AIRLINE disaster MH370 has popped back into headlines just as Malaysia is managing another crisis with international ties – the Covid-19 epidemic that has infected almost 80,000 people in at least 30 countries.

The latest revelations concerning the ill-fated Malaysian Airlines flight have prompted questions as to how transparent the former Barisan Nasional government was in releasing information on the crisis.

Comparisons have also been drawn on how the Pakatan Harapan administration is managing the daily updates concerning the coronavirus’ spread in the country.

Public relations experts and media personnel said compared to MH370, the current government has been more transparent, timely and coordinated when it came to keeping the public informed on Covid-19.

Suspicions of a cover-up in MH370 have intensified after former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott yesterday said he was told “very early on that Putrajaya thought the tragedy was caused by a murder-suicide”.

In a report published on July 30, 2018, Malaysian investigators said they considered seven possible reasons for the tragedy but ultimately concluded that they did not know what happened.

“From day one, we knew that the government was being less than transparent on MH370,” said a senior editor overseeing the coverage of MH370.

“The way they were releasing the information and the inconsistency of the information itself threw up questions concerning their credibility.”

When it came to Covid-19, the Health Ministry has formed a dedicated WhatsApp group to relay daily updates on new and current cases, and of the situation in the country.

The ministry also issues statements throughout the day if there are new infections or recoveries that occur after its daily press conference.

“They’ve been responsive and quick when it came to public worries. Every time there is a suspected case, they come out quickly to confirm or deny it,” said Justin Then of the consultancy firm Lumos, Hill+Knowlton.

“They also use multiple platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp instead of just issuing press statements, so they understand how people are consuming information and how news spreads,” said Then, the company’s managing director.

‘Furtive and fearful’

On March 8, 2014, flight MH370 vanished while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, triggering the biggest search in aviation history.

It was carrying 239 passengers and crew from about a dozen countries, including China, Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia.

In the first few days after the disappearance, search efforts focused on the South China Sea, off the coast of Vietnam, where it was initially thought that the plane had crashed.

But after it was revealed that the plane had veered southwest and headed over the Straits of Malacca and towards the Indian Ocean, distrust towards the government increased, said pilot and author William Langewiesche in US magazine The Atlantic.

Langewiesche described the former BN regime as “furtive, fearful, and unreliable in its investigation of the flight”.

Wreckage from the plane could have been found sooner, Langewiesche said, had Malaysian officials been more forthcoming with what they knew.

“Had the Malaysians told the truth right away, such debris might have been found and used to identify the airplane’s approximate location; the black boxes might have been recovered.”

Lack of concrete answers and distrust in the government spawned and gave credence to wild theories about what happened to the plane.

Targeted messages

The first few days of the Covid-19 crisis, Malaysia also saw its fair share of misinformation and conspiracy theories.

Messages of purported Covid-19 cases in schools and shopping malls and in states where none existed were spread through social media and messaging services, such as WhatsApp.

Rozani Jainudeen of public relations firm Weber Shandwick Malaysia said the government’s clampdown on fake news early on in the crisis was effective in heading off a public panic over the virus.

“By limiting the number of officials who come out with a statement, then it is easier to control the message and make it consistent,” said Rozaini, who is the firm’s managing director.

“Everyone is singing the same song and on the same page, so this limits confusion. An effective communications strategy helps build trust between the government and the public.”

Strategic communications lecturer Dr Megat Al-Imran Yasin said although it has been effective so far, the government could still improve its communications strategy.

Putrajaya has a macro-level plan on information of the virus, its spread among the population and the possible economic impact, said Megat of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).

But the plan could also involve targeted messaging for different groups of people who are directly or indirectly affected.

“For instance, there was confusion among mainland Chinese students who were returning to Malaysia to study. Were they going to be allowed back in Malaysia? How would they register for courses or dormitories?

“The information on this could have been better.

“Also, you could have messages for schools and places like shopping malls and markets. You generally see people not really caring about getting infected and going about without face masks.

“Although the awareness about the virus is there, many are still apathetic.” – February 20, 2020.