Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

=== Criticism of Malaysian authorities' management of information ===
Public communication from Malaysian officials regarding the loss of Flight 370 was initially beset with confusion.{{efn|Examples: <br />* Malaysia Airlines' chief executive, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, initially said air traffic control was in contact with the aircraft two hours into the flight, when in fact the last contact with air traffic control was less than an hour after takeoff.<ref name="20140314theguardian"/> <br />* Malaysian authorities initially reported that four passengers used stolen passports to board the aircraft before settling on two: one Italian and one Austrian.<ref name="SMH_2014-03-14"/> <br />* Malaysia abruptly widened the search area to the west on 9&nbsp;March, and only later explained that military radar had detected the aircraft turning back.<ref name="SMH_2014-03-14"/> This was later formally denied by Rodzali Daud.<ref name="20140312StraitsTimes"/> <br />* Malaysian authorities visited the homes of pilot Zaharie and co-pilot Fariq on 15&nbsp;March, during which they took away a flight simulator belonging to Zaharie. Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said this was the first police visit to those homes. On 17&nbsp;March, the government contradicted this by saying police first visited the pilots' homes on the day following the flight's disappearance,<ref name="AutoVQ-50"/> although this had been previously denied.<ref name="20140313nbcnews"/> <br />* On 16 March, Malaysia's acting transport minister contradicted the prime minister's account on the timing of the final data and communications received. Najib Razak had said that the ACARS system was switched off at 01:07. On 17&nbsp;March, Malaysian officials said that the system was switched off sometime between 01:07, time of the last ACARS transmission, and 01:37, time of the next expected transmission.<ref name="AutoVQ-51"/><ref name="20140319aviationtoday"/> <br />* Three days after saying that the aircraft was not transporting anything hazardous, Malaysia Airlines' chief executive Ahmad said that potentially dangerous [[Lithium-ion battery|lithium batteries]] were on board.<ref name=20140322minsider/> <br />* MAS chief executive initially claimed that the last voice communication from the aircraft was, "all right, good night", with the lack of a call sign fuelling speculation that the flight may have been hijacked.<ref name="20140317themalaysiantimes"/><ref name="20140317theguardian"/> Three weeks later Malaysian authorities published the transcript that indicated the last words were "Good night Malaysian three seven zero".<ref name="Guardian Transcript" /><ref name="20140401newsaus"/><ref name="AutoVQ-52"/><ref name="BBC_2014-03-31_b"/>}} The Malaysian government and the airline released imprecise, incomplete, and occasionally inaccurate information, with civilian officials sometimes contradicting military leaders.<ref name="20140311nytimes"/> Malaysian officials were criticised for such persistent release of contradictory information, most notably regarding the last location and time of contact with the aircraft.<ref name="AutoVQ-53"/>

Malaysia's acting Transport Minister [[Hishammuddin Hussein]], who was also the country's Defence Minister (until May 2018), denied the existence of problems between the participating countries, but academics explained that because of regional conflicts, there were genuine trust issues involved in co-operation and sharing intelligence, and that these were hampering the search. International relations experts suggested that entrenched rivalries over sovereignty, security, intelligence, and national interests made meaningful multilateral co-operation very difficult.<ref name=20140314afp/><ref name="20140314guardian"/> A Chinese academic made the observation that the parties were searching independently, and it was therefore not a multilateral search effort. ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper noted the Vietnamese permission given for Chinese aircraft to overfly its airspace as a positive sign of co-operation.<ref name=20140314guardian/> Vietnam temporarily scaled back its search operations after the country's Deputy Transport Minister cited a lack of communication from Malaysian officials despite requests for more information.<ref name="AutoVQ-54"/> China, through the official [[Xinhua News Agency]], urged the Malaysian government to take charge and conduct the operation with greater transparency, a point echoed by the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China|Chinese Foreign Ministry]] days later.<ref name=20140314afp/><ref name="AutoVQ-55"/>

Malaysia had initially declined to release raw data from its military radar, deeming the information "too sensitive", but later acceded.<ref name=20140314afp/><ref name=20140314guardian/> Defence experts suggested that giving others access to radar information could be sensitive on a military level, for example: "The rate at which they can take the picture can also reveal how good the radar system is." One suggested that some countries could already have had radar data on the aircraft, but were reluctant to share any information that could potentially reveal their defence capabilities and compromise their own security.<ref name=20140314afp/> Similarly, submarines patrolling the South China Sea might have information in the event of a water impact, and sharing such information could reveal their locations and listening capabilities.<ref name="SOFREP_2014-03-22"/>

Criticism was also levelled at the delay of the search efforts. On 11&nbsp;March 2014, three days after the aircraft disappeared, British satellite company [[Inmarsat]] (or its partner, [[SITA (IT company)|SITA]]) had provided officials with data suggesting that the aircraft was nowhere near the areas in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea being searched at the time, and that it may have diverted its course through a southern or northern corridor. This information was not acknowledged publicly until it was released by the Malaysian Prime Minister in a press conference on 15&nbsp;March.<ref name=Telegraph-delays /><ref name="20140319online"/> Explaining why information about satellite signals had not been made available earlier, Malaysia Airlines stated that the raw satellite signals needed to be verified and analysed "so that their significance could be properly understood" before it could publicly confirm their existence.<ref name="MAS press statements 8–17 March"/> Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin claimed that Malaysian and US investigators had immediately discussed the Inmarsat data upon receipt on 12&nbsp;March, and that they had agreed to send the data to the US for further processing on two separate occasions. Data analysis was completed on 14&nbsp;March, by which time the AAIB had independently arrived at the same conclusion.<ref name="myDCA_20140321"/>

In June 2014, relatives of passengers on Flight 370 began a [[crowdfunding]] campaign on [[Indiegogo]] to raise US$100,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US|value=100000|start_year=2014}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}})<!-- check web archive before campaign ended (shows goal was $100,000). The current page shows "$100,516" is 101% of goal. -->—with an ultimate goal of raising US$5&nbsp;million—as a reward to encourage anyone with knowledge of the location of Flight 370, or the cause of its disappearance, to reveal what they knew.<ref name="Indiegogo campaign"/><ref name="CNN-crowdfunding reward">{{cite news|last1=Molko|first1=David|last2=Yan|first2=Holly|title=MH370 families seek $5&nbsp;million for investigation, reward|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/08/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-families-fund/index.html|access-date=10 April 2015|work=CNN|date=9 June 2014|archive-date=30 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150330075418/http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/08/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-families-fund/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The campaign, which ended on 8&nbsp;August 2014, raised US$100,516 from 1,007 contributors.<ref name="Indiegogo campaign">{{cite web|title=MH370 Is Missing With 239 People on Board, Help The Families Find The Truth|url=https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mh370-is-missing-with-239-people-on-board-help-the-families-find-the-truth|website=Indiegogo|access-date=10 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150410023633/https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mh370-is-missing-with-239-people-on-board-help-the-families-find-the-truth|archive-date=10 April 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>