Questions about Malaysia’s leader don’t stop at jet
Prime minister still hasn’t explained personal gain from failed public deal
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Would a government manipulate news of a devastating plane crash in an attempt to save its political skin?
No one is directly accusing Malaysia of doing that. But Prime Minister Najib Razak’s crisis-plagued government’s controversial statements about the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crash investigation make some wonder.
Three days after Razak’s middle-of-the-night announcement that a wing flap that washed ashore in the southern Indian Ocean was definitely part of the missing plane, investigators from France, the U.S., Australia and other countries have not backed up his assertion.
Things got stranger after Razak’s transport minister said Malaysian searchers found a window, seat cushions and other plane debris on the French island of Reunion and gave them to French investigators. But French officials told news agencies Friday they had not received the parts. Confusion about flight
During the worst financial scandal in Malaysian history, the confusion surrounding the multinational flight investigation seemed, for some, to thicken the gloom enveloping this country, long a bulwark of stability and wealth in Southeast Asia.
For months, Razak’s government has been dealing with much more than the mystery over Flight 370, which went missing in March 2014 after taking off from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people aboard. All are presumed dead.
Malaysian officials have been investigating a troubled government-owned investment fund that Razak founded, known as 1MDB, which has racked up $11 billion in debt and might need a public bailout. The prime minister’s problems worsened last month after the Wall Street Journal and Sarawak Report, a Britishbased website, obtained leaked documents showing that nearly $700 million from entities linked to 1MDB ended up in his personal bank accounts. Source of funds
Razak has not explained the source of the funds, although in the past, he has denied taking money from 1MDB for personal gain.
Some of his recent moves have appeared panicky. Authorities suspended two newspapers that reported on the scandal, and last week, Razak fired the deputy prime minister, who had publicly raised questions about the government’s handling of the matter.
This was the backdrop of the 1:45 a.m. news conference that Razak called Thursday, where he announced that the wing flap found on Reunion was definitely part of Flight 370. State-run Malaysia Airlines contacted family members of the passengers and crew, calling the news “a major breakthrough for us in resolving the disappearance of MH370.”
Relatives accused the airline and the Malaysian government of trying to close the book on the incident without definitive evidence. Malaysian authorities had already come under fire after the plane’s disappearance for a series of contradictory statements that critics say hampered the initial search.