MH370 With the announcement of three new ministerial committees on the MH370 incident, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang is questioning whether the government is abandoning the proposal to set up a parliamentary select committee (PSC) or royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on the matter instead.

He said acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein owed parliament and the nation an explanation whether the announcement of the ministerial committees as well as a separate investigation team "precluded and pre-empted" the formation of the PSC.

"Has Hishammuddin fulfilled his undertaking to parliament and tabled the proposal for a PSC or a RCI to the cabinet, if so when, what was the cabinet's decision, and why?" he asked in a press statement yesterday.

On Saturday, Hishammuddin announced the formation of two separate bodies to look into the MH370 incident – an investigation team as required by the International Civil Aviation Organisation's (ICAO) rules on air accident investigations, and the three ministerial committees.

The latter is comprised of the Next-of-Kin Committee led by Deputy Foreign Affiars Minister Hamzah Zainuddin, a technical team led by Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi, and a third committee led by Deputy Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Bakri to oversee the deployment of search and rescue assets.

Hishammuddin said the ministerial committees are set up to "streamline and strengthen our on-going efforts" and will be working closely with the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) based in Perth.

Lim ( left ) pointed out that Hishammuddin had told parliament that he would bring the proposal to set up the PSC to the cabinet for a decision.

He said the PSC would be in a position to investigate further than the scope of the ICAO-mandated investigation team, such as investigating whether the crisis could have been averted if air traffic controllers and the Royal Malaysian Air Force radar operators had been vigilant.

Other aspects the PSC can investigate, he said, is whether the first week of the search in the South China Sea was a waste, and whether three days had been wasted searching the wrong part of the Indian Ocean due to poor coordination.

"It will also be the proper province of the PSC on MH370 to review whether the MH370 disaster warrants new and additional budgets for more military assets and a more efficient civil aviation system and to make recommendations to Parliament, the government and the nation," he added, noting that Hishammuddin has been talking about upgrading these following the incident.

DAP parliamentarians have repeatedly called for a parliamentary select committee on MH370, which had gone missing since March 8, but thus far without success.