 KUALA LUMPUR: DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang had doubts on CNN’s report on the missing Malaysian Airline MH370 and the government’s denial. “Who is right, Hishammuddin or CNN? Unless CNN is prepared to name the ‘senior Malaysian government official and another source’ to substantiate its report, it is difficult for anyone to accept it as gospel truth,” said the veteran DAP leader in a press conference held in DAP’s headquarters here. Last night CNN reported that the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) scrambled a jet fighter at around 8am on March 8, the day MAS MH370 went missing. The report quoted an unnamed senior government official as saying that officials were only informed three days later on March 11. Acting Transport Minister Hishamuddin Hussein and his ministry have denied the report as a “false allegation”. Flight MH370, with 239 passengers and crew, left the KL International Airport bound for Beijing, China at 12.41am on March 8 and disappeared from civil air control radar screens about an hour later, while over the South China Sea. A multinational search was mounted for the aircraft, first in the South China Sea and then, after it was learned that the plane had veered off course, along two corridors – the northern corridor stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand and the southern corridor, from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean. The search now has been narrowed down to the southern Indian Ocean where the search and rescue team are racing to find flight MH370′s black box after hearing five radar pings. Kit Siang added that Hishamuddin’s denial over the CNN report was inadequate, unsatisfactory and unacceptable. He further said that the formation of a Parliament Select Committee (PSC) to be led by the Opposition would have been the proper way to “put all doubts on the matter to rest”. “The PSC could not only inquire on whether RMAF had scrambled its aircraft but also inquire as to why there was no scrambling of an RMAF aircraft when the military radar tracked that the plane had diverted from its intended course during the first few minutes between 1.40 and 1.45am,” he said. He added that two RMAF Sukhoi fighter jets could have been sent to intercept the ill-fated flight in Kelantan and in Penang as the RMAF has a base in Butterworth. “It is good for the country if the Opposition led PSC can defend Hishamuddin’s denial. Pakatan Rakyat will extend its fullest cooperation on this national disaster. “The government must take a nationalistic stand. We cannot afford to have doubts on another,” he said. Respond to Utusan’s article Kit Siang also reminded Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to honour the promise of conducting a briefing for Pakatan Rakyat MPs on the tragedy and to establish an Opposition led PSC on the matter. Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng who was also present at the press conference meanwhile wants Hishamuddin to respond to Utusan’s report implicating the US intelligence services – the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the disappearance of MH370. “I want Hishamuddin to respond to Utusan Malaysia’s article published five days ago. “Utusan Malaysia editor Ku Seman Ku Hussein in an article (entitled “CIA dan teori konspirasi hilangnya MH370″) implied that the CIA may have a hand in the disappearance of the flight,” he said. The article also implied that the CIA had played a role in the Sept 11, 2001 incident where Al-Qaeda was blamed for flying two commercial planes directly into the World Trade Center. Kit Siang added that Utusan had made a serious allegation. “The conspiracy published in Umno’s mouth piece gives a different dimension,” he added. FMT
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