Removal of the Cross at Taman Medan - Selangor Press Statement

21 April 2015

On the forcible removal of the Cross at Taman Medan

1. Following the unwarranted and disturbing incident outside a Church at Taman Medan, a meeting was convened this morning with representatives of the Community of Praise Petaling Jaya Church, advisors to the State Committee on Non-Islam Affairs (HESI), councilors of Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) Mr FK Tang and Mr Peter Chong, Member of Parliament Petaling Jaya Selatan YB Hee Loy Sian and state representatives YB Hannah Yeoh and YB R. Rajiv.

2. In the meeting, several matters were clarified. They include:-

2.1 That the Church has been meeting since August 2014, serving Christians from the community;

2.2 That the Cross was put up on 17th April 2015 outside the premises;

2.3 That the violent protest held by Umno branch on 19th April 2015 had intimidated the Christians who were there at their regular Sunday service and had forced the Pastor to bring down the Cross out of fear for the safety of the congregation.

3. In addition, MBPJ Councillors also clarified that since 2008, the previous State Committee on Non-Islam Affairs (then known as State Committee on Non-Islam Places of Worship or RIBI) has allowed Churches to operate in commercial premises or offices without the need for application of permits, only by way of notification to the committee. This is based on the principle that Article 11 of the Federal Constitution embodies freedom of worship.

4. Therefore, today's statement by the Public Relations Officer of MBPJ as reported in The Star newspaper that Churches in office blocks need to apply for permits is not accurate. There is no such policy put forward by the state committee HESI. A notification to HESI committee suffices. And if any local councils have any issues or questions, they are to refer back to the HESI committee.

5. There are however existing guidelines on stand-alone Non-Islamic Buildings of Worship which cover land applications, land conversions, buildings, demolitions and applications for funds.

6. As firmly expressed by the Menteri Besar YAB Azmin Ali yesterday, the State Government finds the forcible removal of the Cross to be abhorrent to Christians and to the fundamentals of freedom of worship enshrined in the Federal Constitution. In the meeting, we have advised the Church to return the Cross to its origin site to stop this precedent of mob rule by politically-aligned extremists.

7. At the same time, we call upon the Royal Malaysian Police to take this matter very seriously in order to ensure the safety of worshippers are protected at all times and there will be no repeats of such cases in Selangor.

Released by:
YB Elizabeth Wong
Co-Chair, State Committee on Non-Islam Affairs
Selangor State Executive Councillor

Churches have right to display cross under Constitution, say lawyers

Published: Monday April 20, 2015 MYT 10:47:00 AM 
Updated: Monday April 20, 2015 MYT 11:03:48 AM

BY TAN YI LIANG

Intolerance: Protesters outside the Taman Medan church before the cross was removed

PETALING JAYA: Churches have a right to display the cross on their buildings under the Federal Constitution and should not be forced to take it down.

“Under Article 11, all Malaysians have a right to practise their own religion and the cross is an integral and indispensable part of the Christian faith – so it comes under the rights of Malaysians under Article 11(1) of the Federal Constitution,” said constitutional lawyer New Sin Yew.

He said that Article 11(1) reads that every person has the right to profess and practice his religion and, subject to Clause (4), to propagate it.

Article 11(4) reads that state law and in respect of the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan, Federal law may control or restrict the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the religion of Islam, he added.

He further questioned the argument put forward by the demonstrators in Taman Medan on Sunday that the sight of the cross in a Muslim-majority area “challenged Islam” and could influence the young.

A group of 50 demonstrators had gathered outside a church in Taman Medan on Sunday to protest against a cross on the facade of the building.

They had demanded for the cross to be taken down, claiming that it challenged Islam.

It is understood that the cross was taken down by church authorities several hours later.  

“You need strong and credible evidence to prove that hanging a cross outside a church would constitute propagation of the Christian faith to Muslims. It would be absurd to suggest that hanging a cross outside a building would amount to propagating Christianity to Muslims,” said New.

He noted also that the group should not have taken matters into their own hands.

“Even if the church should not use a shophouse as a church, the mob should not take matters into their own hands and ignore the whole legal system. They should report the matter to the relevant local authorities or file a suit in court and let the relevant public bodies decide,” he added.

Similar views were shared by Lawyers for Liberty co-founder Eric Paulsen, who also said the church has a right to place the cross outside their building due to Article 11 of the Federal Constitution.

