Rabu, 2 April 2014

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

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The Malaysian Insider :: Food

Pure joy in a Royce’ ganache cube

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 11:57 PM PDT

BY TAN WAN-PENG
April 02, 2014

The Royce' outlet at the Gardens Mall is the top-performing shop among its seven Klang Valley outlets. – The Malaysian Insider pic, April 2, 2014.If you were to ask someone from a chocolate-making nation – say Belgium or Switzerland – what makes the chocolates from his country special, you'll often get an answer along the lines of "It's in the milk". Or it's in the spring water. Or cocoa butter. Or sugar granules or alchemy.

Chocolate-making, like winemaking, is all about technique. The process is similar in that a chocolate-maker needs to able to select, blend, combine and taste the beans, sugar and fats to end up with a perfect piece of chocolate.

Maiko Yamazaki has a dream job – tasting chocolates daily. – The Malaysian Insider pic, April 2, 2014.Royce' is a chocolate-maker from Sapporo, Hokkaido. In a business dominated by Europeans and Americans, this Japanese chocolate-maker has acquired a fan base for its signature product – nama ("fresh" or "pure") chocolates.

What distinguishes nama is that it is a small truffle-like square, boasting a moisture content of 17% and the secret to its velvety smooth texture lies in the fresh cream sourced only from Hokkaido.

The family running Royce' are the Yamazakis. Maiko is the daughter of its founder, Yasuhiro. She joined the family business in 2008 and recalls her father's obsession with invention that led to the creation of the nama chocolates.

Yasuhiro had been experimenting – some time in 1999 – with some ganache when he hit on the idea of upping the cream content. Then, liquor was added to the cream and chocolate mixture, which adds a certain piquancy to the chocolates or what Royce' prefers to call "ganache cubes".

The ganache cubes are so fragile that the best way to eat them is with a spatula – so that not a cube comes into contact with your fingers and any body heat that would alter its temperature and ruin the experience of eating such a delicate confectionary.

Understandably, the ganache cubes, which Royce' swears will "melt in your mouth", have garnered so many fans far and wide that Royce' opened an outlet in New York in January 2013.

All Royce' chocolates are made in the Tobetsu-cho factory, using fresh cream from farms near the factory in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost region.

The Royce' nama maccha's flavour is subtle and non-cloying. – Pic courtesy of Royce', April 2, 2014.With so much fresh ingredients in a cube of nama chocolate and the cost of refrigeration during export, wouldn't it be easier to make the chocolates in situ.

"We tried to use American fresh cream in New York but it just didn't work," says Maiko.

The emphasis on freshness and quality gives Royce's chocolates a certain refinement that also reflects its founder's ethos.

"My father's dream is to make a 100% Japanese chocolate," says Maiko.

To that end, Rocye' is experimenting with growing cocoa plants in greenhouses on Okinawa island, the southernmost island with balmy tropical weather.

This is the sort of perfectionism that distinguishes Royce' from its European competitors and the sales figures are impressive.

All nama ganache cubes are made from fresh cream from Hokkaido. – Pic courtesy of Royce', April 2, 2014.Almost 50% of sales in Malaysia from seven retail outlets in the Klang Valley and the online store –the only e-store outside Japan – is derived from nama chocolates.

At a chocolate-tasting session, I liked the nama maccha (green tea) best for its subtle and non-cloying flavour. This is made from white chocolates and is so sublime, I could probably eat a box at one seating.

Fans of nama also look forward to the seasonal flavours produced throughout the year. Banana, Grand Marnier, strawberry, orange and mango, pear and rum are just some of the options available this year. – April 2, 2014.

For details, visit www.royce.com.my.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Five problems a transfer ban causes Barcelona

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 09:12 AM PDT

April 03, 2014

Spanish giants Barcelona were hit by a one-year transfer ban from football's governing body FIFA on Wednesday for "serious" breaches of rules in acquiring under-age players.

Here, AFP sports looks at what problems the Catalans could face should the sanction be upheld.

Can't replace Valdes or Puyol

This summer's transfer window was set to the be the most important in Barca's recent history as captain Carles Puyol and veteran goalkeeper Victor Valdes have indicated their intention to leave the club in June.

Twenty-one-year-old German international keeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen was on the verge of completing his move from Borussia Monchengladbach to replace Valdes with another three signings planned to boost the depth of the squad ahead of next season.

Barca are already short of options at centre-back and the inability to find a successor to Puyol will put enormous pressure on the club's vaunted La Masia academy.

