By Lim Kit Siang, MP for Gelang Patah
MH 17 crash site (pic from Reuters)
The Prime Minister, Najib Razak, is to be commended for the breakthrough with the handover of the two black boxes of Malaysian Airlines flight MH 17 which was shot down in Ukraine on Thursday night and the transportation of the remains of most of the 298 victims from Torez in rebel-controlled Eastern Ukraine to Ukraine-controlled Kharkiv and onwards to Amsterdam.
For four days, the international outrage over the heinous and senseless crime against humanity in the shooting down of a civilian airliner with 298 passengers and crew on board, including 80 children, had been further incensed and aggravated by the gruesome and insensitive disrespect shown to the remains of the MH 17 victims as well as the looting and contamination of the crash site.
But it is still to be seen whether international calls for full, independent and credible international investigation into the criminal downing of MH 17, as well as the United Nations Security Council unanimous resolution last night demanding investigators to be given immediate access to the crash site and calling for a ceasefire in the area, will be heeded by all the three parties to the Ukraine conflict – the Russian-backed separatists, Russia and the Ukraine government.
All Malaysians and the world community as the victims of the MH 17 air disaster come from some 10 countries are entitled to know as to who shot down the MH 17 civilian airline!
But Malaysians and the world must be prepared for a long haul for the horrendous and horrific MH 17 disaster, as experts have warned that the probe into the air tragedy in Ukraine could be a long drawn-out affair which may take up to three years.
Be that it as it may, Malaysians must remain united as one people on the MH 17 disaster continuing to give full backing to the Prime Minister, Najib Razak and the government to demand “swift justice” against the perpetrators of the crime against humanity who blew the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 jetliner out of the Ukranian skies and murdered the 298 passengers and crew on board in cold blood on July 17, 2014.
