'Speak up' - Kit Siang tells former gov't leaders over Abbott's MH370 claims

DAP's Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang has called on high-level leaders of the former BN gov't to "speak up" in reaction to the shocking claims by former Australian premier Tony Abbott that he was told by them that the MH370 tragedy was a mass murder-suicide by the pilot.

"Both Malaysians and Australians must be shocked by the Australian Skynews announcement that former Australian Prime minister Tony Abbott has revealed Malaysian authorities believed the disappearance of flight MH370 was a case of pilot murder-suicide," said Lim (photo, above) in a statement today.

Abbott, who was prime minister of Australia in March 2014 when MH370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, claimed that he was told of the pilot's involvement by "highest level" government leaders from Malaysia but stopped short of naming those leaders.

"The world would be waiting for the airing of the two-part investigation tonight and tomorrow night by Skynews as it reveals ground-breaking new details about the MH370 disappearance," added Lim.

He went on to call for an international commission of inquiry into the MH370 disappearance as a result of Abbot’s allegations.

Abbott, said it was made "crystal clear" to him within a week that the aircraft was almost certainly deliberately downed by the pilot, according to a report in The Australian.

The plane was piloted by Malaysian Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah.

"My understanding – my very clear understanding – from the very top levels of the Malaysian government is that from very, very early on here they thought it was a murder-suicide by the pilot," said Abbott.

"I'm not going to say who said what to whom. But let me reiterate – I want to be absolutely crystal clear – it was understood at the highest levels that this was almost certainly murder-suicide by the pilot," said Abbott in a stunning claim.

The disappearance of the Boeing 777 passenger jetliner, which vanished from the radar screen while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, has continued to baffle aviation experts, family members, friends and people from all over the world.

The last search operations to locate the aircraft ended in May 2018 when a United States-based exploration company Ocean Infinity failed to locate the ill-fated aircraft after searching over 112,000 km2 of the ocean floor in more than three months of operation.

In July 2018, the MH370 Safety Investigation Team, in its 449-page report, concluded they were unable to determine the real cause of the disappearance of the ill-fated flight but did not rule out the possibility that "unlawful interference" by a third party had caused the incident.

"Good night. Malaysian three-seven-zero," were the Captain's last words to air traffic control before the plane dropped off the radar at 1:21am.

Satellite data showed the plane then veered off course, making a series of unscheduled turns over the Strait of Malacca and then out towards the Southern Indian Ocean.

To date, only three wing fragments, known as flaperon, have been confirmed to be that from MH370. - Mkini