Asean govts' secrecy 'to blame'
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Experts say regional countries' propensity to not reveal data big obstacle in hunt for missing flight
As far as airspace security is concerned, sharing or not sharing information is always a problem for Asean countries.
Thailand just sent radar information captured by its airforce 10 days after the Malaysian aircraft went missing.
Days ago, Indonesia denied an allegation of withholding information pertaining to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. In a strongly worded statement, the Indonesian embassy hit out at a Malay daily in Malaysia for claiming that it had not released radar data that MH370 that had allegedly flown through its air space.
“Indonesia has expressed its protest against the daily for implicating it to an article titled ‘MH370 Hidden in the United States Base in Diego Garcia?’ published on March 17. The article referred to speculation in Cabal Times that implicated Indonesia in a global secret movement or western coalition that had a particular agenda,” the embassy said in a statement.
The case reflected the fact that countries in Southeast Asia might be reluctant to share information of their respective airspace.
Although the information could provide more clues regarding the missing jet, it may also reveal the countries’ air defence intelligence, security and aviation experts said.
This has led to inertia among partners to help solve the mystery of flight MH370.
Dismissing the speculation as baseless, the embassy said it was concocted to create confusion.
“You can show what you have got, but at the same time, you don’t want to show what you don’t have and expose your weakness,” said researcher Ian Storey of Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
“There is still a lot of distrust, sensitivities in sovereignty issues in this region ... many are very reluctant to exchange and share intelligence data unless it is between two parties that have a level of trust.”
Unlike the US, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, countries in the region do not have a pact to share their signals intelligence, including satellite and radar data.
Despite militaries’ push to promote multilateral efforts to train and work together, “habits of secrecy kick in”, Storey said.
A former Singaporean military radar specialist, who declined to be named, said: “Based on how much and how far your radar can see, potential foes can gauge how prepared you are and act accordingly.”
Malaysian PM Najib Razak stressed last week that Malaysia overrode national security concerns to share military radar data with foreign experts, in a bid to deflect criticisms that it was hiding information.
But the move also exposed shortcomings in Malaysia’s management of its radars – it failed to react to the radar blips that were MH370, said the radar specialist.
Likewise, India’s radars covering the Andaman and Nicobar islands reportedly failed to pick up the flight.
The episode has shown that “someone dropped the ball and left a big hole in national security in the region”, said aviation expert Chris Yates. “It is just data and information on a particular aircraft, at a particular time and on a particular day,” he said. “There shouldn’t be difficulty in checking radar tapes... it comes down to the fundamental level of trust.”