“The issue is much more one of local council, and if the church authorities have received the relevant approvals from the MBPJ, they have a legal right to put the cross on the building. It is quite misguided to say that because an area is majority-Malay Muslim, it is misguided to say that only their rights count,” said Paulsen.

He said that in any society, the rights of minorities deserved as much protection as those of the majority in an area, and cited an international example.

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/04/20/Churches-right-to-display-cross/

Public debate of ideas best defence against intolerance, says US in Sedition Act caution

Wednesday April 15, 2015
11:08 AM GMT+8

KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — The US today cautioned Putrajaya over its amendments to the Sedition Act 1948, saying that new provisions in the colonial-era law could end up criminalising public debate.

The US Department of State said it was “particularly worrying” that the new provisions would increase penalties, especially for first-time offenders, and could also make it illegal to share allegedly seditious material on social media.

“The public debate of ideas can be among the best protections against intolerance and can play a positive role in strengthening democracy and combating hatred,” it said in a brief statement.

“We welcome the decision to remove provisions outlawing criticism of the government and the judiciary, and we hope the government of Malaysia will therefore reconsider recent sedition charges brought under those now-defunct sections of the law,” the statement added.

Last week, Parliament passed amendments to the Act that effectively provide the authorities wider jurisdiction to act on speech or activities that are seen as seditious in nature.

Putrajaya’s amendments will allow for criticism of the government in a bid to “create transparent and accountable administration” amid widespread opprobrium over the use of the Act on political dissenters if passed by Parliament.

However, they also made it an offence to excite “ill will, hostility or hatred” on grounds of religion and race as well as to demand the secession of a state from Malaysia, while maintaining prohibitions towards exciting disaffection against the rulers or questioning issues such as Bumiputera privileges.

The Bill also added a new section that imposes a penalty of between five and 20 years jail for sedition crimes that cause bodily harm or property damage, while it increases the jail term for general sedition crimes to between three and seven years.

Prior to the amendments, the colonial era law imposed a maximum three-year jail term or maximum RM5,000 fine on first time offenders, and a maximum five-year jail term for repeat offenders.

Another new section states that a judge shall order the prevention of access to an online publication deemed to be seditious.

Up to 150 opposition leaders and activists have been hauled up under the Sedition Act recently.

Putrajaya previously pledged to repeal the Sedition Act that critics say is used to stifle political opposition and dissent, but later announced in November last year that it will be retained and expanded instead.

Source: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/public-debate-of-ideas-best-defence-against-intolerance-says-US-in-Seditio

当清明节遇到复活节时

日期：2015年3月23日
作者：陈亚伦牧师

清明节传统诗（互联网照片）

相传是耶稣空的坟墓（互联网照片）

  清明节固定于阳历4月5日或4日，今年的落在5日。耶稣复活节每年不固定地落在4月某日，不过今年特殊碰巧这两个节期落在4月5日同一天。对于华人基督徒，虽然信主但还是守华人风俗，两者节期共同处是坟墓。

        作为牧师多年，曾经主持无数次追思会和丧礼。几十年前主持很多土葬，因为不少基督徒仍然疑惑是否可以火葬，但二十年前至今他们越来越接受了！几十年前没有豪华的山庄墓园，都是市政府的墓园。现在人讲究风水，结果土葬又流行起来了！

        几天前收听某电台谈论长生不老课题，D J询问“给你活到五百岁好不好？”我经常在追思会和丧礼讲了无数次的“我们一生的年日是七十岁，如果强壮，可到八十岁”的信息，而华人说“人生七十古来稀”真吻合！

        公元前两百多年前的秦始皇寻找长生不老秘方不果，至终还是死。不过从他为自己身后事安排或许因他还抱着复活的盼望吧？他大量制造兵马俑置于皇陵陪葬，为了保卫他，又用巨石，水银和土石机弩一起阻挡盗墓。这好比近代有些人把逝者急冻冷藏，抱着盼望等到有一天科技突破可复活过来！

        到底人死后能不能复活？几十年前我的岳祖母是从死里复活的，不过她多活几年至终死去。秦始皇两百多年后耶稣从死里复活，之后不再死，那才是真复活，而我的岳祖母却是假复活。我主持土葬通常也顺道四周看看墓碑，不同的设计，不同的风格，然而回到现实不得不承认“人被埋在几尺土地之下”！脑海浮出一幅图画，耶稣不必买坟墓，有人借给他用是多么好，因为祂只需睡三天就够！

