The Malaysian Government Used a Shaman Ritual to Find That Missing Plane
It hasn’t been a good week for Malaysian authorities.
Read the extended piece + videos on VICE News, and follow the author Alice Speri on Twitter: @alicesperi
The country’s government has been facing increasing criticism - at home and abroad - amidst a frantic search for clues about the fate of missing flight MH370, which vanished last Saturday after taking off from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people onboard.
First came the reports that at least two people had boarded the international flight using stolen passports. Then came a string of disastrous press conferences, conflicting information, and incorrect details by Malaysia Airlines, the government-owned carrier.
Interpol has publicly berated the Malaysians for their loose passport system, as have the Chinese over the poor communication and delays in sharing of new information. Families of the passengers have also hurled words - and water bottles - at Malaysia Airlines’ Beijing representatives.
Now, six days into the fumbling search for the flight, an outspoken Malaysian opposition leader has added his voice to the many chastising the government’s handling of the situation, calling their inaction “shameful” and accusing them of bringing ridicule on the country internationally by bringing a “bomoh” - a sort of shaman in Malay culture - to the capital’s airport to help with the search.
“The Malaysians deserve to be criticized," Ernest Bower, a Southeast Asia specialist in Washington, told Reuters. “Their handling of this has been atrocious.”
Confusing and contradictory statements by Malaysian authorities have frustrated the governments helping with the search and filled the families of the passengers with angst and false hope.
Airline officials have repeatedly backtracked on information about the plane’s last known contact, and the country’s aviation authorities have all but admitted they have no clue even about the direction the plane was headed in when it vanished. Officials have claimed, and then retracted, that five passengers had checked in but never boarded.
To add to the communication snafus of the past week, Malaysia’s civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said in a press conference on Monday that the two men traveling on stolen passports looked like the Italian soccer star Mario Balotelli, who is black.
As it turned out, the two were actually Iranian nationals - and not black - reportedly on their way to seek asylum in Europe. But when authorities released security footage of the duo, their legs were identical. Malaysian police said the mistake “was not done with malice or to mislead,” and one photo was simply placed over the other when they were photocopied.
Which didn’t exactly help their already plummeting credibility.
Read the extended piece + videos on VICE News, and follow the author Alice Speri on Twitter: @alicesperi
