Malaysian prime minister happy to reopen probe into missing flight MH370

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has declared he will happily reopen the investigation into the disappearance of flight MH370 if compelling new evidence emerges, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promises a $2 billion package to boost Australian investment in South-East Asia.

The leaders of nine South-East Asian nations are visiting Melbourne this week for a special ASEAN-Australian summit, which will be dominated by discussion of the fierce competition between the United States and China for influence in the region.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at a welcoming ceremony at Government House in Melbourne on Monday.Credit: Joe Armao

As Anwar urged Western nations not to pit South-East Asian nations against Beijing, Foreign Minister Penny Wong warned that the Indo-Pacific faced its “most confronting circumstances” in decades as China cements its status as a global superpower.

“We face destabilising, provocative and coercive actions, including unsafe conduct at sea and in the air and militarisation of disputed features,” Wong said in a speech on Monday.

“We know that military power is expanding, but measures to constrain military conflict are not – and there are few concrete mechanisms for averting it.”

Stressing the need for Australia to urgently deepen its economic ties with South-East Asia, Albanese will announce a $2 billion South-East Asia Investment Financing Facility to provide loans, guarantees, equity and insurance for Australian companies operating in the region.

The focus will be on green energy and infrastructure projects.

Regional “landing pads” will also be created to help Australian businesses enter the market in Jakarta in Indonesia and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, and visas will be extended from three to five years for South-East Asian businesspeople.

“Australia and South-East Asia must together face this moment with a sense of optimism and urgency,” Albanese will tell a chief executives’ forum on Tuesday.

“Because while there is so much untapped potential – there is not unlimited time.

“We must act together and we must act now.”

Former Macquarie Group chief executive Nicholas Moore wrote in a major government report last year that “Australian investment in the region is underweight and growth in foreign direct investment has stagnated in the past decade”.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Albanese, Anwar said the disappearance of flight MH370 10 years ago this week with 239 people on board, including six Australians, had affected so many lives that anything that “could be done must be done”.

“If there is compelling evidence that it needs to be reopened, we will certainly be happy to reopen it,” he told reporters.

His comments did not appear to go as far as Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke, who said at a remembrance service over the weekend: “As far as the Malaysian government is concerned, we are committed to justice and the search must go on.”

This would be the first major search for MH370 since American company Ocean Infinity tried – and failed – to find the Malaysia Airlines plane in 2018.

Albanese said world leaders “deeply regret the aircraft has been unable to be located” despite past searches.

“It will be a very difficult time for people because they are not given the certainty that would come with a successful search mission,” he said.

“It is a difficult time for our friends in Malaysia. We certainly acknowledge that.”

Asked about recent comments in which he decried what he called the rise of “China-phobia” in Western nations, Anwar said Malaysia was fiercely independent and did not want to be dictated to by any other nation.

“If they have problems with China, they should not impose it upon us,” he said.

“We do not have a problem with China.”

Albanese and Anwar announced new deals to boost bilateral co-operation on issues including cybersecurity and nuclear non-proliferation.

“Malaysia is one of Australia’s oldest and most important friends in the region,” Albanese said.

“Australia stands ready to play a bigger role in Malaysia’s pursuit of economic opportunity, investment, development and growth.”

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