        世界头一个人亚当活到930岁，他不久之后的《创世纪》第6章记载人的寿命是120岁。可见死的能力已开始使人体朽坏，变成老化，最后身体停止操作。在一个充满罪恶和各种问题的世上永远活着不是福。当我们没有钱时仍然活着是很痛苦的！人永远活着导致人口爆炸，结果难以想象！科技和医学肯定延长人的寿命，但劝大家不要勉求！

       人生在世纵使贫富悬殊，很不公平。然而死是最公平的，因为即使死者的墓地多大，坟墓多么豪华，躺着的3 x 7尺地是一样大的。所以尽孝不是用金钱衡量的，负担不起山庄墓园不等于不孝。趁家人还在，好好地彼此珍惜吧！我从圣经的道理也明白中国人所说的：“儿孙自有儿孙福，莫为儿孙当马牛！”换句话说，不要想永远活下去担当儿孙的事物而舍不得去，“生有时，死有时”，时候到就交棒子给儿孙继续跑接力赛吧！

Laws are creatures of their time

7:11AM Mar 19, 2015

By May Chee

A Kelantan Umno assemblyperson said that non-Muslims should explain why they will not accept “Allah’s laws” but still want to use the Arabic name for God.

I wonder, as a lawmaker, which part of the following, he can’t fathom.

Freedom of Religion is enshrined in the Malaysian constitution:

(1) Article 11 provides that every person has the right to profess and to practise his or her religion and (subject to applicable laws restricting the propagation of other religions to Muslims) to propagate it.

(2) The constitution also provides that Islam is the religion of the country but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony.

I am a Christian, a Catholic to be precise, and I also call God, ‘Allah’, an Arabic name for God that predates Islam. This term is also used by the Babists, Bahais, Indonesian and Maltese Christians, Mizrahi Jews and Sikhs.

Would you, Kelantan Umno, find it funny if I asked you to explain why you will not accept, say, the Mosaic Law or Canon Law, etc, etc?

Some people appear to be like wise men who pretend to justify God, while forgetting the reality; projecting the widespread image of a believer who accepts with resignation, yet, without trying to understand.

Laws are creatures of their time; proper to the people and of value for a period of their history. We can’t hold on to sacred laws if and when they become oppressive, can we? We can't bury our heads in the sand or seek in religion, an evasion from family tasks and social duties, can we?

Shouldn’t religious organisations, or for that matter, any organisation, change and constantly adjust to new structures and developments?

I, for one, do not think that the law and its commandments have the power to renew the human person. Following the best rules is not central, in my humble opinion, but that we must constantly move ourselves to discover, meditate and understand the will of God in the events of our lives.

God also has sons and daughters among those who do not believe and I believe, He will judge them as He does for us, according to the path on which He has placed them.

God of all nations

Those of us who believe in a monotheistic God, a universal God, (at least, for me) believe that He is God of all nations and that He will not oblige us to give up our own cultures to live as others ( those who also deem themselves, believers) do.

To me, the divine way of restoring justice is not by condemning, but by saving, through love.

To me, the justice of God is a merciful intervention that makes us whole and, free.

To me, the mystery of salvation is not religious words or laws that refer to a violent God, but a God who conquers evil in such a way that those who never knew love will be saved, by love.

I believe that it's better for us to overcome common prejudices and respect the conscience of others.

I believe that no law or religious authority should be followed against our conscience.

I believe the service of love will make hearts agree when minds cannot come to an understanding.

I do believe in many things but the deal is this - I can't force them down your throat, Kelantan Umno, can I ?

Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/292471

1Malaysia - now vomiting

Friday, March 13, 2015

by Azly Rahman

Like many Malaysians, I am vomiting through the dungeons of my soul reading the reports daily on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), if it is true that the  leaders of this country are bankrupting it.

This is especially so when 1MDB may one day suck the blood, sweat, and tears dry out of the long and difficult years of investment of the Malaysian public, especially the kampung folk, the rubber tappers, the small businessmen and labourers of any race, not to mention the filthy work of secrecy we are seeing operating in the government, at a time when the nauseating hypocrisy of slogans such as "high-income nation," "world-class education" and "syariah index" are trumpeted and shoved down the throat of the people who are kept in fear and silence for criticising the run-amuck of the nation's "global-smart-partnership of Ali-Baba and John and Hollywood-hedonistic bloodsucker-filthy corporate-crony-useless-sons and daughters of sicko-capitalists".

