MH370 Political Turmoil Erupts: 20,0000 Malaysians Protest CoverUp

Approximately 20,000 Malaysians demonstrated Thursday in the capital city to protest the MH370 crisis management, a new tax and prosecution of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Protesters fired criticisms of the government under global scrutiny over its still-unexplained loss of the Malaysia Airlines jet.

“Besides the rise in living costs, we are here to voice our frustration over the search for MH370,” said Amani Nasir, 26, a medical student who joined the protest in central Kuala Lumpur. “There is a lack of transparency and very little information is provided. We want to know the cost involved in the search so far, since it is taxpayers’ money.”

The Malaysia Airlines System (MAS) Boeing 777 was disappeared on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Officials claim it crashed in the Indian Ocean, but have based that claim on evidence said to be deliberately misleading. A costly Australian-led search effort has failed to find any wreckage, while officials are dismissing independent experts’ findings of wreckage, as they have eyewitness reports.

“The government has been tight-lipped about its investigation into what happened, adding to the anger and frustration of relatives of the 239 people aboard the plane,” reports Channel News Asia.

With the government due Thursday to release a preliminary report on its investigation into the plane’s disappearance, its report is likely to be as poorly received as its previous statements.

Ralliers Decry Corruption and Opposition Party Persecution, 

Rally participants denounced a court ruling in March that convicted Anwar of sodomy, despite evidence he was poisoned at the time with arsenic, He was sentenced to five years in jail,

Anwar’s attorney was recently killed in a suspicious vehicle accident and other opposition party leaders have been targeted.

Anwar calls the ruling a government attempt to end his political career. He is free pending appeal, but top supporters have suggested that he flee the country while he can.

Opposition politicians at the rally denounced the case and called on demonstrators to rise up if Anwar is jailed.

“I want to tell the PM, don’t you dare touch Anwar. The people will not allow Anwar to be jailed for even one second,” top opposition politician Azmin Ali told the crowd.

Civil society groups have staged large-scale rallies in Kuala Lumpur in recent years, venting growing public discontent with the government dominated by Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) accused of corruption and human rights abuses.