MH370: Local media report unite Malaysians - Shabery

Local media reports, including the Chinese press, on the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 have succeeded in uniting the Malaysian people.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said he was satisfied with the coverage made since the incident occurred on March 8 although much more had to be understood especially from the technical aspects.

"I find that the media, whether the Malay or Chinese press, have brought a form of solidarity among the Malaysian people.

"We are united, together we pray for and support the efforts to find the missing aircraft," he told reporters after attending a meeting with senior editors of local Chinese-language media, Saturday.

Ahmad Shabery said the meeting was to discuss and seek guidance on a more effective dissemination of information to interact with the Chinese media at the international level.

"I am asking their guidance, especially from the Chinese media because they have a better understanding in terms of what is going on in China and so on.

"They give us certain guidance. I appreciate it very much and I will seek their help again," he said.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Shabery reminded Malaysians not to spread uncorroborated information or speculations on the disappearance of flight MH370.

The approximately two-hour meeting was attended by about 15 senior Chinese media editors, including from the newspapers Sin Chew Daily, Nanyang, Oriental Daily, MY FM and Ai FM.

Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, left the KL International Airport at 12.41am on March 8 and disappeared from radar screens about an hour later while over the South China Sea. It was to have landed in Beijing at 6.30am on the same day.

Following an unprecedented type of analysis of satellite data, United Kingdom satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) concluded that Flight MH370 flew along the southern corridor and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak then announced on March 24, seventeen days after the disappearance of Flight MH370 that it "ended in the southern Indian Ocean".