Beacon Battery in MH370 had long expired

8:42AM Mar 9, 2015

By Jane Wardell, Reuters

The disclosure that an underwater locator beacon battery in the flight data recorder of MH370 had expired could be key in legal action against Malaysia Airlines over the fruitless search for the jetliner, lawyers for families of the passengers said on Monday.

US law firm Kreindler & Kreindler LP, which is representing around 20 families, said the expired battery was "potentially very significant" in determining compensation if it had hurt the search for the missing plane.


A 584-page interim report into the disappearance of the Boeing 777-200ER said the beacon battery for the flight data recorder had expired in December 2012 and was not replaced. The beacon is designed to send a signal if a crash occurs in water.

The oversight was blamed on a failure to properly update a computer system in the engineering department of Malaysia Airlines, Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation said in the report released on Sunday, one year after the plane vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

"This airline, which allowed its crew and plane to fly with expired batteries on critical equipment, continues to reject offering any kind of meaningful settlement to the families without them first proving the losses they suffered, without any actual evidence of a crash," Kreindler & Kreindler LP aviation attorney Justin Green said in an email to Reuters.

"The airline ... even more clearly now may be responsible for the unsuccessful search for this plane."

In January, Malaysia Airlines officially declared the disappearance of MH370 an accident, clearing the way for the airline to pay compensation to victims' relatives while the search for the plane goes on.

Investigators believe the plane, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, was flown thousands of miles off course before eventually crashing into the ocean off Australia.

Search empty handed

The search along a rugged 60,000 sq km patch of sea floor some 1,600 km (1,000 miles) west of the Australian city of Perth has found nothing so far.


The search in this area, which experts believe is the plane's most likely resting place, could be wound up in May after Australia's deputy prime minister said last week discussions were under way between Australia, China and Malaysia on whether to call it off soon.

However, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and the Chinese government said they remained committed to the search. Most of the passengers were from China.

The interim report offered no definitive cause for the plane's disappearance, adding there was nothing suspicious in the financial, medical or personal histories of the pilots or crew.

"The disappearance of MH370 is without precedent, and so too is the search - by far the most complex and technically challenging in aviation history," Najib said in a statement.

(Editing by Dean Yates)

- Reuters                                         

Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/291367

MH370一周年谈中国人免签证

作者：陈亚伦牧师

Source: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/boeing-777s-flagged-for-possible-safety-risk-last-year

        308是国际妇女节，但对马来西亚人来说，308有两件事非常难忘：一、第十二届全国大选，我国首次以朝野两个阵营对垒，国阵失去掌权三分之二国会议席。二、马航MH370于307午夜从吉隆坡飞北京班机，308清晨离奇失踪，至今没有下落。

        此文着重班机失踪事件对我国的旅游业影响力。首当其冲的是已经欠债累累的马航业务乘客马上锐减。岂料祸不单行，不出四个月，在7月17日的MH17班机从荷兰回吉隆坡，在战乱的乌克兰被未明人士击落。两架都是波音777型飞机。（乍看离不了“7”的厄运）。

        基于MH370的大部分乘客是中国人，他们家属指责我国处理的方式不妥，至今他们还认为我国在此事件有所隐瞒。中国是全世界使用互联网最多人数的国家，手机通讯又发达，不满情绪的确会打击我国的旅游业。去年中国游客来马减少超过五成。至于今年春节来马游客，比去年减少70%。不但马航的中国乘客减少，连亚航飞中国的航班也被拖累。自从印尼亚航去年一班机失事以来，亚航也鲜少打广告推出优惠！

        我不晓得我们的政府怎样看这种事情，我们在春节前很仓促地实行中国人来马免签证费政策，从减少70%来马人数即可说明此政策行不通，我国还赢不回中国人的信心。中国地广人多，要办签证并不是人人都能亲力亲为，唯有通过中介。中介收费不菲，比签证费更高，而且是繁文缛节，也耗时！我们去外国旅游不也是作好几个月前的准备吗，所以我们的仓促免签证费政策乃慢了半拍，也不能彻底大量吸引中国人来马。

