PETALING JAYA: Friends of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 pilot Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah have come out to defend him as investigators started focusing on those in the cockpit for probably being responsible for the disappearance of the jetliner.
“Things are pointing towards [him] probably [being] the cause of the thing, terrorism and all that. I think that’s not fair because nobody knows what’s happening. That’s why I decided to come forward and speak,” Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted Peter Chong, 51, as saying today.
“I don’t blame people for exploring every angle. But until there is proof that he is a terrorist, I will not accept it,” said Chong, according to the report.
Chong described Zaharie as a “caring man and a professional and dedicated pilot” who always puts the safety of his passengers first.
Chong, who is also PKR’s Subang MP R Sivarasa’s secretary, said that Zaharie was a close friend and fellow member of PKR.
Saying that he had met Zaharie two years ago, Chong said they were close and spoke regularly. The last time they spoke was a week before the ill-fated flight took off to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
“There was nothing unusual about him that time, and nothing unusual in the recent few months also,” Chong was quoted as saying in the daily.
“The Malaysian government may play with his political membership with the opposition party, but I think it’s got nothing to do with this. I hope to let the families of the passengers know their lives were in the hands of somebody good,” he said.
Another friend and former classmate Mohd Nasir Othman was quoted in The Star as describing Zaharie as a gentle grandfather who would “never compromise his passengers’ safety”.
“He would never do anything that would endanger people’s lives,” the daily quoted Mohd Nasir as saying. The paper also quoted several other old friends of the pilot who defended his professionalism.
The focus shifted to the pilots following Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s disclosure yesterday that the missing Malaysia Airlines was deliberately steered off course after its communication system was switched off.
He said it headed west over the Malaysian seaboard and could have flown for another seven hours on its fuel reserves.
Investigators also said that the plane was flown off course by a “skilled and competent” flyer.
Obsessed with politics
UK’s Mail on Sunday meanwhile reported that the police were investigating the possibility that the pilot hijacked his own aircraft in a bizarre political protest.
The daily said it had learned that Zaharie was an ‘obsessive’ supporter of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.
It also claimed that police sources confirmed that Zaharie was a vocal political activist – and fear that the recent Court of Appeal decision to sentence Anwar to five years jail for sodomy had left him profoundly upset.
“It was against this background that, seven hours later, he took control of a Boeing 777-200 bound for Beijing and carrying 238 passengers and crew,” said the newspaper.
The police had inspected Zaharie’s house yesterday. They had also inspected co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid’s house, and are believed to be looking into the political and religious backgrounds of both the pilots.
The UK daily also said that Zaharie’s co-workers have told investigators the veteran pilot was a social activist who was vocal and fervent in his support of Anwar.
“Colleagues made it clear to us that he was someone who held strong political beliefs and was strident in his support for Anwar Ibrahim,” the Mail quoted another investigation source as saying.
“We were told by one colleague he was obsessed with politics,” added the report in quoting the source.
Out of fuel
Meanwhile CNN said the police raids into the houses of the two pilots yesterday were done only after the authorities believed they had sufficient reason to go through the residences.
Quoting US intelligence officials, CNN said the government had been looking for a reason to search the home of the pilot and the co-pilot for several days.
“But it was only in the last 24 to 36 hours, when radar and satellite data came to light, that authorities believed they had sufficient reason to go through the residences,” added the global broadcaster.
“The Malaysians don’t do this lightly,” the official said.
CNN however added that it was not clear whether the Malaysian government believed one or both the pilots could have been responsible for whatever happened to the plane.
It added that no final conclusions have been drawn and all the internal intelligence discussions are based on preliminary assessments of what is known to date, stating that other scenarios could still emerge.
CNN also reported that the investigators will scour through the flight manifest and look further to see whether anyone on board had flight training or connections to terror groups.
“A senior US law enforcement official told CNN that investigators are carefully reviewing the information so far collected on the pilots to determine whether there is something to indicate a motivation or indication of what may have happened.
“That would seem supported by preliminary US intelligence reports, which the US official said show the jetliner was in some form of controlled flight at a relatively stable altitude and path when it changed course and flew toward the Indian Ocean. It is presumed by US officials to have crashed, perhaps after running out of fuel,” added the CNN report.
Tian Chua: Don’t blame us
Meanwhile PKR vice-president Tian Chua said allegations that the pilots had a role in the disappearance of MH370 plane was totally speculative.
“It is irresponsible to make insinuation without verified information,” he said in a statement, adding that his party or Pakatan Rakyat abhorred any form of terrorism or violence.
“We urge the federal government not to use this as a pretext or opportunity to implicate or to frame Pakatan Rakyat component parties or their leaders.
“PKR and our alliance in Pakatan Rakyat are committed to a peaceful and constitutional means of political struggle.
“We have consistently denounced violence and any form of terrorism,” said the MP for Batu.
He added that the federal government should be collaborating with international agencies and continue to step up its efforts in conducting a thorough and professional investigation into the incident.