A SUPPORT group for those who lost family members aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has called on the government to release complete military radar data to assist investigations into the missing airliner.

The group wants an independent team of experts to use the data to verify the plane’s flight path the night it vanished.

“We ask the Malaysian government to release all military radar records from March 7 and 8 2014, related to only the track of MH370 to a credible, independent international team of experts (with a non-disclosure caveat) to validate the claims pertaining to MH370’s path that night, and to eliminate all doubts among the public about the veracity about this information and its interpretation,” the group said in a Zoom virtual conference in conjunction with the 7th annual remembrance of the missing MH370 flight.

Tomorrow will mark seven years since the disappearance of MH370, which kicked off one of the largest search efforts in aviation history.

The Boeing 777-200ER en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in the early hours of March 8, 2014, vanished from radar screens, with 227 passengers and 12 crew aboard.

Grace Subathirai Nathan, a Malaysian lawyer whose mother, Anne Daisy, was on the plane, was one of the speakers today.

She said the government had continuously declined their request, saying that in the interest of national security, they may not be able to release the military radar records.

She said the government can’t use the same excuse for seven years now, claiming that there was still no closure to the case.

“After seven years, they cannot still be citing national security as the reason to not release military radar records. 

“A solution for that is the military radar records be released to an expert in the field who can understand and analyse it on a non-disclosure basis, so that it is not disclosed to anyone else,” she said. 

Grace’s father, V.P.R Nathan, who was the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) air traffic management section deputy director, said the previous Pakatan Harapan government had granted him permission to view the data.

He, however, said that did not materialise when there was a change of government and then followed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Actually the information about the military radar data is sensitive.

“However, the military has actually agreed to allow me as an aviation professional to view the radar data but the Defence Ministry (Mindef) legal department wanted me to sign a non-disclosure agreement before they allow me to view the data.

“This whole exchange took place during the time when there was a change in government. It was the previous minister who allowed me to view it.

“But the Attorney-General resigned at the same time and Mindef did not have a template for this non-disclosure agreement. So, they needed AGC to prepare one and get me signed.

“Along the time, after the change of the government, Covid-19 pandemic came and everything took a turn all together,” he said today.

Besides this, the group also urged other individuals, institutions and government with information, including intelligence reports and records on MH370 to come forward and cooperate, which might assist with the investigation.

Voice370 also want the Air Accident Bureau Malaysia to take over the duties of the disbanded The Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team to issue updates on any new developments on the missing flight.

The group said that the next of kin of passengers in China are also demanding Malaysia Airlines to pay out some advance compensation to ease their burden while their legal cases are all still tied up in court.

“The next of kin in China, whose compensation claims are still under legal process would like to request that MAS and their insurance provide, as an interim measure, some advance compensation to help the needy tide over difficult times while awaiting the settlement of their case in court,” the group said.

The group also urged MAS to reconvene regular liaison meetings with the aged and elderly next of kin, as well as provide psychological support.

“These demands are from the next of kin of passengers in China, where there are few, who until today are going to the MAS office counter in their country almost every day to find out any possible developments regarding their loved ones, who have been missing for the past seven years,” the group added.

Today, Transport Minister Dr Wee Ka Siong said that Malaysia will make “reasonable” efforts to continue the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, in cooperation with China and Australia.

Malaysia, Australia, and China jointly called off a two-year underwater search for the aircraft in January 2017.

By then, underwater searches for the plane in the Indian Ocean had covered 120,000 sq km and cost about A$200 million.

Malaysia then accepted a “no-cure, no-fee” offer from US exploration firm Ocean Infinity in 2018.

The three-month search covered 112,000 sq km north of the original target area, without any new discovery when it was called off in May 2018. – March 7, 2021.