MH370 families against building of memorial in Perth

PETALING JAYA: Families of those on missing Malaysia Airlines' MH370 are against the building of a memorial site in Perth.
The West Australian (WA) government issued a tender for a A$125,000 (RM392,770) memorial on Perth's Elizabeth Quay development in December for the 239 passengers and crew on the flight.
However, families of the MH370 victims, two thirds of whom were Chinese nationals, have united to appeal to Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the WA government to shelve the idea.
They said the proposal for the memorial site has come too soon, according to a report by Radio Australia yesterday. They felt that the proposed memorial is in the wrong location and they were not consulted over the idea.
Jiang Hui, 44, who lost his mother aboard MH370, has acted as a spokesman for the families of Chinese victims.
He said monuments carry huge symbolic meaning in China. "The establishment of such monuments usually takes place only after the matter has come to an end. But so far we don't know where our relatives are and where the plane is," the report quoted him as saying.
Sher Keen, president of Aircrash Support Group Australia, an organisation that supports air crash victims and their families, also sent a letter protesting the Perth memorial to Turnbull just before the new year.
"They just can't see the sense in placing a memorial there and placing a memorial there now," Keen said.