With nine more remains of victims of the Flight MH17 tragedy having returned home at 6.37am today, many of us can do nothing more than to only sit back and reflect on the sequence of events that have taken place so far.
The tragic shooting of the Boeing-777 aircraft, the puzzling question of ‘who did it’, the race against time in finding out who were on that ill-fated flight, and if we knew any of them, if there were any survivors, that heartbreaking moment when we learned that children and babies were on board the flight…
Too much sadness have been felt in the hearts of Malaysians this year. We were still reeling from the shock and pain from the mysterious disappearance of Flight MH370 on March 8 when we were yet faced with another catastrophe.
But to shed some light at the end of the tunnel, even if a little bit, we have to note the major difference between the two mishaps – the remains of the Flight MH17 victims existed. They were within reach.
It was just a matter of how to gain access to them.
The Wall Street Journal probably described it best: Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s decision to send a team of officials into a war zone to meet with armed rebels of an unrecognised government, was 'a move that not many European leaders would have attempted'.
Because of the gutsy move where Najib managed to seal a deal with Alexander Borodai, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic where the Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down, the aircraft’s two black boxes and 282 bodies have been successfully transferred out of the MH17 crash site.
The New York Times said Najib’s efforts “apparently achieved what pressure from far more powerful nations had failed to accomplish.”
While details of the meeting between Najib and Borodai continue to remain a secret, Malaysian analysts believed that Najib’s negotiation was based on one thing: trust.
“Borodai trusted Najib and Najib trusted Borodai. They know that we don’t have any interest in their conflict (between Ukraine and Russia),” said National Council of Professors political cluster head, Prof Datuk Mohamed Mustafa Ishak.
“We were the victims and we did not take sides. We never blamed Ukraine, Russia or the separatists from the start.
“Because our only concern was the welfare of the victims’ families, the rebels obliged,” he told Astro AWANI.
Adding to Mohamed Mustafa’s views, Dr Chandra Muzaffar said Malaysia chose not to blame anyone simply because there was no evidence as to who was the perpetrator.
“Unlike the Western powers which lay the blame on Russia and the pro-Russian rebels, we took a different approach. That was why Borodai felt that he could trust Najib. The rebels felt that Najib is a leader that they can trust,” the Yayasan 1Malaysia Board of Trustees chairman told Astro AWANI.
Many international media dubbed Najib’s effort as nothing short of heroic.
"In recent days, there were times I wanted to give greater voice to the anger and grief that the Malaysian people feel, and that I feel. But sometimes, we must work quietly for a better outcome,” Najib had said following the secret dealings.
Today, the nine remains of the MH17 victims who returned home are Malaysian pilots Capt Wan Amran Wan Hussin and Capt Eugene Choo Jin Leong, Paul Goes and his wife, Subashni Jretnam and their infant child Kaelamayajay Goes, husband Fan Shun Po and wife Loh Yan Hwa, Subashni Jretnam, Muhd Firdaus Abdul Rahim and MAS steward Sanjid Singh Sandhu.
Their remains were brought back by commercial flight MH19 from Amsterdam which carried five coffins and four urns.
This is the third batch of remains that have made their way home, with the first 20 remains arriving on Aug 22 and another three two days later.
Of the total 43 Malaysians perished in the downing of MH17 over Ukraine on July 17, 32 Malaysian victims’ remains have been identified so far.
T K Letchumy Tamboo
Sun Sep 07 2014
The trust that the armed rebels in eastern Ukraine had on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is the reason behind the success of the transfer MH17 victims' bodies.
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