Another blow to the club's battered reputation

Just a few years ago Barcelona enjoyed worldwide acclaim for their "more than a club" motto as they had UNICEF rather than a commercial sponsor on their shirts and produced one of the best teams the world has ever seen under Pep Guardiola, largely with players from La Masia.

However, Guardiola's departure has coincided with a commercial sponsorship agreement with Qatar Airways and the controversial signing of Brazilian star Neymar which led to Sandro Rosell resigning as the club's president and Barca being charged with tax fraud.

Camp Nou referendum up in the air

The news comes at the worst possible time for Barca's embattled board, led by new president Josep Maria Bartomeu as their proposal for a 600 million euro (RM2.7 billion) refurbishment of the Camp Nou will go to a vote of the club's members on Saturday.

It was expected that the referendum could allow the Barca support to voice their displeasure at the board who refused to call new presidential elections despite Rosell's resignation in January.

Huge distraction at most important time of the season

FIFA's bombshell fell barely 12 hours after Barca had drawn at home to Atletico Madrid in the first-leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday.

Gerardo Martino's men also trail leaders Atletico by a point with seven games to go in La Liga and face Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final on April 16.

The players and coaching staff must once again block out negative news off the field to concentrate on their fight for titles on three fronts.

- Could rob La Masia of future talent

Whilst the majority of those who graduate from Barca's academy come from the local Catalan region, Barca have never been adverse to acquiring talent from outwith Spain at a very young age.

Most famously of all, four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi left his native Argentine to join Barca aged 13.

FIFA's clampdown may scare off Barca's future attempts to discover a new Messi. – AFP, April 2, 2014.

Berlusconi family could sell 30% stake in AC Milan

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 08:59 AM PDT

April 02, 2014

The family of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi is considering selling a stake of up to 30% in AC Milan, bringing in new investors to help try to restore the club to the top of the European game.

The club's co-chief executive Barbara Berlusconi, a daughter of the media magnate, told a news conference on Wednesday Milan was seeking partners and she would travel to the Middle East and later to the United States as part of the process.

Barbara Berlusconi said the family remained committed to AC Milan, seven times European champions, but new minority investors could help the club to fund the building of its own stadium to boost revenue.

"We are looking at various solutions for the stadium which would allow us to make a leap forward and compete with the strongest clubs in Europe," she said.

Milan currently share the Giuseppe Meazza stadium with local rivals Inter. The stadium, known as the San Siro, is owned by the local authorities and that limits how much both teams can earn from the venue.

AC Milan was ranked 10th in the 2012-13 soccer Money League compiled by Deloitte, with revenue of 264 million euros (RM1.2 billion).

Rivals Juventus, the Italian champions, have prospered on and off the pitch after moving into a new stadium.

Rumours have been circulating for some time that the Berlusconis were seeking to attract new investors to help revive a team that is struggling in mid-table in Serie A.

Italian soccer has been hit hard by hooliganism and match-fixing scandals and has not seen the kind of heavy foreign investment that clubs in England and France have enjoyed.

However, there are signs that could be changing.

Indonesian business tycoon Erick Thohir and partners bought a majority stake in Inter Milan last November in a deal that reportedly valued the club at about 350 million euros (RM1.5 billion). Fellow Italian club AS Roma is controlled by an American investment group.

After buying AC Milan, Berlusconi quickly turned them into the top team in Italy and Europe, winning Serie A in 1988 and the European Cup, the forerunner to the Champions League, in the following two seasons.

Milan's success helped Berlusconi build his profile and launch into politics in the 1990s with a party with the soccer-inspired name 'Forza Italia' (Go Italy).

Milan have not won Serie A since 2011 and have seen some of their best players depart in recent seasons, showing how the balance of financial power in European soccer has swung away from Italy. – Reuters, April 2, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

Young male smokers may raise obesity risk in their future sons

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 07:28 AM PDT

April 02, 2014

A study has shown that males who started smoking at the age of 11 risk having overweight sons. - FilepicMen who start smoking before the age of 11 risk having sons who are overweight, British researchers have found, adding to evidence that lifestyle factors even in childhood can affect the health of future offspring.

The scientists said the findings, part of ongoing work in a larger "Children of the 90s" study, could indicate that exposure to tobacco smoke before the start of puberty in men may lead to metabolic changes in the next generation.

"This discovery of transgenerational effects has big implications for research into the current rise in obesity and the evaluation of preventative measures," said Marcus Pembrey, a professor of genetics at University College London, who led the study and presented its findings at a briefing today.

