'Australia refuses to reveal papers to preserve ties' claim

Kuala Lumpur: Releasing information related to the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 could jeopardise Australia's international ties with several countries including Malaysia, an Australian newspaper reported.The Australian said it had sought the release of satellite tracking information about the missing flight from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) under their country's Freedom of Information policy but was rejected.

The daily cited ATSB General Manager Colin McNamara saying that revealing the documents "would, or could reasonably be expected to, cause damage to the international relations of the commonwealth".

The documents it requested was central to the ATSB's defence of its failure to find the Malaysian plane.

The daily further reported that ATSB had earlier agreed to a theory of a "ghost flight" scenario of "unresponsive" pilots, but this was however challenged by a panel of international experts who claimed that the flight was forcibly brought down by Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah in an area outside the search zone.

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Despite receiving the "consensus" of the panel, The Australian said the explanation to this theory was removed from the ATSB's website after citing that not all panellists agreed to it. The Malaysia Airlines plane went missing with all its 239 people on board while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

With the governments of Malaysia, Australia and China having suspended their operations, the families of those on board are seeking to fund their private initiative to find the missing plane and have spoken with some global aviation and oceanography experts as well as the ATSB.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has said that Putrajaya does not object to the private campaign and will try to provide any help it can.

The Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370 pointed out that the main aircraft wreckage and flight recorders have yet to be found three years after the mystery even though some debris like part of a wing have been discovered.

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On Jan 18 this year, Malaysia suspended the search operation for Flight MH370, spanning over 120,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian Ocean, after almost three years since the plane disappeared while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The search for the plane had to date cost US$112.47 million (RM500 million).

Authorities said the search would only be resumed if there was new information and concrete evidence.

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