One year after the mysterious event, still unsolved, the situation for family members has changed, If at the beginning they were able to express their pain and complaints publicly, Now their voices seem to be uncomfortable for the government
Beijing. LoChinese relatives of passengers who boarded the Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared a year ago report that they not only have to deal with the pain of not knowing what happened to their loved ones, but also with the mistreatment of the Chinese authorities.
"At first, It was great. The government did everything they could do to help us., we are very proud to be chinese. But since May there has been a drastic change“, account to Efe Beijing's Jiang Hui, who has been the spokesperson for the relatives of the victims for a few months. 153 Chinese travelers who disappeared on flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, almost two thirds of the total.
One year after the mysterious event, still unsolved, The situation has changed a lot for this group of Chinese families. Yes at the beginning were able to express their pain and complaints publicly in an unusual ways protests in the capital, now their voices seem to ber uncomfortable for the Chinese government.
Photo: EFE
An example of this is the arrests to which some of them have been subjected.. In summer, until 16 Relatives were detained - including two children, four and six years old– when they tried to protest at the Malaysia Airlines office in Beijing. They spent a night at the police station.
“Many were citizens of other provinces, peasants. They wanted to stay one night in the office. “Many had nowhere to go.”, Jiang points out., which, however, does not consider what happened “an arrest” since it has never exceeded twenty-four hours and denies that anyone was beaten, as some of them then denounced.
A human rights NGO that has monitored the situation of the relatives confirms that there have been more cases in recent months. As confirmed to Efe, the police have closely monitored the group, and has carried out further arrests and interrogations cWhen family members have tried to protest publicly.
Photo: EFE
Since the disappearance of the flight 8 March 2014, many toChinese victims moved to Beijing and try to find answers, without being able to return to work due to an eternal question that has drastically changed their lives: ¿What happened to your loved ones??.
“I don't know who to trust anymore.”, recognizes Efe Steve Wang, the young man of 26 years who was for a long time the public voice of the Chinese relatives and who, after the wear and tear and the concern of those closest to him, decided to step back and leave that position.
Wang criticizes harshly the misinformation that Malaysia has subjected them tos, who has even refused to let them see the video of the passengers entering the plane, while now the Chinese government puts obstacles in the way of letting the world know their complaints.
“A few months ago, They ordered the Chinese media not to publish our stories. They only appear in official media… "It's the same thing they did with the bullet train accident a few years ago to silence the victims.", remembers the young man, in reference to the first accident that occurred on the Chinese high speed in 2011 and what caused 40 dead and 200 injured.
The young man, who has recently resumed his job although he is still struggling to find out what happened to his mother, who took MH370 to return home after his trip to Nepal, understands the government's attitude although he does not share it.
“It's Chinese culture, who tends to be quieter, “But we want answers.”, defend the pekingese, which has been going on all week with multiple meetings with foreign media so that its story, which could be “anyone’s”, don't be forgotten.
While numerous commemoration events will be held in Kuala Lumpur for the first anniversary of the plane's disappearance on Sunday, In Beijing, relatives have been negotiating with the authorities for their act to comply with “legality” for some time..
Hence many family members, who have been able to afford it, have now traveled to Malaysia. “I went a couple of weeks ago too”, comments spokesperson Jiang, and explain: “Everything there is very different from China.: you can talk to the media. Our history there occupies the front pages”.
No official events or ceremonies
Malaysia today celebrates the first anniversary of the disappearance of the Boeing 777 from Malaysia Airlines with 239 people on board without official acts and without ceremonies in the main religious temples of Kuala Lumpur.
“We will only hold a private event”, pointed to Efe the press spokesperson for the Malaysian airline Malaysia Airlines, a year after the incident and in which many families still feel the open wounds and frustration due to the lack of answers.
Both the airline and the Malaysian Civil Aviation Department have maintained an opaque attitude, perhaps to avoid the communication problems that hhave undermined his relationship with the family and friends of the occupants of flight MH370.
From the first days of the incident, The relatives had confrontations with the airline because they considered that they were not fully informed of the investigations.
Although there is still some division between some families of the missing and Malaysia Airlines, the airline also reminds the 13 crew members who were on the flight with a private ceremony.
Photo: EFE
“Grief and loss are intensely personal matters. Each family will want to mark the occasion in their own way., away from the media spotlight, indicated the Malaysian company, according to local agency Bernama.
The disappearance of the plane deepened the financial crisis that Malaysia Airlines was already suffering and created an unsolved mystery, after a year of searching for remains in the Indian Ocean, where the plane is believed to have crashed.