Smoking rates in Britain and some other parts of Europe are on the decline, but worldwide, almost one billion men smoke – about 35% of men in developed countries and 50 percent in developing ones, according to the World Health Organisation.

While previous studies in animals and in people have found some transgenerational health impacts, the evidence so far is limited.

It points, however, to epigenetics – a process where lifestyle and environmental factors can turn certain genes on or off – having an effect on the health of descendants.

Pembrey said his team's research was prompted in part by signals from earlier Swedish studies that linked how plentiful a paternal ancestor's food supply was in mid childhood with future death rates in grandchildren.

For the new study, published in the European Journal of Human Genetics, the researchers had access to detailed lifestyle, genetic and other health data from 9,886 fathers.

Of these, 5,376, or 54%, were smokers at some time and of those, 166, or 3%, said they had started smoking regularly before the age of 11.

Looking at the next generation, the team found that at age 13, 15 and 17, the sons of men who started smoking before 11 had the highest Body Mass Index (BMI) scores compared with the sons of men who had started smoking later or who had never smoked.

"These boys had markedly higher levels of fat mass – ranging from an extra 5kg to 10kg between ages 13 and 17," the study said.

Although it was there, the effect was not seen to the same degree in daughters.

External experts not involved with the research were more guarded about drawing firm conclusions from its findings.

Graham Burdge, an expert in human nutrition at the University of Southampton said the findings "may potentially provide new insights into factors that may influence development of obesity in childhood".

"However, the findings only show associations and cannot be interpreted as indicating that paternal smoking at an early age causes obesity in their sons," he added.

Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London, said the findings were intriguing and rare.

"The data are persuasive but not yet definitive as we need to confirm the same smoking related epigenetics changes in the kids' DNA," he said. – Reuters, April 2, 2014.

Living with the killer next door, Rwandans grapple with reconciliation

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 09:36 PM PDT

April 02, 2014

On April 7, 2014 Rwanda will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the start of the genocidal slaughter. More than 800,000 people died over 100 days in the 1994 genocide. – AFP graphic, April 2, 2014.The scene outside Frederic Kazigwemo's home is a typical rural Rwandan scene – a cow chews under a rickety shelter, cassava dries in the sun, women weave baskets and children play.

But in Rwanda, where 20 years ago genocide claimed over 800,000 lives, the difference is that Kazigwemo murdered his neighbours – relatives of his wife's weaving partner and next-door neighbour in a "reconciliation village", where free housing comes at the price of forgiveness.

"It was hard living here at the beginning, as this woman's husband helped to kill my family," says Cecile Mukagasana, as she sits on a porch tying colourful string around grass to make coiled baskets for curious tourists.

Before 1994, different groups in Rwanda lived relatively peacefully together for much of the time and intermarriages were not uncommon.

But then "the government was teaching the Hutu that the Tutsis were colonising them again, so we must kill them and take their property," Kazigwemo said.

"They gave us guns and trained us to go and kill," he added, although his mob "used machetes and spears" to slaughter seven people.

"We didn't feel guilty. We were proud of it as the government was wanting us to do this, so we did it again."

In the second attack, Kazigwemo's gang – among them "people who were sharp at killing" – hacked two of Cecile's relatives to death.

Kazigwemo is one of around two million people tried over 10 years by the traditional "gacaca" court system, set up in the wake of the genocide as traditional courts were overloaded.

He had his sentence reduced after admitting to the killings and apologising for them.

"Before I apologised I didn't have peace in my heart, sometimes when I was standing somewhere, I would see the faces of those I killed in my eyes," he said. "Now I don't see them anymore."

Bitter pill

But Dieudonne Gahizi-Ganza, the founder of Best Hope Rwanda that offers counselling to victims of rape, their children, and those of the killers, says that the gacaca trials aren't enough.

"Gacaca did a lot to bring about justice and also handle the cases of perpetrators, but we also need reconciliation," he said.

"After the genocide, we had more than 300,000 orphans and 500,000 widows," says Jean-Baptiste Habyarimana, Executive Secretary of the government's Peace and Reconciliation Commission.

"To recover, for them, it is not so easy", he said.

For Vestine Mukandahiro, who lives in one of the many mud-baked lanes lined by banana trees on the outskirts of Kigali, reconciling with a daughter born of rape took years.

Aged 13, Vestine decided that she couldn't kill herself or the baby, but "after she was born, I thought I couldn't be with my own daughter as I'd look at her face and she'd remind me of the rape," she said.