Excuse me for the long running sentence. And excuse my little explosion too. The spirit of the New York beat poet Allen Ginsburg is running amuck in me today.


And excuse me while I kiss the sky and vomit through my bruised soul, as a Jimi Hendrix song would go screaming. What then must we do, in the midst of those in power pounding on the helpless crying for help in demanding justice and decency of making ends meet - especially to be reading stories of bloodsuckers and big-time conmen partying in yachts while the rakyat drowns in broken sampans and broken spirits?

And these premature talks about a replacement prime minister and who that might be too bores me to death.

Same old mould, I believe. These are mere dynastic wars over wealth and power that have become a disease of the nobility of politics as what it should be about: public service.

Same breed of emperors in new clothes

What do all these mean if what we are getting will perhaps be even worse vendetta and a continuation of the installation of the same breed of emperors in new clothes preying upon the poor and the helpless, using the state apparatuses to maintain a jet-setting lifestyle and lying to the people to beg for a mandate to rule?

Fools we have become and made to be, haven’t we?

My immediate worry is this:

With a bailout plan for 1MDB, even to pay just the interest of the loans and the new, horrifying numbers on the newly defined loan/bonds, what are we looking at? Will the rakyat's pension plan/life savings/national unit trusts and the like be used to help these crooks out?

Have we not learned from the experience of other countries how public funds were used to bail out such "Cayman Island" investments?  Do the people know enough about the kind of dictators, global CEOs and glorified money-launderers who stash their money in secret vaults in Switzerland, Singapore and those Islands?

What makes you think that your KWSP/EPF money is still going to be safe - when no one seems to want to tell the truth and what we are reading is about a barely 30-year-old kid and an investment punk partying till he pukes and investing our money till we all puke?

Why have we come to this point in history? You nationalists out there, tell me.

Now, parliamentarians we put to work - in your comfortable sittings, you better ask the government how the rakyat's savings are going to be wiped off dry!

This is totally insane a country! Yes - my beloved country I still love to see things go well for the next generation.

But in the next two generations our children may have to eat grass, wood and stones.

Progress towards a failed state...

Like Jonathan Swift’s suggestion to fatten up babies in The Modest Proposal to solve the Irish potato famine, I’d propose something less radical: just give each family a plot of land for them to plant food, raise chickens, and live in communes and live a life of dignity without falling prey to glorified gamblers. This country is gone and going to the dogs - with this progress towards a failed state.

Why do we still have these people running our country and running it down? And when the people speak up, you in power throw them in jail so that you folks in power can run free, looting and looting while speaking Greek and geek and those GST and your gobbledygook of your syariah index lying through your behind.  Excuse my little explosion again. Now the blood of the poets Rimbaud and Rendra combined, is boiling in me.

How filthy and corrupt can man get! Can't we teach one another to live within our means and be grateful and to think of others?

All these while I thought our economists, political scientists, and investment strategists in this and that national and high-strung high impact steering committees are well-versed in the Keynes-Hayek debate and the intricacies of the nation’s economy as it rides the wave of national reform and globalisation.

We seem to pride ourselves in this nationalistic obsession with our own version of command economy and be wary of letting the market solely dictate, and angry at any attempt by global empires to tell us what to do and how to behave – in the name of sovereignty. We seem to be in control of our “culturally-constructed commanding heights” but what is happening now?

Those entrusted to control the economy are gambling with it, big time, and letting the big-time gamblers sell the country off. Worse, do we not know what is happening to our national financial assets as many are guessing that they are being used to recover the money we lost through our secret wheeling and dealing in the world of casino capitalism, where “wolves of Wall Street” race with the velocity of money?

We can never know the truth – just like the truth of what happened to the missing Flight MH370, that I wrote about in April last year.

This is what we have become - a secret society of leaders making secret deals and using some acts to punish those who wish to know the truth – especially when the life savings of those who slog for this world of indentured servitude is at stake.

This is a case that might be worse than America’s Enron and Subprime Fiasco combined; a world too big to fail but crumbled like Humpty Dumpty and all.

What then must we do?

Source: http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/2015/03/1malaysia-now-vomiting.html

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