Tankertrashnav ... not disputing anything you said, but is it not conceivable that different "Alert States" might be employed?
I accept that the region 'enjoys' a degree of tension, but in the absence of any 'indicators' is it not possible that the Malaysian AD world was in a relaxed state? Or do they have to monitor incursions constantly the way we did/do in respect of Soviet/Russian VLR aircraft?
Just surmising, nothing more.