MH17 – When will we hear the truth?

Borneo Post

17-05-2025

The columnist views PM Anwar's visit to Russia as 'a golden opportunity' to touch on MH17 and other related matters. — Bernama photo
I REFER to the AFP 's report as quoted by The Borneo Post on May 14, 2025.
Read it.
At long last, there appears to be some sort of a closure to the investigations of a tragic event in the history of civil aviation: the downing of a Malaysian plane in July 2014, and with it, the loss of precious human lives, among them 43 Malaysians.
Where? Over that part of Ukraine known as Donetsk, now annexed and controlled by Russia.
The investigations into the shooting down of the MH17 had found evidence that the Russian weapons had been used to destroy the Malaysian plane.
For no good reason!
There was no war between Malaysia and Russia. And even if there had been a war, that's not a reason to fire at any civilian aircraft.
The report by AFP, as quoted by The Borneo Post on May 14, 2025, also points to Russia's culpability in the payment of damages for the destruction of the aircraft.
Not too sure what that means – we need some clarification.
The question is: would these 'damages' include payments to the relatives of the victims?
After all, they were all the employees of the Malaysian Airlines, and they died in the course of duty.
There must be terms and conditions of service, and these must be recognised by the employers.
There is something vague in the media report, though; it needs a clarification in terms of the distribution of compensation money.
Always supposing that the compensation money will be forthcoming.
For confirmation of the media report, I think the Malaysian government, specifically the Ministry of Transport, should convey the news – if this has not been done – to the relatives of the deceased employees of Malaysia Airlines.
I'm sure that they want to know of the latest development of the case.
For example, they would like to know what exactly that they are waiting for, not so much the award of damages but more importantly, the acceptance of culpability by whoever was responsible for the untimely deaths of their loved ones.
That closure matters much more to a bereaved family than the money as such.
Since the media report was published mid-week, we have been waiting for a statement from the relevant authorities reacting to the report.
I am surprised that since news about the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's current visit to Russia broke at midweek, there has been no statement from the Malaysian government about Russia's admission of guilt.
The Russians had rejected the finding of the investigators and thereby dismissed the ruling of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) of the United Nations UN).
Why? Because these investigations had been 'carried out by a team headed by the Netherlands, without the participation by Russia'.
This appears to be 'business as usual' in Russia – anything that makes their government look bad is simply ignored.
It looks like the UN agency, or the UN itself, is facing a credibility gap!
Be that as it may, I suggest that the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) should, if it had not done so, initiate a move to help the relatives of the victims by arranging a meeting between those relatives and the relevant authorities or even with the Russian officials in Kuala Lumpur to find out for sure if the relatives would be entitled to the award of damages at all, or whether the damages would only meant for the loss of the aircraft itself, not to be shared among the relatives of the employees.
Nothing to be ashamed of for asking for some clarification on this matter from the relevant authorities.
Just so that there is no waste of time waiting and then getting frustrated in the process at the end of the day.
I am sure the Government of Malaysia would not mind if Suhakam would make such a worthy move.
Meanwhile, the government would do a good service if the Transport Ministry issued a statement acknowledging that the Russian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur had been duly contacted through the diplomatic channel about the media report above.
The current visit by our Prime Minister to Russia provides a golden opportunity for him to find out the truth about the payment of damages, as diplomatically as possible.
Frankly, the Malaysian public would like to know if he brought the topic up at all.
My guess is that he has whispered in Russian President Vladimir Putin's ears to the effect.
As Malaysia wishes to be a member of BRICS, with Russia being the leader of the group, one expects that the matter of the shooting down of a Malaysian plane by the Russians would be one among the top priority on the agenda of the visit to Russia.
I certainly hope so.
* The opinions expressed in this article are the columnist's own and do not reflect the view of the newspaper.