Amidst global criticism, especially from China, former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has defended the Malaysian government's handling of the MH370 crisis, saying it is doing “everything possible”.
Mahathir, in an interview with China’sXinhua, said the Malaysian government had released all information it had regarding the loss of the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Boeing 777-200 ER airliner.“For the Malaysian (government), they have done everything they can. They do not have any reason not to tell other people what they have discovered. We want to solve the problem, because it is important for Malaysia,” the former premier was quoted saying by the Chinese news agency.
He believed that despite the furor shown by the Chinese relatives of passengers on board the plane, China and Malaysia's relationship would not be affected.
There are 152 Chinese citizens on-board the ill-fated flight, as MAS had a code-sharing arrangement with China Southern Airlines.
Mahathir said that in the Air France 447 crash in 2009, it took investigators two years to find the black box, and added the MH370 incident was more mysterious as the plane disappeared without much information, and had never before happened “to anybody, any country, any plane.”
When asked as to the effect of the jetliner's loss to the Malaysian economy, Mahathir replied that while at first the nation’s economy would be slightly affected, it will recover.
He also believes that Malaysia will receive a lot of tourists and people will continue to fly with MAS as before.
On the ongoing search efforts, which entered its 32dn day, Mahathir believes it would take a long time as there are no clear indications as to where the plane is.
Mahathir also complemented China in assisting the search efforts.
“In the last 40 year's China has advanced as the second biggest world economy and this was important to Malaysia, as one of its biggest trading partner,” he said.
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