If the ATC's, military and civil aviation authorities of neighboring countries had been informed of the situation immediately, the chances of 370's flight path being tracked would have increased dramatically and we would not be faced with the present situation.
I thought it had been agreed or presumed that they were looking for a ditched aircraft rather than a missing one.
The RMAF response would have been for surface search and not an air search. Depending on what they had available they might either have set up for a day search or an immediate launch to locate survivors based on the ELT. There was of course no ELT so where would you start a night search?