RetiredF4
Possibly the biggest disappointment of Hishamuddin's responses to 4 Corners was his inability or unwillingness to acknowledge that in choosing not to have the military scramble an intercept to the unidentified aircraft showing on primary radar, the opportunity to gather valuable information was lost. Hishamuddin took the tack "What would have been the point? We weren't going to shoot it down - it was civilian".
The point would have been that, the military having been advised that MH 370 was missing, an intercept could have:
A) Identified the aircraft as an MAS 777
B) Possibly identified it as 9M-MRO
C) Possibly identified if a person appeared to be in control on the flight deck
D) Possibly noticed whether there was any evidence of a fire onboard
E) Possibly set a few minds at rest by noticing any sign of a small hull breach or other visible damage accounting for the off course behaviour
Obviously they had no concept of the magnitude of the mystery developing around this flight, however this should really be part of the point of having SOPS in relation to any unidentified aircraft crossing their airspace, as Anwar Ibrahim pointed out. Several key items of the mystery may have been enlightened if the Malaysians had not simply watched the aircraft go by unchallenged.