Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

An international consensus of Western, Chinese and Asian media would agree with Businessweek this week which says that the Malaysian government probably has done more over the past week to undermine the international image of Malaysia than anyone else in the country in nearly 60 years as a nation.

Six Australians are on that lost plane and, naturally, I made a comment about the handling of this by the Malaysian government on my Twitter page. In response, a minority—and I would make it very clear that it was only a small minority—of Malaysian citizens posted highly sexualised comments of a homophobic nature on my page. They were not just abusing me, they were abusing the Malaysian Leader of the Opposition, Anwar Ibrahim. They did not take up the issue of the dysfunctionality of the Malaysian government and its handling of the aeroplane MH370 tragedy raised in such newspapers as the Australian and the New York Times and mentioned on my Twitter account.

It is an indictment of the ruling party and the state-controlled media in Malaysia that such sexist abuse is considered a political norm. Supporters and haters of Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the nation's opposition, do not realise how weird such detailed discussions of anal sex are on political sites discussing the disappearance of Malaysian aeroplanes. Wouldn't it be better if Malaysian government supporters directed their anger at the incompetence of their authorities who sent non-Chinese speakers to China to explain to grieving relatives about the disappearance of the plane or, when Chinese families turned up to a press conference in Malaysia, had their security officials beat them up? Rather than give intricate details of what the Malaysian government supporters quaintly call 'sodomy', wouldn't it be better for them to explain how one of their national airliners with 239 passengers aboard, including six Australians, was missed by Malaysia's air force radar when it flew back over Malaysia? The Malaysian leaders' poor response to the disappearance of Flight 370 is not surprising. The country has been ruled by the same coalition since independence. Its leaders normally shun independent journalists and its state-controlled domestic media rarely push ministers to answer tough questions.

I have got some suggestions that were originally made in Businessweek, suggestions that I certainly agree with. Firstly, the Malaysian government needs to speak with a single voice. It should start by designating one senior minister. The minister should hold daily question-and-answer sessions with reporters, not just with the compliant local media.

Secondly, the Malaysian government should cooperate with Western governments such as Australia and the United States. Kuala Lumpur should allow foreign aviation and police agencies to cooperate with it in investigating the disappearance of the plane. Organisations such as the US National Transport Safety Board and the FBI would be a good place to start. This is because, Businessweek says:

Malaysia’s police have a weak record of investigative work, partly because the police—like virtually every other part of the Malaysian government—are … highly politicized, stuffed with patronage jobs, and perceived as very corrupt

Thirdly, Malaysian officials apparently knew about the flight's westward trajectory after the transponder was turned off. They should disclose everything they know now, because there are naturally questions about whether Malaysia is concealing more details.

Above all, they should stop trying to link the plane's disappearance to domestic political opponents. To quote Businessweek:

Government leaders have long been obsessed with Anwar,—

the leader of the opposition who has just been interviewed by Christiane Amanpour of CNN—

as his opposition alliance has gotten closer and closer to winning a national election and ending the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition's reign. Malaysian officials have been acting as if Shah's support—

the pilot—

for Anwar's opposition party was something shocking …

Fifty-two per cent of Malaysians support Anwar Ibrahim. If this was a reason for people crashing airplanes into the sea then half of Malaysia would be guilty. What an absurd and ridiculous suggestion. Six Australians have been lost, apparently, along with the crew of this plane. I call on the Malaysian authorities to address the issue, stop abusing people with homophobic remarks and stop encouraging their supporters in UMNO to do the same. I am quite used to these gay-bashing statements. They have been made against me personally. They should not be made against me or Anwar Ibrahim.