        内政部长以担心安全为由而不考虑对中国人免签证，这理由有待商榷。我国有500万外劳，很多非法在我国工作，但事实上非法的劳工，中国人不多。我国在批准合法外劳上对中国人有些少偏见，从大量引进外劳的国籍上不列中国即可见一斑。希望我国向新加坡看齐，他们大量聘请中国人并没有多大的问题啊！中国的经济已经崛起了，很多国家都争着吸引数以亿计的中国游客。

        中国人喜欢来马来西亚，主要是基于华裔语言相通及生活习惯相差不远。既然我们比邻国和许多国家更有优势，邻国都抢先发出免签证了，我们不要一年拖一年错过机会了。我们不能永远依赖天然资源，现在石油，棕油，橡胶和锡米都没有价钱了，以后也未必会有价钱的。目前我们经济下滑，马币贬值，股市是本区域最差的。希望政府快点抢中国游客一杯羹，实行免签证。这样也协助重组的马航再获得中国乘客回流，亚航也必定获利。游客来花费，经济就会改善。

Is 'emotional last farewell' fly past of Penang island the key clue to the mystery of missing Malaysia flight MH370?

By RAY MASSEY, TRANSPORT EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 20:16 GMT, 1 March 2015 | UPDATED: 08:21 GMT, 2 March 2015

The doomed Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was taken on an emotional ‘last farewell’ fly-past of the pilot’s home island of Penang before being deliberately landed on the water and sinking intact thousands of miles away, according to a British pilot who claims to have identified its final resting place. 

The unusual overflying of Penang is ‘perhaps the only clue to the perpetrator’ he says.

The theory of Simon Hardy, a senior Boeing 777 captain with a major commercial airline, has gained support from one of Britain’s top flight safety specialists, David Learmount of the respected Flight International magazine and flightglobal website.

Missing: MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12.41am on March 8 2014 for an approximate six-hour flight to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew

The unusual overflying of Penang, pictured, where the captain of the lost Boeing is from, is ‘perhaps the only clue to the perpetrator’

Captain Hardy spent six months analysing the flight data of the stricken aircraft, which disappeared almost a year ago with 239 people on board, in a bid to solve the mystery. 

He has concluded that the search in the vast Indian ocean being conducted by the Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) is about 100 nautical miles away from the where the aircraft actually is.

He also believes the riddle of the aircraft’s odd dog-leg flight path immediately after take-off from Kuala Lumpar is down to the aircraft performing a final ‘fly-past’ of Malaysia’s Penang island to allow someone to have ‘a last emotional look.’ 

Captain Hardy notes from his research that the captain of the lost Boeing 777-200, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, came from Penang, while First officer Fariq Abdul Hamid was from Selangor.

Details are reported in the Sunday Times.

Captain Hardy says that after taking off from Kuala Lumpur at 16.41 GMT on March 7 last year, flight MH370 lost contact with air traffic control at a point over the China Sea where four flight information regions intersect. 

The last verbal contact had been at 19.19 and the captain’s was the last voice heard.

Captain Hardy said the flight did something ‘quite remarkable’ by flying in and out of the airspace of Malaysia and Thailand eight times noting: ’I’ve never seen anything like that but it is a good way to cause confusion between the controllers.’ 

The captain of the lost Boeing 777-200, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, left, came from Penang, 
while First officer Fariq Abdul Hamid was from Selangor, right

After flying along the border the passenger jet performed a sharp u-turn towards Penang, one of three turns made in quick succession. 

'It took me months to work out what this was. 

'The clue was Ayers Rock,’ he said referring to the giant natural feature and landmark in the heart of Australia.

'I have done the same manoeuvre there, to look down and get a great view. Somebody was taking a last emotional look at Penang.’ 

