China media calls for rationality over MH370

China Daily said through an article entitled “Treat MH370 tragedy rationally” published today, public opinion should not blame the Malaysian authorities for deliberately covering up information in the absence of hard evidence.

“Whether by official channels of follow-up litigation, we still need to speak with evidence and act according to the law, rather than through ‘making noise’ or indulging in aggressive or irrational behaviour,” it added.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, carrying mostly Chinese nationals, vanished from civilian radar on March 8 while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

A massive international search is currently focused on the southern Indian Ocean where the aircraft is thought to have crashed after mysteriously veering off course.

Malaysia has come under criticism for alleged incompetence and been accused of a cover-up, especially by families of the Chinese passengers, as well as from China’s media.

The China Daily urges its society to take on a rational attitude seeing China is a highly civilized country and that the Chinese government is fully capable of maintaining order and making objective and rational decisions.

The newspaper also stated, “Public opinion should not blame the Malaysian authorities for deliberately covering up information in the absence of hard evidence.”

It also recommends the Chinese society to refrain from inciting criticism and instigating boycotts against Malaysia as to avoid hurting the majority of people in Malaysia.

The China Daily author, who is a researcher at the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Institute of the Ministry of Commerce in China, said that in the face of tragedy of flight MH370, Malaysia has not given up its responsibility and that the whole of Malaysian society have shown their deep sorrow and shame.

He also added that the Chinese government will do its best to safeguard the rights and interests of Chinese citizens and there is no reason to doubt that the government is not taking pains to deal with the crisis.

In the current plight of the missing flight MH 370, Chinese public voices including celebrities and family members representing the 153 passengers on board the ill-fated plane vent their frustrations at Malaysia, demanding for ‘truth’ over what they believe was a government cover-up.

“Chinese people should refrain from inciting criticism and instigating boycotts against Malaysia so as to avoid hurting the majority of people in Malaysia,” he said.

On Sunday families of Chinese passengers on flight MH370 who travelled to Malaysia vented their frustrations at the government, demanding for ‘truth’ over what they believe was a ‘government cover up’.

At an emotionally charged press conference at the Holiday Villa hotel in Subang Jaya where they are staying this afternoon, they asked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to retract his March 24 statement that concluded that the flight path of the airliner Boeing 777-200ER airliner had “ended” in the southern Indian Ocean.

Chanting “We want the truth! We want our relatives! We want evidence!” , the families also held up banners which read "Hand us the murderer. Tell us the truth" "Return our relatives of MH370" and “Relatives of MH370 strongly condemn Malaysian government's delay of rescue time”.

The Chinese families claimed that there were flaws in the investigations demanded meetings with the technical team investigating the case. After the disappearance of flight MH370, the China deployed the largest rescue team in its history of maritime search and rescue operations, including coast guard vessel 3411, South China Sea Rescue 101 and 115, the amphibious landing ship Jinggangshan, the guided missile frigate Mianyang, the guided missile destroyer Haikou, the amphibious landing ship Kunlunshan, the warship Qiandaohu, the guided missile destroyer Changchun, the guided missile frigate Changzhou and integrated supply ship Chaohu.

These ships are carrying several helicopters on board, 1,000 marines and dozens of professional divers and medical teams. In addition, China has also redeployed about 20 satellites to hunt for the wreckage.

“Since the country has mobilised so much manpower and resources, why cannot we be patient and just wait until they find the wreckage and get the evidence.

“We can understand and tolerate the families’ emotional catharsis as long as their behaviour doesn’t violate social norms,” China Daily said.