Mystery of Flight 370's Disappearance Hangs Over Obama's Malaysia Visit: Malaysian Government Has Undermined Credibility With the Public by Withholding Some Information

The Wall Street Journal

By  Richard C. Paddock and  James Hookway

April 25, 2014 9:17 a.m. ET

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—The question of what exactly happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is still unanswered nearly 50 days after it vanished—a mystery that hangs over the nation as it prepares for U.S. President Barack Obama's weekend visit.

Up and down the country, Malaysians often pause for a moment's prayer at sporting contests and other public events. Messages of support and condolence to the families of the 239 people aboard pop up on digital screens in public spaces and on trains in and around Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia plans to release an interim report of what it knows about what happened to Flight 370, which disappeared on an overnight flight to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur March 8, but it is unlikely to contain surprises: Australian and Malaysian officials alike say they fear that they may already know all there is to know about the plane's fate—at least until confirmed debris is found.

President Obama, who arrives here Saturday on his first visit to Malaysia, is expected to discuss the missing jet with Prime Minister Najib Razak during a private meeting, according to the prime minister's office. Flight 370's missing include three Americans: one adult, and two young children whose parents were Chinese citizens.

But Mr. Obama is unlikely to come away with any fresh answers, either. Mr. Najib told The Wall Street Journal in an interview Thursday that the multinational investigation has made no substantial progress since March 28, when a detailed analysis of satellite data caused the search to be shifted to the current area of the southern Indian Ocean.

"That's all we have until today," Mr. Najib said. "That's why it's so frustrating. When you do an investigation you have to adhere to the principle of 'follow the evidence.' But what is the evidence? What evidence do we have? It might sound so unbelievable but that's all we have. That's all the world has."

But Malaysian officials have declined to release many details, such as the aircraft's altitude and speed as it turned from its planned course and headed out over the Indian Ocean. This has compounded the mystery, upset many relatives of the missing passengers and undermined the government's credibility with the Malaysian public.

Mr. Najib told the Journal his government would release a preliminary report next week. The report, said to be relatively short, has been delivered to the International Civil Aviation Organization, as required under the rules of that United Nations agency.

"We've sent the preliminary report to the ICAO, and I see no reason why the report cannot be made public," Mr. Najib pledged in the interview.

Malaysia's Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said Friday that investigators have interviewed hundreds of people, including some foreigners. But he gave no indication that the investigation has uncovered anything new.

"It is still ongoing," he told reporters, with investigators "following the best leads."

The prime minister pointed out that the investigators include not just Malaysians, but experts from other countries—among them, the U.S.—as well as the satellite company, Inmarsat.

"Don't forget this is a multinational task force," Mr. Najib said. "There are advanced countries involved. The foremost experts are involved in searching for this aircraft, and that's all we can come up with. And that's why it is so bedeviling and so perplexing."

In all, 26 nations are assisting Malaysia. Assets contributed by the U.S. include the Bluefin-21 submersible that is searching the seabed for the plane's wreckage and the "towed pinger locator" that detected signals believed to be from the plane's black-box flight recorders. Those signals helped determine the current search area.

The U.S. has been "significantly involved from the very beginning" and continues to provide "all relevant technical, investigative and search and rescue support" requested by the Malaysian government, a U.S. State Department official who asked not to be named said by email.

In declining to reveal some information about the plane, Malaysian officials often cite the continuing investigation, which they have classified as criminal. But Mr. Khalid and other top officials have identified no crime publicly. Nor have they offered a motive, a suspect or a theory of what happened.

Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has said the key to the mystery is the black boxes, which investigators believe are resting on the bottom of the Indian Ocean, nearly 3 miles down. But the underwater hunt so far has turned up nothing, prompting Australian authorities to say Friday they are preparing to enlarge the search zone. 

Source:   http://online.wsj.com