It’s been a month. A month of grief, speculation, hope, trepidation and most of all, waiting. A month since the first announcement that a Malaysian Airlines flight, the now infamous MH370, disappeared on a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

As bizarre events surrounding the missing flight captured the world’s attention, the country of Malaysia and its government’s handling of the investigation have become a focal point for global discussion, with numerous opinion articles speculating different versions of events that befell the unfortunate passengers or commenting on the attitude of the Malaysian government towards the investigation and towards the families of the 239 people aboard the flight when it went missing.

In fact, these families have been at the forefront of criticising the investigation. Understandably, being in limbo is a frustrating experience, as these families are unable to find closure amid the highly publicized events. However, when one looks at the poor way they have been treated during the course of the investigation, one cannot help but feel that their criticism and anger is in some sense justified.

Kept in the dark for most of the first two weeks of the investigation, the families of the missing airline passengers were then given contradicting information regarding the transcripts of the conversations between Captain Zaharie Ahmad and Malaysian flight control, as well as the flight route of the airplane and the area where the search for the plane is being conducted. As time wore on and the Malaysian government remained mute on the subject, tensions escalated, and suspicions began to brew. Things were not helped by the Chinese state-owned news agency Xinhua publishing a scathing commentary which accused Malaysia and the United States of “dereliction of duty” and “reluctance to share information in a full and timely manner”.

The fact of the matter is that everyone is frustrated and more than a little confused as to how a 63-meter plane could vanish into thin air in today’s world where it is possible to track even a single person’s location to within 10 meters. The location of the aircraft, whether it crashed in the Indian Ocean or was hijacked and brought to land in an unknown location, has seemed to elude the combined intelligence and tracing capabilities of Australia, the U.S., China and Britain combined. When confronted with such a reality, it seems almost easier to believe that the authorities are withholding information and that this is all part of a government cover-up.

That being said, I think the demands of the passengers families for an accurate flight plan up to MH370’s last location, alongside explanations as to why the search radius estimates differ by thousands of kilometres and 3D illustrations of the last known position of MH370, are taking it too far. Authorities are focusing all of their efforts on the search for the missing plane right now and have assured the families that they will receive further information as soon as possible, and these demands could actually prove a hindrance to the search operation. With the battery life for the Onboard Flight Recorder, a device that starts sending out pings when it detects that the plane has crashed, of MH370 due to run out in a few days, it is almost understandable that the Malaysian authorities have deflected the requests for information by keeping quiet on the subject.

However, this does not absolve Malaysia from some of the blunders that occurred earlier in the investigation phase. This, I fear, is a symptom of a deeper illness that has pervaded the government of Malaysia, and hopefully, once the missing plane is found, the government will have the guts to convene a commission to inquire into the actions of Defence Minister Hishamuddin Hussein and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak throughout the investigation. It was Hussein who delivered the original press briefing to the passengers families, which later turned out to be in conflict with information provided by a Malaysia Airlines spokesperson. Tun Razak inexplicably decided to preemptively confirm that MH370 had crashed in the Indian Ocean with no survivors, a rather distasteful thing to do, considering the search has not been called off yet.

This illness is a product of Malaysia’s racially-divisive affirmative-action policies, which unfortunately lead to people being promoted into jobs they may not be qualified for in order to fulfil specific racial quotas. It is present throughout most echelons of the Malaysian government. In my opinion, this is one of the reasons this investigation was handled so poorly.

As a Malaysian in a foreign country, I have recently found myself in the spotlight, becoming a sort of spokesperson for the theories on the disappearance of the airline, as well as for the reaction of the government. This has, in equal parts, induced a sense of pride and trepidation in me. Pride, because I no longer have to explain that “Yes, Malaysia is that country above Singapore, and no, it isn’t part of Thailand,” as now everyone, even the bus driver with whom I struck up a conversation in Sri Lanka, knows where my country is. But it has also conjured trepidation because invariably, their second question is going to be, “So what do you think of that missing plane?”

So here’s what I think:

First: Whether the plane crashed as a result of incompetence or was hijacked and is now hidden somewhere, the main objective is still to find it. In order to do this, there needs to be a freer flow of information between countries that are cooperating to search for the missing plane. Of course, certain countries might be worried about revealing specific information as it could disclose their military capabilities or limitations. Hopefully, these worries can be put aside to pursue a greater goal: to find MH370, with survivors or not, and to finally end this bizarre tale and give the families the closure they need.

Second: Malaysia needs to step up its game. We can no longer afford to be the small unnoticed country, and our government can no longer afford to rely on invisibility to cloak its inefficiencies. The world has taken notice, and our incompetency has been laid bare; now it is our choice as to whether we treat this as a base to grow and make our country better or whether we ignore it and go back to our old ways.

Third: Global monitoring of airplanes has to be stepped up. The world was rudely awakened by the events of September 11, 2001, which brought us all to the realization that airplanes can be weapons. With the disappearance of MH370, it is clear that our air traffic control policies need to be reconsidered. Countries need to agree on better sharing of information about planes currently in their airspace and also notification in event of loss of contact.

Airlines are a global industry, and it is really unfair to hold any one country responsible in the event of a disaster or disappearance such as this one. Rather than spending the time pointing fingers at who is to blame, let’s set our priorities right, find the missing plane and then, once the full story is known, figure out where the blame lies. Hopefully, the families of MH370 will find closure soon.

Asyrique Thevendran is the deputy multimedia editor. Email him at opinion@thegazelle.org.