MH370 PKR today refuted UK-based tabloid Daily Mail's report quoting police sources which claimed MH370 pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah had hijacked his own plane after being outraged at Opposition Anwar Ibrahim's conviction for sodomy.

Subang MP R Sivarasa acknowledged that Zaharie joined PKR on Jan 23 last year but said it was unfair to insinuate that the party had something to do with Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which vanished from civilian radar last Saturday.

"The media should not make wild speculations. Daily Mail is a tabloid, they did not refer to any (credible) source," he told a press conference in Kajang today.

The Daily Mail in a report today described Zaharie ( left ) as a "political fanatic" and "obsessive" supporter of Anwar following revelations that he was a PKR member.

Sivarasa noted that the report had labelled Zaharie based on claims that he had attended Anwar’s sodomy trial a day before MH370 took off and that he was supposedly a vocal social activist.

However, Sivarasa, who is also Subang division PKR chief, said the claims were “unverified”.

‘Like any other party member’

“The two claims were used to label him as a ‘political fanatic’ but that conclusion should not be made as they are based on unverified claims.

“He (Zaharie) was like the million other political party members out there,” he said.

Sivarasa, who knew Zaharie, described him as a friendly and kind person who had helped the Subang PKR division in the last general election and participated in its activities.

He added that he only found out that Zaharie was on the ill-fated flight last Sunday and had called his family to give words of encouragement.

“If the police want to meet me and ask about his (Zaharie’s) background, I am prepared to help, this is not a party matter,” he said.

Meanwhile, PKR vice-president Tian Chua ( right ), who was also present at the press conference, said he did not want the search for the missing MH370 to be politicised as it will not help in finding the aircraft.

He added that all attention should be on finding the plane which has been missing for the ninth day today.

“We hope all parties, including the media and political parties including the ruling coalition, to respect the family and passengers of MH370.

“Do not make too many assumptions which could affect the investigation and hurt the feelings of family members.

“For us, we do not want to get into polemics of finger-pointing,” he said.

Anwar was on March 7, a day before MH370 went missing, convicted of sodomy and sentenced to five years in prison by the Court of Appeal.

The opposition leader had claimed his sodomy conviction, the second in his political career, was politically motivated and aimed at preventing him from contesting the Kajang by-election.

He temporarily remains a free man after the same court allowed a stay of execution and granted him bail of RM10,000 pending an appeal at the Federal Court.