He explained: ’I thought of this at 5am, went downstairs and researched where the air crew were from.’ 

Noting that pilot Shah was from Penang while co-pilot Hamid was from Selangor, he said: ‘Someone did a nice long turn and looked down on Penang. It’s perhaps the only clue to the perpetrator.’ 

Military radar gave the last fix of the flight at 18.22 GMT heading South towards the navigation waypoint Anoko. 

It then flew straight for thousands of miles before, it is believed, ending up at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Australia.

Australian investigators believe the plane crashed. But Captain Hardy believes it was deliberately landed on the water and then sank intact close to a trench in the sea – explaining why no wreckage has ever been found.

Australian investigators said they had been in touch with Captain Hardy and described his theory as ‘credible.’ 

Flight magazine’s Mr Learmount said: ‘Since Capt Simon Hardy revealed in Flightglobal/Flight International his calculations about where Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is likely to have come to rest, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau – leading the MH370 search team – has spoken at length to him. 

‘Despite worldwide interest in his work, nobody – yet – has suggested his calculations are anything but logical and mathematically sound.’

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2974685/Is-emotional-farewell-fly-past-Penang-island-key-clue-mystery-missing-Malaysia-flight-MH370-British-pilot-s-theory.html

MH370 was lost in an accident?

Published: January 30, 2015 09:02 AM

Repetitions, contradictions, kin’s lawyer says of latest MH370 announcement 

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 — Malaysia’s latest update on Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 did not shed any light on the still-missing aircraft and only succeeded in further flaring the tempers of affected families, a lawyer representing one next-of-kin said.

Gary Edward Chong pointed out that in the 11 months since the aircraft’s disappearance on March 8 last year, the family members of those aboard the plane have been demanding for transparency from the authorities but their cries have been left unheard.

Yesterday’s announcement, he said, only made matters worse.

“It is in our opinion, a mere repetition of earlier reports peppered with strings of contradictions lacking transparency and accountability especially in view of the on-going investigation as well as the search efforts.

“The statement, despite apologising to the next-of-kin of MH370 publicly and sympathising on their loss, has not helped but has instead infuriated a lot of them even more by simply not doing enough in providing them with concrete answers and leaving them in the dark all this while,” he said in a statement here.

The Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) was initially scheduled to hold a press conference at 3.30pm yesterday but in a last-minute change of heart, decided to cancel the meet to hold a televised address hours later without the presence of the media and MH370’s next-of-kin.

During their 6pm announcement, the DCA formally declared the Boeing 777 jetliner lost and all 239 passengers on board dead, finally allowing their families to proceed with the process of claiming damages.

Despite finally getting some semblance of closure from the 11-month-old tragedy, the families cried foul at the way DCA handled the announcement, with some accusing the authorities of lacking the guts to speak to them face-to-face.

Chong, who is a co-counsel in a suit filed by two boys whose father was aboard the ill-fated jetliner, said the case’s lead counsel Datuk Dr Arunan Selvaraj is presently discussing the matter with expert witnesses abroad.

“We will possibly be holding a press conference on this matter after his return and consultation with our clients,” he said.

The boys, 13, and 11, have filed a suit against MAS, the DCA director-general, Immigration Department director-general, Royal Malaysian Air Force chief and the federal government for the loss of support with the disappearance of their father, Jee Jing Hang, who was a passenger in MH370.

Apart from damages for loss of support, the boys are also seeking aggravated damages for injured feelings and emotions, mental distress and pain, and exemplary damages for gross neglect and breach of duty by the defendants.

The first of the expected torrent of lawsuits over the tragedy started taking shape in the United States by Chicago-based law firm Ribbeck Law in March, just a few weeks after the Boeing 777 jetliner went missing.

At that time, many relatives of the plane’s Malaysian victims considered the move premature, saying they wanted to allow investigators more time to search for the missing plane and that without hard evidence of a crash, they would not mount a lawsuit.