Vestine fled the family home as attackers hacked her entire family minus her two- and four-year old youngest siblings to death, only to stumble across her rapist in a field.

She said people treated her "like a prostitute" bringing "the child of a curse" into the community.

Reconciliation programmes focusing on grassroots and group counselling have lifted such widespread or overt stigma, but the double-edged sword of speaking out is that those born years after the genocide have been forced to relive it.

"Trauma cases – it's something that can be transmitted from one generation to the next", said Gahizi-Ganza.

A country still in mourning

As the country prepares to mark 20 years since the start of the 100-day massacre on April 7, a cloud of fear and sadness still hangs over Rwanda, and a certain stoicism prevails at all times.

Questions of ethnicity are no longer allowed or included on identity cards.

The horrors of 1994 can now only be referred to as The Genocide Against The Tutsi – a term that ignores the massacre of moderate Hutus and obscures a far from bloodless advance to power by rebel forces led by Rwanda's now President Paul Kagame.

"We don't talk about ethnicity. We only talk about our past," said 19-year old Yvette.

The only leisure activities Yvette can list are after-school clubs warning against AIDS and drugs and the "Never Again Club", where she and her peers dissect the genocide.

Yvette wants to grow up to be a role model in the community, to show that she can be useful and to avoid more friction.

"With my generation, we must make a big effort to make sure that what happened never happens again," she said. – AFP, April 2, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Books

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The Malaysian Insider :: Books

‘Bald New World’ writer talks Murakami comparisons

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 09:07 PM PDT

April 02, 2014

Peter Tieryas Liu's upcoming novel "Bald New World" takes in China and America in its globe-trotting dystopian story of world-changing hair loss, but he won't count Haruki Murakami among his influences.

His well-received 2012 short story collection "Watering Heaven" won him plentiful comparisons to Murakami, but the Asian American author told Hyphen Magazine that he has "actually never read" the famous Japanese writer.

"I never read him," he explained, "but after 'Watering Heaven' came out, people were always mentioning him, so then I just actually avoided him."

Nonetheless, "Watering Heaven" led to Liu's entry on the 2013 Frank O'Connor Short Story Award long list, a prize that Murakami won back in 2006 with "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman."

Already tipped for further success in 2014 as one of Buzzfeed's 15 Highly Anticipated Books From (Mostly) Small Presses, and highlighted by Kollaboration in March as one of three Asian American authors on the rise, Liu's debut novel "Bald New World" deals with a global epidemic of follicular proportions.

Cash-strapped American filmmaker Nick Guan stars with friend and movie making crony Larry Chao, whose family runs a prosperous wig factory in China.

But when Baldification hits the planet, the pair find themselves caught up in an sci-fi tinged international conspiracy, turning their penchant for adventure into a series of daring discoveries.

So if Murakami's not feeding into this writer's psyche, what does feature in Liu's melting pot of literary influences, aside from the title's obvious Huxley reference?

"This is going to sound weird, but the Bible," Liu said. "I like that when you go back in the Bible, all those characters are so flawed. It's kind of like, that's what appeals to people and these are religious figures, holy figures, and regardless of what you believe, the accounting of their lives is really touching."

Beat poets, philosophers and giants of Chinese literature feature, too.

"I'm also influenced by John Steinbeck's 'East of Eden' and Melville's 'Moby Dick,' and Nietzsche, of course. That's on the western side."

"On the Chinese or Asian side, there's 'Dream of the Red watering heaven

Chamber' by Hong Lou Meng and Pu Songling – he's often considered to be like a Chinese Kafka. With 'Bald New World,' I went back to the epics because I wanted to do a big book."

Bald New World is available from May 30 as an e-book and in print from Perfect Edge Books. – AFP/Relaxnews, April 2, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

Yang ‘ghaib’ MH370, yang ‘hilang’ maruah negara

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 05:54 PM PDT

April 02, 2014

Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad is a member of the PAS central working committee and ex-MP of Kuala Selangor.

Sesungguhnya rakyat Malaysia sangat prihatin dan bersimpati dengan tragedi yang menimpa juruterbang, pembantunya, krew serta seluruh 227 penumpang pesawat malang MH370, empati kita juga dirakamkan kepada seluruh keluarga yang terpisah dari orang tersayang.

Segala usaha baik pihak berkuasa bagi mengurang tekanan jiwa dan derita kepada keluarga penumpang adalah sangat-sangat dihargai.

