The citizens of Malaysia that lost 44 of their compatriots in the MH17 airplane crash are appalled by how the PRD separatists handled the bodies of the deceased
In Muslim Malaysia, mourning continues over the 44 citizens of the county that died on July 17th in the crash of the Boeing 777 downed over Donbas. The tragedy coincided with one of the main Islamic holidays, Eid al-Fitr (in Russia it is better known as Uraza Bajram), which commemorates the end of the Ramadan month-long fast. This year Eid al-Fitr is to start on July 28th. The Malaysians are indignant, amongst other things, about how the separatists in the east of Ukraine are handling the bodies of the deceased, and air carrier Malaysia Airlines, which ended up on the brink of bankruptcy, is making excuses is paying out compensations.
The government, media and society of Malaysia every day speak not only of the shock they experienced but also the cynical and horrifying, from their point of view, handling of the bodies of the deceased, their personal belongings and the airliner crash site by the armed separatsits from the self-proclaimed ‘People’s Republic of Donetsk.’ Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose elderly family member from Malaysia perished in the MH17 crash, stated the following in Kuala Lumpur:
“We were unable to calmly watch how the bodies of our compatriots and fellow believers were cruelly thrown into cargo trucks and taken to unknown locations. We hope that the remains of the deceased will be identified and sent to the motherland as soon as possible, before the beginning of Eid al-Fitr, so that we are able to bury them in Malaysian soil. We are assertively calling the world community not to disregard this problem. Besides, the insist that all the criminals that committed this horrifying sin, are subject to justice.”
At a special press conference on July 21st, Najib Razak informed about the preliminary agreement made with one of the leaders of the self-proclaimed ‘People’s Republic of Donetsk’ Alexandr Boroday, with the involvement of ‘unnamed intermediaries’ regarding the fact that the two black boxes of the downed Boeing will in the end be handed over for investigation to the Malaysian side.
Malaysia Airlines company, which the Boeing 777 downed in Donetsk oblast of Ukraine belonged to, is a national state air carrier of the country, which has been going through a very tough time in the recent months. In the very beginning of the XXI it lost quite a lot of money and survived two difficult crises, which it only started getting of after a mass restructuring of the network of regular routes and the passing of the anti-crisis program. Malaysia Airlines decreased the number of regular passenger flights inside the country from 114 to 22, and also cancelled the infamous unprofitable international flights – however the company was still subject to criticism for the obvious disadvantage it had compared to the regional competitors.
However everything changed on May 8th of the current year, when the Boeing 777, similar to the one downed over Donbas, that was making flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 onboard, disappeared from the radars of the air dispatchers of the entire world. The investigation of the reasons of the MH370’s disappearance has not yielded any results yet, and the fate of the passengers and the airplane is unknown even theoretically. Malaysia Airlines stocks fell in the end of spring by 15-20 percent, the present crash, which according to the number of victims is part of the top-ten biggest in the entire history of aviation and so far the worst in the XXI century, may finish the air carrier for good.
At the moment Minister of Transport Liu Xiong Lai is forced to prove to the community that his mini try and the national air carrier are not to blame for what happened at all:
“The international air transport association, IATA, also confirmed that the airway our plane took was not closed. 15 out of 16 airlines that are part of the Association of Asian and Pacific air carriers send their liners on this route over the territory of Ukraine. And European air carriers are also using the same airway and airspace. The flight accorded with all established rules – however on land at that moment all written and unwritten rules of war were violated, which resulted in a horrendous crime. There is no doubt that the MH17 was downed with a missile fired from land. And such violence cannot go unpunished! Malaysia thinks that an act of the most cruel aggression was committed against us, and is calling to find those responsible as soon as possible and punish them!”
Minister Liu Xiong Lai also emphasises what is happening now at the airliner crash site:
“Malaysia is deeply concerned that the region where our plane fell is insufficiently guarded. Anyone can access it, and we have certain evidence that the most important proof is disappearing. And how did they handle the bodies?! We cannot make peace with any actions that will prevent us from knowing the truth about what happened with the MH17 flight. If we are unable to prevent this, then we will betray the lives of those we lost.”
Malaysia Airlines announced that to commemorate all 298 dead passengers and crew members of the downed Boeing they will forever remove flight MH17 from their schedule. Now the liners of the company flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur will take flight MH19. The first takeoff is expected on July 25th, and it will use a completely different route, of course. This was stated by the Vice-President of the airline Gubert Gorter, who also said that the air carrier intends to support the families of the victims at the initial stages:
“All the closest family members of the deceased that addressed us will receive a one-time compensation of 5 thousand dollars for each passenger. This is the beginning. This money will be given to cover the so-called ‘initial expenses’.”
A group of Malaysian experts and soldiers are in Ukraine at the moment, trying to gain access to the pieces of the destroyed Boeing. However as of now the armed Donetsk separatists refused to give them normal opportunities to work.
Source: Svoboda
Translated by Mariya Shcherbinina
