Beyond the colossal cliche of calling the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 — that went missing on March 8 on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur — a mystery is the increasingly desperate urgency of having to know what really happened to it. The welter of information that has emerged since that fateful day offers neither hope nor clarity and while this is, arguably, understandable — given the unprecedented nature of this incident — what is confusing is the communication strategy of the Malaysian government.

That it is under tremendous pressure to get to the truth is incontrovertible. But its attempts to get to it are being seen by many as dodged by contradictions and ambiguity. The latest revelation, that the pilot’s sign-off message was different to what was originally put out, only adds to the sense of bewilderment. What is sorely needed at this time is total transparency and clear communication on all aspects of the evidence the Malaysian government has with it. Nearly a month on, as the weight of the unanswered questions reaches unendurable proportions for the relatives of the missing passengers, complete clarity of communication is the only salve they can be offered.