Question on MH370 emergency SOP rejected

KUALA LUMPUR: THE Dewan Rakyat today rejected a question regarding the standard operating procedure (SOP) for emergency response in the initial hours of the MH370 crisis.
“This involves classified information,” Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia said in rejecting the question from Steven Sim (DAP-Bukit Mertajam).
At a press conference later, Julian Tan (DAP-Setampin) said Pandikar’s reason does not make sense as facts about the tragedy are already out there for the world to see.
“Is the government hiding something? This is a worldwide crisis and no longer a secret; our failures must be admitted and then rectified,” Tan said.
He said the government’s stance that a post mortem can only be performed when the aircraft’s black box is found is a flawed argument.
“We do not need the black box because it is obvious that poor ground response, even after several red alerts, showed the lack of SOP or the failure to follow the SOP,” Tan said.
He said there are four critical points where Malaysian Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the military failed to respond in a competent manner, which allowed the crisis to deteriorate.
Among them was that the military should have be on high alert following the loss of contact with the aircraft.
“In a post-9-11 world, it is apparent that our military is either not adequately equipped to respond to sudden crises and prevent it from deteriorating, or had failed to implement proper SOP even with the most up-to-date equipment,” Tan said.