Penggemblengan seluruh tenaga dalam pencarian jet Boeing 777-200ER ini menyatukan dunia seluruhnya sekaligus mengizinkan mereka mempamerkan "state-of-the-art" teknologi satelit dan memperagakan kecanggihan aset-aset ketenteraan masing-masing.

Di antara 20 pesawat dan kapal tercanggih di dunia dari China, Australia, New Zealand, Korea Selatan dan Jepun yang berada di perairan 2,000km barat Perth, dua pesawat Navy P-8 Poseidon milik Amerika Syarikat juga turut dimobilisasi di perairan Lautan Hindi itu.

Berharga AS$220 juta satu pesawat yang lengkap dengan kamera serta sensor infra-red dan radar yang mampu mengesan kapal selam musuh di dasar lautan, kesemua menemui kegagalan.

Sememangnya kita tidak mahu mana-mana media barat seperti CNN atau Fox News dan mana-mana negara khasnya Amerika Syarikat mengambil kesempatan memburukkan nama baik serta imej negara.

Pembikin enjin pesawat MH370 yakni Boeing dan Rolls-Royce tidak boleh berlepas tangan begitu sahaja.

Sementara rakyat dituntut untuk peka dan beri sokongan kepada pihak yang mengendali krisis ini, rakyat berdepan dengan kenyataan dan tahu akan hakikat sebenar pengendalian krisis ini sejak dari awalnya.

Apakah mereka punya alasan dan sebab yang kukuh untuk mempertahankan pihak kerajaan yang mengendalikan krisis ini, apabila diserang oleh media barat?

Wajarkah "warga netizen-media social" khasnya dan rakyat umumnya, dipersalahkan andainya mereka sendiri malu serta tidak berasa terpanggil untuk mempertahankan pengendalian penuh kontroversi dan keharuan yang ditunjukkan parti pemerintah?

Mampukah mereka mengatakan sebaliknya dari apa yang didakwa tidak kompeten, lemah, culas dan tidak bertanggungjawab dalam mengendalikan krisis sejak MH370 "ghaib" dari radar pada 8 hb Mac lalu.

Rakyat yang patriotik pastinya tidak mahu wibawa, maruah dan nama baik negara dicemari dan dicalarkan oleh sesiapa pun dari pihak luar.

Pada waktu yang sama, rakyat sekarang celek dan bijak membezakan antara parti yang memerintah kerajaan di Malaysia ini dengan kerajaan serta negara Malaysia itu sendiri.

Pada awal-awal lagi timbul pertikaian akibat dari percanggahan jurubicara "task force" yakni pihak DCA, MAS dan Ketua Polis Negara.

Episod tentang samada kedudukan empat atau lima penumpang yang kononnya "check in" tetapi tidak menaikki pesawat atau mereka membeli tiket tetapi tidak "check in" serta pertikaian samada bagasi mereka yang check in dipunggah semula, memalukan dan sepatutnya segera menjadi "wake-up call".

Antara paling mengejutkan serta mengecewakan rakyat adalah pendedahan yang dibuat di Parlimen oleh Timbalan Menteri Pertahanan pada Rabu lalu (27 Mac) bahawa pihak Tentera Udara Di Raja Malaysia (TUDM) mencerap MH370 dalam radarnya pada pagi 8 Mac.

Tindakan untuk tidak mengintersepsi pesawat itu adalah kerana TUDM "menyangka-mengandaikan" bahawa pesawat tersebut adalah "bukan musuh" (non-hostile) dan "diarah berpatah balik" oleh pihak Pengawas Trafik Udara (ATC).

Persoalan penting yang berlegar difikiran rakyat ialah "Apakah perkara itu dirujuk dan disemak dengan pihak ATC?'"

Persoalan kedua ialah "Bagaimanakah pihak TUDM mengandaikan pesawat MH370 diarah balik oleh ATC?"

Ketiga, "Apakah standard operating procedure (SOP) yang digunakan TUDM masih kekal yang lama dan tidak diperbaharui selepas kes 9-11 apabila pesawat komersial juga boleh bertukar menjadi 'senjata' dan bertindak sebagai 'senjata musuh'?"

Timbalan Menteri juga memberitahu Parlimen bahawa radar TUDM mengesani bahawa pesawat MH370 mengarah ke Selat Melaka dan ke arah Lautan Andaman dan memberitahu pihak task force keesokan harinya. Mengapa begitu lama "reaction time" itu?