On March 8 last year, Beijing-bound Flight MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board and remains missing till today, with months of searching failing to yield any clues of its resting place or debris.

Source: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/repetitions-contradictions-kins-lawyer-says-of-latest-mh370-announcement

What happened to AirAsia flight QZ8501?

Published: 29 December 2014



A day after it disappeared en route from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore, mystery surrounds the fate of AirAsia flight QZ8501 and the 162 people on board.

No debris from the Airbus A320-200 has so far been recovered, and Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo said today "the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea".

Following are some questions surrounding the disappearance and search, and answers by industry experts.

What impact could bad weather have played on the plane's fate?

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the twin-engine aircraft around an hour after it left Juanda International airport at Surabaya in East Java at 5:35 am Sunday (2235 GMT Saturday).

Shortly before disappearing, AirAsia said the plane had asked permission from Jakarta air traffic control to deviate from its flight plan and climb above bad weather in an area noted for severe thunderstorms.

Gerry Soejatman, a consultant with the Jakarta-based Whitesky Aviation chartered flight provider, said the verdict is still out on whether bad weather conditions was the "primary factor or just a contributory factor" for the disappearance.

"Based on the public information we have, the pilots turned to the left of its designated route, and also requested to climb to a higher altitude," Soejatman told AFP.

"Approval was given for the left turn but there are indications the plane climbed without approval. If that is the case, the turbulence could have been severe and the pilots made a decision to save the aircraft rather than wait for approval," he added.

Anthony Brickhouse, a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators, said it "is not atypical to have a pre-programmed flight path and then something happens and the pilots try to adjust it".

"Airliners in general tend to avoid thunderstorms as much as possible to give passengers a smoother ride," Brickhouse, an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, told AFP.

"Right now, the fact that they were trying to avoid bad weather doesn't tell us a lot in the grand scheme of things."

Have there been other plane mysteries like this?

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 with 239 passengers and crew.

The Boeing 777-200 aircraft is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean far off Australia's west coast after diverting off course for an unknown reason and flying for several more hours over the remote waters.

An intense air and sea search failed to find any wreckage from the aircraft, while an underwater search has been underway for weeks with no result.

Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in June 2009 while on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing 216 passengers and 12 crew. Debris was not found for days and it took years to locate the wreckage. Investigators eventually concluded that both technical and human error were to blame.

Adam Air Flight 574 with 102 people on board disappeared from radar in January 2007, also at its cruise phase during a domestic flight in Indonesia. Debris was found nine days later after an extensive search and it took months to recover the plane's black box.

Indonesian authorities said the pilots lost control after becoming preoccupied with malfunctioning navigational equipment.

Was Flight QZ8501 flying too slowly when it disappeared?

Some experts have said initial readings of radar data have shown the plane was flying much slower than it should have been when it disappeared.

In the Air France Flight AF447 crash in 2009, it is believed a build-up of ice on "pitot tube" instruments caused the pilots to receive distorted data on airspeed before the aircraft went down.

"Although any attempt to explain the reason for the disappearance of the AirAsia flight is pure speculation at this time, we can’t but notice at least one apparent similarity with another famous crash: Air France 447," wrote aviation blogger David Cenciotti on theaviationist.com.

He added that low ground speed could have been caused by strong headwinds.

Soejatman said early readings from a leaked air traffic control image circulating online showed Flight QZ8501 was "extremely slow".

"If the plane happened to be going below stall speed, then well, you will fall out of the sky," he said.

Can we rule out terrorism or a hijack attempt?

Experts say it is too early to rule out any possibility.

"As an investigator, I am trained to keep all possibilities on the table until evidence suggest otherwise," said Brickhouse.

"Right now, I have not seen anything that could be associated with any kind of criminal act."

Why have authorities not picked up signals?

Aircraft have an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT), which is designed mainly for when the plane crashes on land and pilots are still trying to control it. In the event of a major crash, it may not work.

