For the past one month, it must be harrowing for the family members of those on board MAS MH 370. Everyday is another hopeful day, waiting for news that somewhere and somehow there is a glimpse of hope that those on board the plane will survive.
The most glaring question on hand right now is, "WHY?". Why did anybody who took control of the plane flew out of its intended path, into one of the world's most isolated places? A lot of theories have been churned from this simple question. And, it does not bring any respite to any family members associated with the ill fated plane.
Communications seems to be very important in times like this. From the first day of the missing plane, a lot of miscalculation and poor coordination were quite obvious. But it was managed somehow, and was swept nicely under the carpet - temporarily till the person with the bin came and removed it.
In such environment when the eye of the world is looking directly at us, professionalism must be at all times high. In no way that we are supposed to answer, "we do not know", when the most correct answer should be "we will find out". Both these answer draws a different perspective by the receiver. If you do not know, it means that you are incompetent or ignorant and you are not within the reach of the people under you. It also shows that you are not doing anything at all to finding a solution to the case. If you say that you are still working, well, at least it gives some hope to the listener that you are not lazing around while people's life are at stake.
Some news portals and blogs quite evidently pointed to the ineptitude of our high ranking servicemen to speak well to the media, especially English. Somewhere, it was suggested that, though the suggestions may not reach them, the speaker should correspond in Malay and leave the translation part to the medias to decipher.
When the whole world is looking for the missing plane, the shaman suddenly appeared at the airport. I think his and his groups' intention to help search should not be looked down upon. To him, looking in those pipes, holding coconuts etc are the only ways that he think he could do to help locate the missing plane. But, the action involved can generate may types of responses from the crowd. And by crowd, we are not talking about those who happen to be in KLIA during his appearance. We are talking about the whole world, from different system of beliefs and different cultures. Your responses depend on which perspective that you are using. In most people, those are stunts that do not deserve any attention especially when Malaysia is priming herself to be developed by 2020.
How technology seems to still eludes us. Malaysia rightly and responsibly dished out all hardwares to look for the missing plane. Fishermen were even employed in the east coast to scour the vast South China Sea to look for any evidences related to the MH370. In the end, we still depend on the brains of the Americans, the Britons, the Australians etc to search for it the unconventional way - doing mathematics complexities at its core. We still need their satellites. We still need to outsource our data to them to calculate the final location. For theory mongers, wouldn't that give people some ideas on our defense capabilities? Obviously, its a room for improvement. And it needs to start with English in school.
Technology has been so simplified - it has become more humane. We find ourselves at ease running through the multiple apps on the interface of our smartphone. We execute it by tapping and in a few seconds, we get excited with he answers that we want. In olden days of computers, that kind of execution may involve computers the size of a warehouse. Even then, it is still called technology.
We think that we are at the brink of a cutting edge technology when we are able to locate ourselves using GPS and satellites. And we easily come to conclusion that since this tool called "technology" has made the world smaller, a whisper here can be heard yonder. What more a missing plane. It is just impossible that "technology" can miss this big metal bird. We just have to accept that there are limitations in everything. The ease of locating ourselves does not equate to the effort of locating a missing plane. The principles used here are different. One size does not fit all.
That is what science is all about. Limitations creates ideas. Ideas has helped human to prosper and evolve in the past centuries.
The effects of social media can be devastating. Family members in faraway Beijing in China, away from the press conference in Kuala Lumpur seemed to get updated via the social media - verified or not. News spread like wildfire, especially the untrue and sensational ones.
The dilution effect of information caused it to be treated equally like the verified news. Therefore, rumours can be equally accepted as true when in effect it is false. Readers who are not careful can wholly accept it as true - creating a hysterical reaction reflecting the mental responses to the received news.
When those physical reactions are displayed in public, with zooming cameras and limelight, the stage is created to depict to the world how certain news - still unverified at that moment - has now become verified by the actions of the people and the crowd. The officials were just removed from their hands the privilege to make the call - and it just gets difficult.
I must also praise the effort to handle the psychological well being of distraught immediate family members. When the plane disappeared, a father, a mother, a sister, a brother, a son and a daughter to someone is lost too. It is important that affected family members lands softly as they go through the stages of grief. The workers, some of the many unsung heroes, are working quietly behind the scene.
It is no doubt that this episode of MH370 is truly unprecedented and bears the weight of one of the greatest mysteries of aviation history. It is quite unthinkable at first that this event can occur in Malaysia. But now, it is slowly accepted for most people. As a friend say, life is short. What we make and do in this short life that matters most.