Seolah-olah itu tidak cukup untuk melukakan maruah negara, belum sempat penafian Panglima TUDM pada 12 Mac, Jeneral Tan Sri Rodzali Daud difahami bahawa beliau bukannya sumber petikan Berita Harian itu disanggah oleh Tengku Shariffudin Tengku Ahmad, jurucakap dari Jabatan Perdana Menteri.

Tengku Shariffudin yang memberitahu New York Times bahawa pesawat MH370 tidak mengarah ke Selat Melaka dan kenyataan Rodzali adalah "tidak benar". Mengapa perlu semua kenyataan-kenyataan ini yang mengharukan lagi suasana?

Isu pembolosan serta keselamatan ruang udara, isu lambat memberitahu sehingga masa dan sumber terluang dengan pencarian dibuat di Laut China Selatan, isu SOP lama yang tidak dikemaskini sehinggakan prosedur "scrambling" untuk pintas seperti lazim dilakukan 24-7, kesemuanya "beban" buat rakyat dalam media sosial.

Tidak langsung menunjukkan kewajaran adalah kenyataan yang dibuat Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi di Parlimen Rabu lalu (23 Mac) tentang dua penumpang bangsa Iran yang menggunakan paspot palsu. Alasan beliau tidak menghubungi database Interpol untuk mengelakkan kelewatan penerbangan.

Sangat mencalar wibawa pentadbiran apabila pihak Interpol membidas kembali sikap ini dengan menjawab bahawa ia hanya memerlukan 0.2 saat untuk membuat semakan dan pengesahan "senarai hitam" Interpol.

Kita juga diberitahu bahawa sementara beberapa negara yang buat semakan berjuta kali setahun, Malaysia dalam tahun 2014 tidak pernah membuat semakan walaupun sekali!

Teknologi dan perhitungan canggih pihak operator satelit Inmarsat dan AAIB dari United Kingdom memberikan maklumat akan analisis keberadaan terakhir (last position) MH370 serentak mengizinkan Perdana Menteri membuat pengumuman pada malam 24 Mac bahawa MH370 berakhir di Selatan Lautan Hindi.

Paling mengejutkkan rakyat adalah pernyataan semalam apabila pemangku Menteri Pengangkutan Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein menafikan PM membuat kenyataan MH370 terhempas di Lautan Hindi tersebut.

Mengapa media perdana (yang melapurkan MH 370 terhempas) tidak ditegur serta merta. Sudah hampir seminggu. Dakwa beliau adalah sangat berkesalahan (totally erroneous) untuk media menyatakan bahawa PM membuat kenyataan MH370 terhempas dalam lautan itu (walaupun tidak ada tempat mendarat yang berdekatan).

Seolah-olah semua ini tidak cukup untuk meletakkan rakyat dalam keharuan, pagi ini di dada akhbar tempatan dan media portal dunia, menayangkan bahawa "kalimat terakhir Kapten Zahari" dari kokpitnya adalah sebenarnya "Good night, Malaysian three seven zero" dan bukan "All right, good night".

Yang itu pun kita gagal melaporkan secara verbatim… Aduhai tanah airku Malaysia!

Walaupun satelit Perancis mencerap "122 objek terapung" dan 300 oleh Thailand, kesemuanya berakhir dengan natijah yang menghampakan. Dengan two pesawat P-8 Poseidon tercanggih di dunia milik Amerika Syarikat pun, tidak ketemui apa serpihan pesawat MH370 sekelumit pun sehingga kini.

Justeru teori rampasan-hijack atau sabotaj pihak "teroris" kembali mendominasi pemikiran para pundit. Tarikh untuk mendapatkan "kotak hitam" juga semakin luput.

Tidak ada kepastian yang dapat disimpulkan sehingga kini. Hanya satu sahaja yang pasti tampaknya.

MH370 "ghaib" buat masakini, tetapi yang pasti kehilangan ialah kredibiliti dan maruah Negara yang kita cintai ini… Malaysia.

Yang pastinya juga terlalu banyak urusan yang mesti segera dikoreksi walau apapun kesudahan yang ditakdirkan Ilahi akan MH370 ini. Sekali lagi, banyak SOP perlu kemaskini secara lebih serius. SOP dalam pengurusan krisis avionik moden yang kita tandatangani yakni "Chicago Convention", perlu segera diziarah kembali.

Sementara itu, warga negara ini akan terus berdoa dan bermunajaat kepada Allah, Tuhan Pemilik Seluruh Alam ini! – April 2, 2014.

* Ini adalah pendapat peribadi penulis dan tidak semestinya mewakili pandangan The Malaysian Insider.