that they were in denial: that the Boeing 777-200ER had crashed and that they should just admit it, so they could get on with the task of looking for answers and provide closure to the families.
The government refused. It just refused to give up hope. It refused for the sake of the families of all those on board, the family within the flag carrier and for the sake of the nation.
The outpouring of hope was inspiring. It united the country when politics, ideology and even faith in humanity had failed.
But, when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced on Monday that MAS flight MH370 had ended in the Indian Ocean, these same people accused the Malaysian authorities of being insensitive.
CNN's Richard Quest summed it up best when he said Malaysia was caught between a rock and a hard place, with the way she was handling the crisis.
"Malaysia is damned if it did, and damned if it didn't," he said, referring to her openness in sharing information.
One particularly vicious attack came from a "guest commentator and senior journalist" of a China-based publication.
"With a heavy heart, it told the whole world calmly that the airplane on its way to Beijing had ended in the Indian Ocean. When they broke the news to the whole world, it was just like a kid telling the adults he had lost a toy."
"When China diverted over 10 satellites from their courses at high cost, what were you doing?"
"When you decided to tell all, weren't you belittling the love of the whole world for the loves of 239 people? Or was it because you were nearing to the truth that you found it difficult to cover a certain secret by grossing over it?
"Or was it because that, after waiting for 17 days, such a conclusion could now make those relatives to go home and resign to their fate?"
It all makes for great copy. But, the tone that accompanies this piece, and many others like it, makes it sound as though China is the only one deeply scarred by this tragedy. That is, the only one that lost everything.
It is not.
Almost everyone I know knew someone on board that flight.
Almost everyone knew someone, or knows of someone who knew someone on flight MH370.
So, the pain is not your exclusive preserve. And, as much as you want answers and closure, so do we.
Throughout all this, Malaysia has been kind and compassionate when understanding is needed, strong and resolute when millions are looking to her for answers, and dignified and stoic in the face of adversity and unfair criticism.
So, cut her some slack.
NST
