MH17: Two Years On, Families Still Await Justice To Be Served

By Yasmin Abdul Manan KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 (Bernama) -- "17 July 2014, starting our new hijrah, Alhamdulillah" was Ariza Ghazalee's chilling last post on her Facebook account, attached with a picture of neatly arranged luggages that she uploaded before departing onboard the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Two years has since passed but the grim posting still lingers in the mind of Zulrusdi Mohamad Hol, cousin of Ariza Ghazalee who was among 298 innocent people onboard the Boeing 777 aircraft which was shot down before crashing while en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. None survived. For Zulrusdi it may be two long years since the unfortunate episode but his family members are still waiting for justice to be served on those irresponsible perpetrators of the heinous crime. He said despite the grief that the family had been suffering since the gruesome incident, they would continue to seek for justice no matter to what extent. "There has been absolutely no justice served, we have been waiting very patiently for answers but sadly till this very second no transparency is seen. Those who committed this thoughtless act is still out there running free. "We want to know who did this. Those people who are involved should be punished and they should pay for the damages done. "It seems those involved in the investigation are practically silent on this matter, when this takes place people will tend to forget about it and this cannot happen," he told Bernama. Ariza Gazalee together with her husband Tambi Jiee and four children Muhammad Afif Tambi, Muhammad Afzal Tambi, Marsha Azmeena Tambi and Muhammad Afruz Tambi were onboard the doomed aircraft. MH17 was shot down while cruising at an altitude of 30,000ft and crashed in a tense area of Ukraine near the Russian border. Last year, chairman of Dutch Safety Board Tjibbe Joustra confirmed that MH17 was shot down by a Buk surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine. The report came out after 15 months of investigations undertaken by a joint investigation team from the Netherlands, Ukraine, Malaysia, Australia, United Kingdom, the United States and Russia. Meanwhile, when asked on how he and his family members were coping with the loss of their loved ones, Zulrusdi said it was a sad event that they thought about everyday. "But as Muslims we can only pray for them, we accept the takdir (fate). We may seem cool and calm in our daily lives but deep in our hearts we feel the sorrow and pain," he said. On efforts that has been undertaken by the government towards the tedious investigation, he hoped that more aggresive steps could be taken in bringing those responsible for the crime to justice. "They must pressure the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) to expedite investigation in getting the final finding of this incident," he added. For Munirah Mustafa, 54, whose sister, Mastura Mustafa was a stewardess onboard MH17, she could still vividly recalled the last message her sister sent to her via Whatsapp before boarding MH17 at Amsterdam. "She (Mastura) said she wanted to cook 'sambal tempoyak' when she returns home. She asked me to care of myself. I never thought it was going to be her last request," she said. When asked on how their father, Mustafa Abdul Samad, 84, was coping with the loss of his daughter throughout these two years, she said that he did not show his sadness but deep inside he missed her and had accepted it. Munirah said this year's Hari Raya Aidilfitri was celebrated moderately as this was the first time that the MH17 anniversary fell during Syawal. -- BERNAMA