MH370: Nation reaps close relationship with friendly countries - Senate members

The search for Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 which involves many foreign countries is the returns of the good diplomatic relations which Malaysia's leadership has with others, said a senate member.

Senator Datuk Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman said the delivery of so many types of assets by 26 nations was the harvest of good relationships, thus reducing Malaysia's burden in the search. He said the information provided by these nations also helped reduced the burden on Malaysia, especially when faced with accusations and speculation at the international level.

"With just one aim in mind, which is to find flight MH370, the joint effort clearly broke through economic, political and social differences. It was the best example of the outcome of a good relationship," he said when debating the Royal address at the Dewan Negara sitting here on Thursday.

Among the countries which are involved in the mission to look for the missing flight which left the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8 are the United States, Australia, Japan, China, India and Singapore.

Describing the missing of MH370 as a unprecedented incident in the aviation history of the country, Abdul Rahim urged all Malaysians to unite and continue praying that the mystery of the missing aircraft with its 239 passengers and crew is quickly solved.

"As humans, we have to continue praying because it is not possible that we understand every phenomenon of nature," he said.

Meanwhile, Senator Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin, in his debate, urged the Works Ministry to return the right to renew licences of Class F contractors to Pusat Khidmat Kontraktor (PKK) saying the process now handled by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) was burdensome to the said contractors.

"Before this, under the PKK, they only had to pay RM38, but when CIDB took over, the contractors had to cough up between RM5,000 and RM7,000 to register or renew their licences," he said.

Another Senator, Baharudin Abu Bakar, lamented that the government was neglecting Bahasa Malaysia in naming development projects.

He cited as examples the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) and 1Razak Mansion projects which would be landmarks in the federal capital and asked if Thailand could give pride of place to their national language why Malaysia could not.