HERE was how Malaysians remembered yesterday’s extraordinary funeral ceremony for the first batch of 20 Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crew and passengers killed cold-bloodedly with 278 others on July 17 — unique in scope and remembrance, and generous and circumspect in grief.
Although the dead were all civilians, the first phase of their burial ceremony was exceptionally accorded with full military honours fit for brave soldiers killed in action.
The same honours were extended to each victim’s home, a guard-of-honour formation observed as the casket was brought in for prayers and condolences from relatives and community members, before being taken to the cemetery for final rites and burial.
Each of the 17 Jalur Gemilang-draped caskets was carried by an eight-pallbearer detachment of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Malay Regiment, led by a superior officer marching lithely and purposefully in consistent unison for every soul, to a designated, numbered hearse.
The same service was accorded to three urns, each carried by a single guard marching side-by-side with the same purposeful stride.
Relaying the dead, one soul at a time per hearse, took a good hour moments after the specially commissioned MAS flight MH6129 landed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 9.54am, piloted by three pilots, who picked up the courage to helm this special flight because of its acute significance.
Once the transfer service was completed, the entire nation observed a minute of silence from 10.54am. Muslims recited al-Fatihah and non-Muslims said their prayers. Then, the 20 hearses were driven past their regal audience,
the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Raja Permaisuri Agong, who graced the ceremony as if it affected one of their own, joined in full court by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his cabinet, senior government officials, members of parliament and foreign diplomats.
Then, a sepulchral stop at the Malaysia Airports Training Centre for an emotional reunion with grieving relatives, before making their way through Klang Valley traffic to reach their respective hometowns, final destinations as close as Putrajaya and as far as Kuching.
This rare but elaborate receiving-of-body formality bears a stark inference: the deaths of 43 Malaysians and 255 others of multiple nationalities aboard MH17 on that day of infamy will be extremely dignified, never to be besmirched by the human wickedness that snuffed these souls.
Najib, in a Facebook post, underscored this attitude by urging “unity in the hour of grief”.
“Our thoughts and our prayers are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives. Today, we stand with you, united as one.”
Yesterday’s solemn ceremony was preceded in equal elaborateness when the bodies were still in the Netherlands — prior to take-off on MH6129, each body was issued with a death certificate, medical certificate, calamity report, exit permit and a letter of agreement by Dutch public prosecutors allowing for cremation or burial.
Once cleared of the red tape, the bodies were transferred to a mortuary in Amsterdam, where funeral rites were performed according to the respective religions.
There is an uncanny number that defines MH17’s Boeing 777-200ER — its first flight was commissioned on July 17, 1997, and it went down 17 years to the day.
Malaysians and foreigners of all persuasions honoured the dead wherever they were — airports, jetties, bus and railway stations, markets, government and private offices, even on the Penang and Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Bridges — by observing a one-minute silence.
Depending on the locations, virtually hundreds and thousands turned up for the funerals of other victims, described by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as a “historic moment” for all Malaysians united in expressing their sadness and grief.
Even families of the missing passengers and crew of MH370 took part in the mourning.
As the hearses drove by the thousands of mourners lined up on the side of the road, flowers were flung as haunting finales, the most overpowering from a battery of MAS employees in uniform, many weeping as they bade farewell to their fallen friends and colleagues.
In another heartbreaking scene, MAS pilots and flight attendants carried and hugged Abderrahman, the 9-month-old son of co-pilot Ahmad Hakimi Hanapi, as colleagues attended his burial alongside that of flight attendant Nurshazana Mohamed Salleh in Putrajaya.
Such was the urgent need for closure that Hakimi’s burial was delayed to allow more colleagues to arrive in time for his eventual interment. It would be natural to spare a moment to reflect on the mindless downing of MH17.
As the nation bids farewell to the 20 victims, it awaits three more bodies tomorrow, and possibly more later.