I was still half asleep Thursday morning when I heard that a Malaysian Airlines plane was shot down by a surface to air missile in Eastern Ukraine, killing all passengers on board.
Thinking it was related to an earlier disaster by Malaysian Airlines’ Flight 370 which disappeared without a trace in March this year, I said, “What a dreadful closure to the mishap.”
It took only a few seconds for me to find out that MH 370 still remains a mystery and the latest disaster that befell on Malaysian Airlines involved MH 17, shot to smithereens a few hours after departing from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.
Malaysia’s back-to-back loss has the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak grappling with the tragic loss of human lives, foreign policy issues and the fate of the flagship airline.
Major airline disasters have a way of rousing us to look beyond our narrow spheres and that is what happened last week. People around the world from walks of life commiserated with the families of those who perished in the tragedy. The grieving countries apart from Malaysia are the Netherlands, Australia, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Canada and the Philippines.
The Filipino-Indonesian Gunawan family of four was en route to Manila via Kuala Lumpur. Irene Pabellon-Gunawan who hails from Pagbilao, Quezon was traveling with her Indonesian husband Budjanto and their two children. They all looked forward to a reunion with relatives.
Of the 298 who perished, 80 were children and infants, according to the United Nations.
We share the misery of grieving countries but it should not stop there. People around the world should demand a thorough investigation, speedy justice and most of all, a resolution to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, the cause of the senseless bloodbath.
As we know, even before a formal investigation can be opened, the US and Australia accused Russia for providing missile system to rebels in Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine. The rebellion against Ukraine is said to be led by a Russian intelligence agent named Igor Girkin who hides under the nom de guerre Igor Strelkov.
Reports say that a few days before MH 17 was downed, the separatists crowed in social networking sites about shooting down a Ukrainian military plane AN-26 using Russian-made Grad rockets.
Some 100 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the past months and pro-Russia separatists delight in spreading this type of information to boost their position in the combat zone.
What happened to MH17 is believed to be one of mistaken identity. But even assuming that pro-Russia rebels wrongly shot down the Malaysian jetliner, it does not take away the blame from them and their sponsors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea in February this year is said to fan his popularity in Russia even if the national economy is not in good shape. Crimea has vast natural oil fields both on shore and offshore, all connected to Ukraine’s pipeline system. Russia’s natural gas boosts its economic might in Europe which relies on Russian natural resource.
Russia is the Netherlands’ third largest economic partner and it is the reason Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte did not use harsh language against Russia unlike the United States and Australia.
The MH17 tragedy has merely encouraged the United States to stand firm in its expanded sanctions against Russia. Meanwhile, European countries have set up a meeting to discuss possible sanctions against the Eastern European petroleum power but it remains to be seen if they have the political will to do so.
Some observers are saying the MH 17 tragedy could become the Archduke Franz Ferdinand case of the 21st century.
Franz Ferdinand was the Archduke of Austria and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia. From 1889 until his death in 1914, he was the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne.
In June 1914 or more than 100 years ago, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo by a secret military society known as Black Hand. The chain of events after his death led the then so-called Central powers (Germany, Austro-Hungary) to declare war against Serbia and its allies and precipitated the First World War.