The plane also has a "black box" consisting of the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. If immersed in water they should activate a "pinger" that can draw investigators to the location. However, the sound cannot be heard over long distances.

Soejatman said AirAsia "does not subscribe" to ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) – which sends short messages to ground controllers – even though the Airbus A320-200 is equipped with the system.

He said authorities must move quickly to improve technology that help locate aircraft when they go missing.

"Even with MH370 the beacon did not go off. Why aren't we getting the beacon in large-scale incidents?" he said.

"I am not saying it is a faulty system. The beacon (ELT) is the best thing we have at the moment. But we have to work on improving it," he said.

Brickhouse said "advanced tracking technology is out there" but "financial and logistics ramifications come into play in terms of installing them".

What are the difficulties faced by search teams?

National Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo said today search teams are scouring an area where the sea is 40-50 metres deep.

He said Indonesia was coordinating with other countries to access any equipment that may be needed to scour the seabed.

Soejatman said despite the shallow water in the search area, "mud and hard rocks" could interfere with sonar pings emitted by the plane's ELT. – AFP, December 29, 2014.

Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/what-happened-to-airasia-flight-qz8501

One Missing Jet, One Sunken Ferry, Two Responses

MAY 1, 2014 6:03 PM EDT

By William Pesek

There are no ideologues in a financial crisis, former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke once said. Clearly the same doesn’t hold true for political crises, as a comparison of Malaysia and South Korea very quickly reveals.

Tragedy has struck both nations in recent weeks, their travails played out in horrifying detail on the world’s television screens. Fairly or unfairly, the hunt for a missing Malaysian airliner and the desperate attempt to rescue and now recover victims from the sunken Sewol ferry are being viewed as tests of the governments in Putrajaya and Seoul, if not of Malaysian and South Korean societies. The grades so far? I’d give Korea an A-, Malaysia a D.

In the two weeks since the Sewol tipped over and sank -- almost certainly killing 302 passengers, most of them high school students -- Korea has been gripped by a paroxysm of self-questioning, shame and official penitence. President Park Geun Hye issued a dramatic and heartfelt apology. Her No. 2, Prime Minister Chung Hong Won, resigned outright. Prosecutors hauled in the ship’s entire crew and raided the offices of its owners and shipping regulators. Citizens and the media are demanding speedy convictions and long-term reforms.

And Malaysia, 55 days after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished? Nothing. No officials have quit. Prime Minister Najib Razak seems more defiant than contrite. The docile local news media has focused more on international criticism of Malaysia's leaders rather than on any missteps by those leaders themselves.

Both countries are democracies -- Malaysia’s even older than South Korea’s. The key difference, though, is the relative openness of their political systems. One party has dominated Malaysia since independence, while Korea, for all its growing pains and occasional tumultuousness, has seen several peaceful transfers of power over the past quarter-century. Unused to having to answer critics, Malaysia’s government has responded defensively. Korean officials, on the other hand, are reflecting, addressing the anger of citizens, and delving into what went wrong with the shipping industry’s regulatory checks and balances.

That’s why Korea is likely to come out of this crisis stronger than ever, unlike Malaysia. The two nations responded similarly after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, too. Malaysia’s then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad sought to prove Bernanke’s axiom wrong, bizarrely blaming some shadowy Jewish cabal headed by George Soros for the ringgit's plunge. Malaysia didn't internalize what had gone wrong or look in the mirror. It didn't admit it had been using capital inflows unproductively and that coddling state champions -- including Malaysia Airlines -- was killing competitiveness. Never did the ruling United Malays National Organization consider it might be part of the problem.

Contrast that with Korea's response to 1997. The government forced weak companies and banks to fail, accepting tens of thousands of job losses. Authorities clamped down on reckless investing and lending and addressed moral hazard head-on. Koreans felt such shame that millions lined up to donate gold, jewelry, art and other heirlooms to the national treasury.

