Every family member of those onboard the ill-fated MH370 was heart-broken and devastated. But it seemed only the PRC people have an “unusual” way of expressing their grief.
When international media first reported how Chinese family members in Beijing responded to Malaysian embassy officials, airline staff, reporters and camera crew, Singapore’s MediaCorp was quick to arrange for a psychologist to announce in television that those behaviours were acceptable. I thought it should be acceptable and understandable too.
As days went by, the grieve took the forms of shouting, throwing things, making unreasonable demands, storming into press conference, calling for hunger strike and carrying out violent public protest at Malaysia embassy in Beijing. It is very sad to lose one’s loved ones. But there are many non-PRC families who are no less heart-broken over their losses! Yet we do not see these devastated family members behaving like the PRC family members did.
Was it due to cultural and social differences? Xenophobia? Or perhaps the Chinese government and its media have been, unwittingly, fanning up the flame? When planes of Chinese domestic airlines went down with all passengers, I do not recall seeing on television grief-stricken family members throwing items at government officials or calling for hunger strike.
It is not only people in China who are putting up extreme behaviours, Chinese natives who are permanent residents and new citizens of Singapore are mad with the Malaysian Government too! They made senseless accusations and circulated baseless rumours. I am not referring to those PRC who are here laying HDB tiles or managing hawker centre stalls; I am talking about Chinese professionals who were educated in some of the best PRC universities and even top American business schools. You would not believe it, but they strongly believed that the plane was shot down by the Malaysian Government – to cheat insurance money because the airline was not doing well!!
Then, another group ‘confided’ to me that they had secret information from PRC friends in Malaysia: “The plane actually made a U-turn and when it was in the air above KL airport, the pilots made a series of political demand in favour of Malaysian opposition parties. The airport authority thought it was a joke and ignored the pilots, without reporting the demand to the nation’s Prime Minister. Only when the plane was finally disappeared did the Malaysian Government was informed. That was why the government and airline management were not able to be transparent and have been hiding the truth.” So, some Malaysian politicians alleged Anwar Ibrahim was a CIA agent, and now some PRC people said Anwar was a terrorist! Imaginative in a way, but the logic is plainly stupid! And those Chinese were unhappy when I refused to accept their insinuations that the Malaysian Government was the one causing the death of MH370 passengers. Oh, by the way, the PAP labelled these people, “foreign talents”!
Perhaps the day will come for the PAP to taste the Chinese medicine. I was told that Chinese medicine could be very bitter. We know the side-effects of western medicine. How much does the PAP know about Chinese medicine?
While I believe the Malaysian authorities did not handle the situation as well as it should have been, we should bear in mind that this is an unprecedented disaster. Searching for a needle in haystack is more than a very tough job, but when you do not even know which haystack the needle was buried in, that is almost mission impossible! With as many as 26 countries involved in the search and rescue operations, not every one of them is willing to share information or report to Malaysia, one could imagine coordination is a nightmare! Given the sensitivities of the area involved, national defence, political signals and international perception will be important considerations for some countries.
It is hoped that a miracle will still happen, despite the earlier conclusion of zero survivor as announced by the Malaysian Prime Minister.
Celia Lim