Chief investigator denies withholding data

Still waiting: Relatives of passengers on MH370 waiting for a state representative outside the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs in Beijing on the fifth anniversary of the plane’s disappearance. — Reuters

PETALING JAYA: Datuk Kok Soo Chon has denied allegations that the team he headed in the investigation of the missing MH370 withheld key information in its report.

Some next of kin of those on the ill-fated flight claimed that the report, released in July last year, held back certain important information and they demanded the release of raw military data.

Kok, the head of the Malaysian ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team, said the question had been brought up many times.

(Annex 13 states that the investigation of an accident or incident is to prevent accidents and incidents and not to apportion blame or liability.)

“We have the complete original radar data. We did not publish the raw military data because it is classified information under the military,” the chief investigator said in a phone interview yesterday.

“There is no reason for us to hide any key information. Based on the radar data, we proved that the airplane had turned back from the eastern side to the western side,” he said when contacted on the fifth anniversary of the disappearance of MH370.

Kok, a former director-general of the Department of Civil Aviation, said the 449-page report released by the Malaysian safety investigation team was endorsed by seven countries involved in the probe.

“If I wanted to withhold information, do you think my seven counterparts from different countries would allow me to?

“None of them gave a dissenting view on it.

“People should read the report properly,” he said.

Noting that ICAO is a specialised agency of the United Nations, Kok said the investigation was conducted based on proper procedures.

Asked what could be the credible leads that would prompt the government to resume the search for the aircraft, Kok said it could be satellite images, new drift modelling of MH370 debris, or new calculation and methodology analysing data.

“The authorities will look into it if the evidence presented justifies a new search,” he added.

On criticism against the government, Kok said it could not be searching blindly without a clue.

“Not even experts have a clue. The ocean is too wide,” he said.

Separately, Air Accident Investigation Bureau head Capt Datuk Yahaya Abdul Rahman said the government would welcome any organisation that had significant evidence on the location of MH370.

Upon consultation with Australia and China, he said, the government could continue with the search.

“This consideration will still be on a no-cure, no-fee basis,” he said.

The next of kin of the 239 crew members and passengers – more than half of whom were China nationals – on board MH370 that left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, 2014, are harbouring hope that the government will resume the search.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, furious next of kin, numbering about 30, marched 500m to the Foreign Ministry, demanding to speak to a high-ranking official after an earlier meeting with an officer did not produce the desired results.

Since the plane’s disappearance, the Chinese family members have gathered in the capital every anniversary to seek assistance from their government.

Spokesman Jiang Hui said both the Malaysian and Chinese authorities gave them different answers.

“We hope to meet with a high-ranking person, preferably the minister or vice-minister,” he said outside the ministry.

However, their demand was not met.

The group later handed over a memorandum to the Malaysian government via the embassy.