South Korea's response wasn't perfect. I worry, for example, that the family-run conglomerates, or chaebol, that helped precipitate the crisis are still too dominant a decade and a half later. But the country’s economic performance since then speaks for itself.

Now as then, Korea’s open and accountable system is forcing its leaders to look beyond an immediate crisis. Ordinary Koreans are calling for a national catharsis that will reshape their society and its attitude toward safety. Park’s government has no choice but to respond.

Malaysia’s government, on the other hand, appears to be lost in its own propaganda. To the outside world, acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein performed dismally as a government spokesman: He was combative, defensive and so opaque that even China complained. Yet Hishammuddin is now seen as prime-minister material for standing up to pesky foreign journalists and their rude questions. The government seems intent on ensuring that nothing changes as a result of this tragedy.

As hard as it seems now, South Korea will move past this tragedy, rejuvenated. Malaysia? I'm not so sure.

To contact the writer of this article: 
William Pesek at wpesek@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this article: 
Nisid Hajari at nhajari@bloomberg.net.

Source: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-05-01/one-missing-jet-one-sunken-ferry-two-responses

Discontent with Putrajaya bubbles to surface in May Day rally

May 1, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 — Thousands gathered in Malaysia’s capital today to protest against a planned new tax, but they also took shots at the government’s prosecution of opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and handling of missing flight MH370.

The demonstration was held to coincide with International Labour Day, and the primary target of the red-clad, vuvuzela-blowing protesters was the goods and services tax (GST) taking effect in April 2015.

The opposition has denounced the GST and recent subsidy cuts as moves by the long-ruling regime to shift the cost of reducing a rising deficit onto ordinary consumers.

But protestors used the occasion to let loose with other criticisms of the government, which is under global scrutiny over its still-unexplained loss of the Malaysia Airlines jet.

“Besides the rise in living costs, we are here to voice our frustration over the search for MH370,” said Amani Nasir, 26, a medical student who joined the protest in central Kuala Lumpur.

“There is a lack of transparency and very little information is provided. We want to know the cost involved in the search so far, since it is taxpayers’ money.”

The Boeing 777 vanished on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and is now believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean, where a challenging and costly Australian-led search effort has failed to find any wreckage.

The government has been tight-lipped about its investigation into what happened, adding to the anger and frustration of relatives of the 239 people aboard the plane.

The government was due today to release a preliminary report on its investigation into the plane’s disappearance.

Anti-GST protesters gathering at Jalan Pinang before converging at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur, May 1, 2014. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

Rally participants also denounced a court ruling in March that convicted Anwar of sodomy — illegal in Muslim-majority Malaysia — and sentenced him to five years in jail.

Anwar calls the ruling an attempt by the government to end his political career. He is free pending appeal.

Opposition politicians speaking at the rally denounced the case and called on demonstrators to rise up if Anwar is jailed.

“I want to tell the PM, don’t you dare touch Anwar. The people will not allow Anwar to be jailed for even one second,” top opposition politician Azmin Ali told the crowd, estimated by local media at around 20,000-strong.

Civil society groups have staged large-scale rallies in Kuala Lumpur in recent years, venting growing public discontent with the government dominated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno).

No violent incidents were reported so far in today’s rally.

Umno has presided over decades of economic growth, but as growth slows voters have increasingly flocked to the opposition amid anger over persistent corruption, authoritarian tactics, and Umno’s divisive racial politics.

