KUALA LUMPUR: WITH little sleep compounded by sickened disbelief and horror, Malaysians tracked Malaysia Airlines flight MH17’s tragic downing by a Soviet Union-era (now Russia) Buk surface-to-air missile on Thursday night in real time.
Web news and video, and social media postings and links inflicted more pain over a nation still grappling with the inexplicable disappearance of MH370 four months back.
The fates of MH370 and MH17 whacked against each other in two opposite extremes: if MH370 vanished without a trace, MH17 exploded in full glare of the world, not just as an air crash but one undone over airspace triggered by the bloody geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
A total of 298 people on board MH17 were killed, their bodies strewn over the flowered wheat field of a rustic Grabovo in Ukraine, near the Russian border.
It was never thought to be possible but Thursday’s tragedy — notwithstanding MH370’s mysterious disappearance — has eclipsed the 1977 aircraft crash in Tanjong Kupang, Johor, the last time MAS lost an airplane to terrorism.
The Netherlands took the fullest brunt in victims: 189, followed by Malaysia (44, including two infants), Australia (27), Indonesia (12, including an infant), United Kingdom (nine), Germany (four), Belgium (four), Philippines (three), Canada (one), New Zealand (one) and United States (one). There are three unverified nationalities.
The focus of MH17’s downing was immediately met with clamours for unimpeded investigation and full disclosure as to who was responsible for ordering the shooting of the aircraft on a routine flight home, approved by Eurocontrol, the body that determines international flight paths.
The key questions on everyone’s mind now is:
HOW could a commercial aircraft be collateral damage in an isolated geopolitical conflict;
WHO ordered the Buk missile launch: and,
WHAT action must be taken against the aggressors.
For now, these questions are beyond Malaysia’s ability to act against or enforce. For now, the focus is on retrieving all bodies, especially the 44 Malaysians, including 15 crew members, who perished and making sure that the plane’s flight recorders are recovered for examination.
The Malaysian authorities immediately despatched forensic officers, SMART unit, psychologists and even religious officials to conduct rites for the dead to Ukraine.
At the Kuala Lumpur International Airport as is at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport, frantic relatives and friends rushed with faint hopes of a miracle, that their kin had survived the horrific mid-air explosion.
It was not to be, so the families’ abject grief turned into global mourning, exemplified by the messages and statements of condolences and outrage from world leaders, especially from nations who had citizens on board MH17.
The United States’ intelligence community monitoring MH17’s destruction didn’t hold back their analyses — the missile originated from the conflict region but they are still arguing on who pulled the trigger, whether it was the Ukrainians, the Russians or the Pro-Russian rebels demanding Ukraine
for themselves.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, shocked as any Malaysian, quickly received the full picture of the horror, told the media just before dawn that “this is a tragic day, in what has already been a tragic year for Malaysia”.
Najib implored that regardless of nationality, “we are all united in grief” after laying out details of the shooting, in which he is determined that no stones would be left unturned in digging up the full implication of the tragedy.
Late last night, Najib told the media that Malaysia had become the victim of a geopolitical turmoil, but insisted that its only concern was to find out the facts that had led to the crash.
“Malaysia’s main concern is to know the facts on what happened to MH17, and not to meddle with the geopolitics of other countries,” he said. Najib said Malaysia would wait for “irrefutable evidence” on speculations that the plane had been shot down or otherwise.
Najib, who spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said his Russian counterpart has given his assurance that he would assist in the probe. Having learnt the subtleties needed to handle relatives of the passengers from MH370, Malaysia Airlines has ignored the catastrophe to concentrate on relieving relatives’ agony, stress and anger.
Undoubtedly, too, the core business of flying people all over the world will continue just as professionally despite the bleak backdrop hanging over every crushed employee, especially the cabin crew who carry the most burdensome responsibility.