How to cover your flaws on MH370

The Malaysian Government has roundly been criticised by one and all for its dismal handling of the MH370 incident. It was in denial, it did not have the proper facts at their command, often it didn’t know what to do and it was miserable in being open, transparent and accountable throughout the futile search for MH370 and its victims.

Throughout all this Malaysia’s Defence Minister and Acting Transport Minister Hishamuddin Hussein was the man in charge of Malaysia’s search and Rescue efforts. He was also its chief spokesperson, a role that many critics thought he failed to play properly because he came across as arrogant and lacking in empathy.

To this day the plane has yet to be found. The families of hundreds of passengers and crew are still suffering from a lack of closure as a result.

This has not prevented Hishamuddin from moving on to co-author a book on – get this – “MH370: Flying Through Crisis. Lessons in Crisis Communications”.

In a post on the Facebook of his co-author is a photograph of them smiling (an appropriate gesture given the circumstances?) and posing with their magnum opus.

What does the book contain? The title suggests advice on how to communicate well during a crisis. Given Hashimuddin’s performance during the MH370 crisis he would be very well-qualified to dispense advice on what not to do during a crisis.

If this is the case then it would be a valuable resource for Crisis management enthusiasts.

So when Unspun was in Malaysia last week celebrating the new year and eating durians, he went to every bookshop he passed by to find a copy of the book but like MH 370 it proved elusive and could not be found.

If anyone finds me a copy of it please mail a copy to Unspun as he’d love to review it.