Malaysian transport minister: Plane search ‘above politics’

Malaysian Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Thursday that the search for an airplane from his country that has been missing for nearly two weeks was “above politics.” 

Investigators have uncovered links between the pilot of the missing airplane and the leader of Malaysia’s opposition political party. 

The political activity of the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, has been used by some speculators as evidence that the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines’ Flight 370 was linked to potential terrorism. 

Hishammuddin said the country’s leaders were not focusing on politics as the search for the plane nears the two-week mark.

{mosads}”We have been consistent from the beginning that our focus has always been on finding the aircraft,” the Malaysia transportation chief said during a press conference. 

“The issue of politics was raised by foreign press ,,, our position in this issue is above politics,” Hishammuddin continued. 

The disappearance of the Malaysia Air plane has sparked much speculation about its potential whereabouts or the reasons for its disappearance. 

The plane was last detected on the evening of March 7, when it was about an hour into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. 

The search for the Malaysia Air plane has lasted several weeks and involved multiple countries. 

Initial search and rescue efforts were concerted on waters in the Gulf of Thailand, where the plane’s pilots last contacted air traffic controllers. Officials later came to believe the plane continued flying for several hours with its radar equipment turned off, based on signals that were communicated via satellite by the jet’s engines. 

Over the weekend, Malaysian officials said the investigation of Flight 370’s disappearance had moved to a “new phrase” that involved looking into the background of the crew members and passengers who were on board the plane. 

The revelation about the pilot’s political activity revived a theory that disappearance of the plane was related to terrorism.

Hishammuddin, who is also Malaysia Minister of Defense, defended his country from accusations that it was a haven for terrorists. 

“I categorically deny that Malaysia is a terrorist nest,” he said. 

U.S. officials have been hesitant to label the disappearance of the Malaysia Air flight an act of terrorism, saying that it is too soon to speculate about potential causes before the remnants of the plane are located. 

Australian officials said Thursday that they have discovered satellite images of an object in the Indian Ocean that could possibly be part of the plane. 

Malaysian officials said resources involved in the search were being diverted to the area identified by Australian officials.