The Malaysian govt, knowing that the plane had turned west and crossed over to the Strait of Malacca, still let at least 4 countries waste valuable resources searching for an airliner they would never find.
Then, upon detecting said airliner on radar, instead of following it or asking for help right then, did nothing and now ask the whole world to help them find an airplane in an area that is basically a rectangle between Beijing, Teheran, Tananarive and Perth!
I know nothing about that country but if the Captain has proved to be an opponent of such state of affairs, that only speaks well of his character.
Btw, does anyone have software or knows his spherical geometry enough to calculate what percentage of the planet surface that area represents?