Malaysia opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. AFP/KAMARUL AKHIR
KUALA LUMPUR鈥擬alaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim accused the government of hiding information on the missing Malaysia Airlines jet, as two ships with sophisticated underwater equipment zeroed in on Friday on a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean in a hunt for the plane鈥檚 black boxes.
Anwar said he was 鈥渂affled鈥� over the Malaysian military鈥檚 failure to respond despite detecting the Boeing 777 crossing back over the country鈥檚 airspace following its mysterious detour.
鈥淯nfortunately the manner in which this was handled after the first few days was clearly suspect,鈥� Anwar said in an interview with Britain鈥檚 Daily Telegraph.
鈥淐learly information critical to our understanding is deemed missing. I believe the government knows more than us.鈥�
Malaysia鈥檚 response to the crisis has been widely criticized, particularly by relatives of the 153 Chinese people aboard.
The plane went missing on March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Malaysia has said satellite data indicates it crashed in the Indian Ocean, far off western Australia.
But no debris indicating a crash site has been found despite an extensive search, as time runs out on the black box locator signal, which lasts only around 30 days.
Anwar, who recently had his acquittal on sodomy charges overturned in what he claims is a political smear by the government, said a 鈥渟ophisticated鈥� radar system that he authorized as finance minister in 1994 should have led to prompt action.
Malaysia鈥檚 armed forces said soon after the plane disappeared that military radar had picked up an unidentified object moving toward the Indian Ocean, but did nothing because it was not deemed 鈥渉ostile.鈥�
The decision has been criticized for losing valuable time. It took Malaysia one week to confirm the radar blip was MH370 and subsequently reorient a huge search away from its initial focus in the South China Sea.
Anwar said Malaysia should have moved quickly to save other countries scouring 鈥渁 place that they know cannot be the site of the plane.鈥�
Anwar defended the aircraft鈥檚 pilot, 53-year-old Zaharie Ahmad Shah, who is also a personal friend and a member of his political party.
鈥淚f you say or suggest that the pilot may have been involved, what about the concealing [of information]?鈥� he told the Telegraph. 鈥淗e could not have concealed the radar readings. He could not have instructed the air force to remain completely silent.鈥�
A Malaysian government spokesperson said: 鈥淎nwar has made numerous unfounded allegations criticizing Malaysia.鈥�
鈥淚nstead of trying to exploit the MH370 tragedy to score political points, it would be constructive if he could support the government as it coordinates the multinational search operation.鈥�
Malaysia鈥檚 government has a poor record on transparency, typically sweeping corruption scandals and other embarrassments under the rug. But Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein insisted this week it was 鈥渘ot hiding anything鈥� on MH370.
Australia has assumed increasing responsibility over the physical search for the plane.
Two ships with equipment that can hear the black boxes鈥� 鈥減ings鈥� were making their way along a 240-kilometer route that investigators hope may be close to the spot where Flight MH370 entered the water after it vanished.
But the head of the agency coordinating the search acknowledged the search area was essentially just a best guess鈥攁nd noted that time was running out for search crews to find the coveted data recorders.
鈥淭he locator beacon will last about a month before it ceases its transmissions鈥攕o we鈥檙e now getting pretty close to the time when it might expire,鈥� Angus Houston said.
The Australian Navy ship Ocean Shield, which is dragging a towed pinger locator from the US Navy, and the British Navy鈥檚 HMS Echo were looking for the black boxes in an area investigators settled on after analyzing satellite pings the aircraft gave off after it disappeared.
Because the pinger locator can pick up black box signals up to a depth of 6,100 meters (20,000 feet), it should be able to hear the devices even if they are lying in the deepest part of the search zone鈥攁bout 5,800 m below the surface.
But that鈥檚 only if the locator gets within range of the black boxes鈥攁 tough task, given the size of the search area.
The black boxes would provide crucial information about what condition the plane was flying under and any communications or sounds in the cockpit.
But with no wreckage found, officials can鈥檛 be confident they鈥檙e looking for the black boxes in the right place, said Geoff Dell, discipline leader of accident investigation at Central Queensland University. Reports from AFP and AP
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