The most glaring question on hand right now is, "WHY?". Why did anybody who took control of the plane flew out of its intended path, into one of the world's most isolated places? A lot of theories have been churned from this simple question. And, it does not bring any respite to any family members associated with the ill fated plane.
Communications seems to be very important in times like this. From the first day of the missing plane, a lot of miscalculation and poor coordination were quite obvious. But it was managed somehow, and was swept nicely under the carpet - temporarily till the person with the bin came and removed it.
In such environment when the eye of the world is looking directly at us, professionalism must be at all times high. In no way that we are supposed to answer, "we do not know", when the most correct answer should be "we will find out". Both these answer draws a different perspective by the receiver. If you do not know, it means that you are incompetent or ignorant and you are not within the reach of the people under you. It also shows that you are not doing anything at all to finding a solution to the case. If you say that you are still working, well, at least it gives some hope to the listener that you are not lazing around while people's life are at stake.
Some news portals and blogs quite evidently pointed to the ineptitude of our high ranking servicemen to speak well to the media, especially English. Somewhere, it was suggested that, though the suggestions may not reach them, the speaker should correspond in Malay and leave the translation part to the medias to decipher.
When the whole world is looking for the missing plane, the shaman suddenly appeared at the airport. I think his and his groups' intention to help search should not be looked down upon. To him, looking in those pipes, holding coconuts etc are the only ways that he think he could do to help locate the missing plane. But, the action involved can generate may types of responses from the crowd. And by crowd, we are not talking about those who happen to be in KLIA during his appearance. We are talking about the whole world, from different system of beliefs and different cultures. Your responses depend on which perspective that you are using. In most people, those are stunts that do not deserve any attention especially when Malaysia is priming herself to be developed by 2020.
How technology seems to still eludes us. Malaysia rightly and responsibly dished out all hardwares to look for the missing plane. Fishermen were even employed in the east coast to scour the vast South China Sea to look for any evidences related to the MH370. In the end, we still depend on the brains of the Americans, the Britons, the Australians etc to search for it the unconventional way - doing mathematics complexities at its core. We still need their satellites. We still need to outsource our data to them to calculate the final location. For theory mongers, wouldn't that give people some ideas on our defense capabilities? Obviously, its a room for improvement. And it needs to start with English in school.
Technology has been so simplified - it has become more humane. We find ourselves at ease running through the multiple apps on the interface of our smartphone. We execute it by tapping and in a few seconds, we get excited with he answers that we want. In olden days of computers, that kind of execution may involve computers the size of a warehouse. Even then, it is still called technology.
We think that we are at the brink of a cutting edge technology when we are able to locate ourselves using GPS and satellites. And we easily come to conclusion that since this tool called "technology" has made the world smaller, a whisper here can be heard yonder. What more a missing plane. It is just impossible that "technology" can miss this big metal bird. We just have to accept that there are limitations in everything. The ease of locating ourselves does not equate to the effort of locating a missing plane. The principles used here are different. One size does not fit all.
That is what science is all about. Limitations creates ideas. Ideas has helped human to prosper and evolve in the past centuries.
The effects of social media can be devastating. Family members in faraway Beijing in China, away from the press conference in Kuala Lumpur seemed to get updated via the social media - verified or not. News spread like wildfire, especially the untrue and sensational ones.
The dilution effect of information caused it to be treated equally like the verified news. Therefore, rumours can be equally accepted as true when in effect it is false. Readers who are not careful can wholly accept it as true - creating a hysterical reaction reflecting the mental responses to the received news.
When those physical reactions are displayed in public, with zooming cameras and limelight, the stage is created to depict to the world how certain news - still unverified at that moment - has now become verified by the actions of the people and the crowd. The officials were just removed from their hands the privilege to make the call - and it just gets difficult.
I must also praise the effort to handle the psychological well being of distraught immediate family members. When the plane disappeared, a father, a mother, a sister, a brother, a son and a daughter to someone is lost too. It is important that affected family members lands softly as they go through the stages of grief. The workers, some of the many unsung heroes, are working quietly behind the scene.
It is no doubt that this episode of MH370 is truly unprecedented and bears the weight of one of the greatest mysteries of aviation history. It is quite unthinkable at first that this event can occur in Malaysia. But now, it is slowly accepted for most people. As a friend say, life is short. What we make and do in this short life that matters most.
