Malaysians now asking for help

US officials say the Malaysian government is finally beginning to cooperate with international offers of assistance. Previously, the government has refused to allow an FBI team of investigators into the country, and ignored an offer from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, an American organization which helped find a jetliner that disappeared in the Atlantic in 2009. China’s ambassador to Malaysia has called the government “inexperienced and lacking the capacity” to carry out the investigation properly. Now a US official says that things are beginning to change:

Initially, there was a little bit of fog of war. That has cleared. They had a hard time pulling this together. Every intelligence agency in the world was beating their door down. I think they were overwhelmed, and that has settled a little bit.

The government now welcomes FBI technical assistance, and is actively soliciting international help.