MAS no satellite contract therefore by your own statement the switching vhf to data would disconnect ACARS - agreed?
No I don't agree. From various news sources (Google MAS satellite contract) MAS didn't have the contract to
continuously transmit its position and other continuous data (ala AF447) via ACARS satellite data (in order to save about 10usd/flt), but they retained the the ability to transmit data via satellite on a request basis. For example to request weather or contact ops in an emergency, or when using CPDLC. Without the satellite connection the aircraft wouldn't be able to use CPDLC when outside of VHF range, and I know they were able to do that.
To turn off the ACARS data transmission you have to go into the com's page on center console, and perform the four step process to actually turn it off. Simply moving the VHF 3 radio head out of the data mode won't do it.