Inflation remains relatively mild in Malaysia but has risen, from 2.1 per cent for all of last year to 3.4 per cent in the first three months of 2014 after the government cut some subsidies to rein in the spiralling budget deficit. — AFP

Source: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/discontent-with-putrajaya-bubbles-to-surface-in-may-day-rally-video

耶稣受难日看人生得失

陈亚伦站在一颗橄榄树前面，地点：新加坡的 Garden of the Bay

作者：陈亚伦牧师

        信奉耶稣基督的信徒在耶稣受难日通常进入思考状态，即，一个上帝的儿子为何就放弃天上的荣华富贵来到地上受死担当世人的罪？

        在一个多灾难的今天，我们应该珍惜每一天。最近的马航MH370事件可供我们作思考人生得失的教材。我并没有对机组人员和乘客及他们的家属不敬，罗马天主教和基督教的教会都不停为此事件祷告，包括罗马天主教的教宗方济都公开带领信徒祷告，及大马教会联合的组织等，只不过我们不比佛教徒获得媒体那么多的曝光率而已。

        我们应该经常珍惜身边的人，也常常作好遇到意外的心理准备。我很佩服穆斯林，他们看待生死是上苍的旨意，就这样对生死很看得开。我通常飞出外国，都会交代妻子她的护照放在哪里。又在月历上写下来回航班，在外国亲朋的联络电话等。因为若我在我国发生意外，她不必太慌张不知所措，可以很快飞到外国为我办事。我也必定买旅游保险，因为航空公司的保险只保你上下飞机的意外，你下了飞机所发生的事情可能用到几十万令吉的医药费，那旅游保险就很有用了！这就是对家人负责任，这就是爱惜家人。

        人是万物之灵，因此人是最复杂的活物！我们可以为着金钱名誉地位争个你死我活，但争得来最终却发觉一切都是空虚的。不妨看看大多数人用了最有魄力的中间几十年来把这些得到手，到头来却导致满身病痛。他们就这样花了大部分的钱财来治病。治好了又打算再拼搏一番要把钱挣回来，却发觉此时已经老了没本事跟其他壮硕者打天下也！

        耶稣在世立下了极佳的典范，祂30岁正式出来传道。祂这样形容自己的处境：“狐狸有洞，天空的飞鸟有窝，但我却没有枕头的地方。”祂这般不注重身外物的情况，与世人那般为了生活而彼此恶斗岂不是有天渊之别吗？

        人有一种弊病，就是施恩之后，期待得到报答，否则就耿耿于怀。耶稣并不在乎得恩者回馈不回馈，祂甚至面对恩将仇报的人士时选择默默向天父祷告，祂只在乎他们得到帮助。我很感谢那些历来离乡背井往他国当宣教士的人士，特别佩服德兰修女，他/她们许多甚至赔上了性命和家庭，这些人都活出了耶稣的典范！

        当下一次你在气氛没有人欣赏你的贡献时，不妨思考这些伟人。人生有得必有失，不会常常都是得的。在基督教的教义里，跟世界的哲理是刚相反的。“要『得』必先『失』，而『失』反而是『得』。”很难领会吗？一点也不难！即使是做朋友，并不保证他/她们永远都是真朋友。连跟从耶稣三年多一起生活的门徒犹大，都会为了三十两银子而出卖祂！沃伦·巴菲特的一句精辟话值得反省：“随着年龄的增长，我们并不是失去了一些朋友，而是我们懂得了谁才是真正的朋友。”那么我们处事待人必须看得开，不必憎恨利唯利是图的朋友，就好像耶稣没有憎恨犹大一样。

        有人说，耶稣只活到33岁就死了真可惜。祂出来传道只3年多，但早死并不可惜，因为祂作代罪羔羊的使命已经完成了！从此福音由信徒传了两千年至今不断。其实早在三千四百年前的摩西已经说过人的寿命平均是70岁。对，人人要面对生老病死的命运，在世短暂，那么就不要在乎得失！最近台湾佛光山星云长老在马来西亚的一番话给我一个启发。他说不要用“生老病死”来看人生而消极，应该用“老病死生”来看人生而有盼望（大意）。以基督教的教义看这番话挺有意义，因人类犯罪而受到老病死的惩罚是事实，不过耶稣的受死却带给世人生命（永生）也是事实！