Former Aussie PM Tony Abbott stirred up quite a bit of controversy with his remarks yesterday in a TV interview.

Abbott claimed the Malaysian government was certain the case of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was a mass murder-suicide perpetrated by pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah. He said it was made “crystal clear” to him that at the very highest level of the Malaysian government, the murder-suicide plot was thought to be the reason the Boeing 777 went missing, from “very, very early on”.

To refresh your memory, here’s a quick recap of the saga that is MH370. Early on March 8, 2014, flight MH370 took off from KLIA for Beijing with 239 people, including crew, on board a Boeing 777-200ER. After Zaharie signed off with Malaysian air traffic controllers, the aircraft suddenly disappeared from civilian radar. It was later shown that it had made a turn back to Malaysia, flown right across the peninsula, turned north when it reached the Straits of Malacca and ended up, after a flight around Indonesian airspace, in the southern Indian Ocean somewhere east of Perth. 

Several pieces of debris identified as probably coming from MH370 have been found washed up on beaches in the northern Indian Ocean, but despite several searches, the aircraft itself has yet to be located. Flight MH370 is, arguably, the aviation world’s biggest mystery.

With the sixth anniversary of the disappearance fast approaching, Abbott’s interview will likely stir up interest in the case once again. For the record, some reports in 2014 had mentioned the possibility of a murder-suicide. In fact, the final report on the tragedy by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau in 2017 had even mentioned that Malaysian authorities had found that Zaharie had, on his home flight simulator, charted an “initially similar” route. However, the report stated the reasons for the loss could not be established with certainty until the aircraft was found.

As news on the Abbott interview hit Malaysia yesterday, the first to comment was DAP advisor (and overall shot-caller) Lim Kit Siang. He called for leaders of the former BN government to “speak up”, and also for an international commission of inquiry into the incident. We do love our commissions of inquiry, don’t we? Well, as it turns out, both calls were answered.

But before getting to that, we gotta ask Uncle Kit this: why only call for former BN gomen leaders to speak up? The Pakatan government now has access to all information on MH370. Why not ask them, too? Why haven’t they said anything, when the last search for MH370 was under Pakatan? Oh, and remember Muhyiddin Yassin, the Home Minister? He was DPM back then. Surely he was in the know?

Anyway, the Australian state of Queensland is mulling the possibility of starting an inquest. Its premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would consult with the state attorney-general on the matter.

And, former PM Najib Razak, who of course was Malaysia’s supreme leader back then, came out to say the gomen had suspected a criminal plot by Zaharie and had investigated this possibility as well as his political affiliations. However, this was not made public as it would’ve been “deemed unfair and legally irresponsible” since the black boxes and cockpit voice recorders had not been found. Meaning, there was no concrete proof.

Why investigate Zaharie’s political loyalties? Cos he was a known opposition (well, opposition then, anyway) supporter distantly related to Anwar Ibrahim and the aircraft went missing the day after the Court of Appeal sent Anwar to jail for sodomising an aide.

The Jibster was backed up by former Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who was acting Transport Minister at the time. Hisham said various theories were investigated as new “information” surfaced every now and then, but there had been no conclusive answers as to the exact cause of the disappearance.

Meanwhile, then Department of Civil Aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman has questioned the motive behind Abbott’s statement in the interview, which he said would reopen old wounds. “Why now?,” he asks, adding that the suicide-murder theory was one which was investigated but could never be proven.

IGP Abdul Hamid Bador, who was involved in the investigation as then deputy director of the Special Branch, said police had investigated all angles, including terrorism, hijacking and even hijacking using hi-tech means, but couldn’t come to any conclusion due to lack of evidence as the plane was never found. However, when pressed about the pilot theory, Hamid said he couldn’t comment until the aircraft is found.

But the allegations don’t seem to be high on the list of priorities for Uncle Kit’s beloved government, it would seem. Despite the “explosive” interview with Abbott, DPM Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail says the Cabinet didn’t discuss MH370 at all at its weekly meeting yesterday. Maybe that’s why the old political hand never asked the present gomen to “speak up”.