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1 Apr, 2014

MH 370: Malaysian Govt Urged To Rebuff Negative Reports By Foreign Media

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia March 31 (NNN-Bernama) — The Foreign Ministry and the Communications and Multimedia Ministry have been asked to act swiftly to rebuff adverse reports involving the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 by the foreign media.

Azalina Othman Said (BN-Pengerang) said both the ministries must play a more proactive role in defending the image of the country and prevent Malaysia from being labelled as a country that condone terrorism.

“We must act and take action, they cannot just accuse us directly or indirectly as though we condone terrorism. We must answer such accusations at the global stage because the country’s image is at stake,” she said in the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House) here today.

Azalina said irresponsible reports by some foreign media which portray the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH370, pilot captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid with subversive acts must be stopped.

She said the government, through the two ministries must act firm against the foreign media which carry reports without doing their research, but merely sensationalise their reports to attract readers.

“How to believe their reporting when they can’t even get the name of the Prime Minister right in their reporting. I therefore appeal to the responsible ministries to make a statement immediately.

“The Foreign Minister and Minister of Communications and Multimedia, please, assist in ensuring the image of the country is not tarnished by irresponsible reporting by the foreign media,” she said.

As a mark of respect and sympathy to the families of the pilot and co-pilot, Azalina also urged the opposition to join hands in defending the image of the country.

Flight MH370 with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board left the KL International Airport at 12.41am on March 8, but disappeared from the radar about an hour later. It was to have landed in Beijing at 6.30am on the same day.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak on March 24, that is 17 days after the disappearance of Flight MH370, announced that it (MH370) “ended in the southern Indian Ocean” based on an unprecedented type of analysis of satellite data by the United Kingdom satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).

A multi-national search is going on in the southern Indian Ocean where the Boeing 777-200 aircraft, which had veered off course, is believed to have gone down.