MH370: Stop politicising the aircraft's disappearance - Hishammuddin

During a press conference held at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) on Saturday, acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein also called for all Malaysians to unite and support the teams aiding in the search of the aircraft.

"And so I call on all Malaysians to unite; to stand by our armed forces as they work in difficult conditions, with their foreign counterparts, thousands of miles from home; and to support all those who are working tirelessly in the search for MH370," he said.

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had previously claimed that the government knew more than what it has been informing the people about flight MH370.

In an interview with British newspaper The Telegraph, Anwar claimed that the Government was hiding critical information about the missing flight.

Anwar added that he had authorised the installation of the country’s radar systems during his tenure as Finance Minister, and that they were one of the most sophisticated to have been placed near the South China Sea.

“I find it clearly baffling for anyone to suggest that they cannot read or they fail to detect (the plane),” he told The Telegraph.

Meanwhile, according to a report by Bernama, the Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor had criticised Anwar, stating that the senior PKR leader would politicise anything.

Tengku Adnan said it was impossible for the government to hide information on MH370 and there was no reason for it to be done, as the government was not in favor of the incident which took place.

"It is impossible for us to hide things...why should we? In the first place, we don't want this to happen, and we don't like it to happen," he told the media after attending the presentation of awards for academic excellence at at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Presint 14(1), here, on Saturday.

Tengku Adnan, who is also Umno secretary-general, said he wondered why some people still fell for Anwar's lies and hoped they would be more rational on the issue.

"They (opposition) will spin information and bad mouth us all the time. To them, whatever we do is always wrong," he added.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin also criticised Anwar for trying to score political points with "baseless claims" that the, saying that Anwar had sunk to “a new low”.

“@anwaribrahim implying that Msian authorities are complicit in #MH370 is as ludicrous as it is offensive. AI has clearly sunk to a new low,” Khairy said over Twitter.

Disputing Anwar, Khairy said Malaysian military jets could not have been scrambled as it was not in a state of war, adding that the Boeing 777 was also not an unknown aircraft coming from overseas and that civilian aircraft frequently changed courses.

Meanwhile, touching on the allegation by certain quarters that Malaysia was a 'complicit' in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH370 is completely untrue and unfounded, said acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

"These allegations include the extraordinary assertion that Malaysian authorities were somehow complicit in what happened to MH370," said Hishammuddin, who is also Defence Minister.

"I should like to state, for the record, that these allegations are completely untrue."