Investigators are examining whether the system, which is meant to prevent aircraft from stalling, was tied to the crash of Lion Air Flight 610.

The Boeing 737-MAX plunged into the Java Sea on October 29, killing all 189 people aboard.

The mid-range jet’s engines are heavier than those installed on prior versions, meaning the plane can stall under different conditions.

Boeing made modifications to the anti-stall system without informing air carriers and their crews, according to the Allied Pilots Association.

“We should have been informed,” said APA spokesman Dennis Tajer. “It is just silly.”

“How this happened is definitely something which has to be resolved,” said Tajer, who pilots 737s himself. “Boeing will have to answer to that.”

Failing to share all necessary information violates the aviation world’s “safety culture,” he said.

Boeing did not respond to AFP requests for comment. On Tuesday, the aircraft manufacturer said it was focusing on cooperating with investigators.

In a letter to pilots on November 10, the APA said Boeing’s recent “Emergency Airworthiness Directive” had not addressed the key question of incorrect readings from Angle of Attack sensors, which monitor the angle of an aircraft’s nose.

The AOA “may be the causal system in the Lion Air incident,” Mike Michaelis, chairman of an APA safety committee, said in the letter.

“Awareness is the key with all safety issues,” he said. “You are aware this anomaly may occur and there is a mitigation procedure.”

– Diving, not climbing –

In this case, an AOA malfunction could cause the plane’s computers to detect a stall incorrectly and put the plane into a dive when it should climb instead.

The APA says pilots should retake control to prevent a crash.

“We do not believe that Boeing would purposefully omit critical information from its operators or customers regarding key aircraft systems,” said aviation expert Addison Schonland.

Airspeed indicator malfunctions had been recorded during prior flights for the jet, he added.

According to Richard Aboulafia, vice president for analysis at Teal Group, it is possible Boeing underestimated matters, believing the change too minor to mention.

A pilot who asked to remain anonymous said manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus recommend only a few days of training for updated aircraft models such as the 737-MAX.

This is because pilots’ working environment and philosophy remain unchanged, he said, adding that the 737-MAX had only two sensors and not three, like its rival Airbus A320.

An American pilot who also requested anonymity said the plane ideally should require more than one sensor to display a stall before reacting.

“If one fails, it seems odd that the automated stabilizer system would depend on only one versus requiring both to display a stall,” he said.

The 737-MAX in question had only begun service for Lion Air in August.

So far, only the plane’s flight data recorder has been recovered. Its cockpit voice recorder could offer crucial answers on the pilots’ conduct and the alarms that sounded during the accident.

The Rohingya issue was discussed in almost every forum of leaders of Asean and their partners from the Asia Pacific during the summit this week in the city-state.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told his Asean colleagues that Thailand, which will chair the regional grouping next year, viewed Asean as capable of playing an important role in addressing the situation in Rakhine state in a constructive, tangible and sustainable manner.

The group should enhance the Asean Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) in providing humanitarian assistance to affected people, support the commencement of credible repatriation on a meaningful scale and the improvement of the quality of life for all communities in Rakhine state, a source quoted Prayut as telling the meeting.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said that he was upset with the situation in Rakhine and urged the group to make collective efforts to help Myanmar end the humanitarian crisis.

Myanmar State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi (L) adjusts her headphones beside Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte (R) during the 21st ASEAN-Japan Summit at the 33rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related meetings in Singapore, 14 November 2018. // EPA-EFW PHOTO

Earlier, the Malaysian senior leader slammed Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi as trying to defend the indefensible. “They are actually oppressing these people to the point of killing them, mass killings,” he said on the sidelines of the Asean business forum on Tuesday.

More than 700,000 people have taken refuge in Bangladesh since violence broke out in August last year when a militant group attacked security outposts prompting a harsh reaction from military’s clearance operation.

Investigations by the United Nations human rights body indicated that genocide and crimes against humanity occurred in Rakhine and called for the case to be referred to the International Criminal Court.

Suu Kyi said during a meeting with her Asean colleagues that her government understood the international concerns over the situation in Rakhine state and she had tried to fix the problem through peaceful ways for reconciliation and unity within her country, according to a source at the meeting.

While many Asean leaders such as Mahathir used strong words in discussing the Rohingya crisis, most of them expressed their support to and provided a comfort level to the Nay Pyi Taw government to resolve the problem, the source said.

Asean has mulled dispatching representatives to Myanmar to oversee the repatriation and resettlement of the refugees after Myanmar and Bangladesh reached an agreement at the end of October to send thousands of them back beginning today. But the team to be dispatched has not yet been settled, a source said.

In a meeting with Suu Kyi on the sidelines of the Asean Summit, US Vice President Mike Pence said the violence committed by the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) was inexcusable.

Leaders of Asean and its partners from Asia and the Pacific gathered this week to also discuss the contentious issue of the South China Sea, as many members of the group are at loggerheads with China.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang proposed during the summit that Beijing and Asean should finish negotiations on the Code of Conduct (CoC) to regulate the contentious sea within three years.

The joint working group is now preparing a draft text of the CoC for negotiations, according to an Asean official who added that the text would be ready for deliberations by next year.

The CoC will not settle territorial disputes between claimants but Asean aims to have a legally binding instrument to guarantee freedom of navigation and flyover rights as well as ensure peace and stability in the region.

Mahathir told his Asean colleagues at the summit that the group was not in a position to confront China and the CoC was the way to avoid conflict and live with the giant neighbour in peace.

The forum, entitled “Continuing the Ideology of Dr Surin Pitsuwan – From Islamic Studies to the World”, is being organised by Rangsit University in cooperation with the Office of Islamic Committee of Bangkok and Pratheepsat Islamic School.

It will be held on November 27 from 1.30pm to 4.30pm at Rangsit University. Surin died at age 68 on November 30 following an acute heart attack at his home. He was taking a rest after giving an interview to Japanese media, and was scheduled to give a lecture in the afternoon when he suffered the attack.

He was rushed to nearby hospital, but doctors said he passed away on the trip.

The forum was initiated by his family, and made possible by those who knew him from his time as a Democrat Party politician, high ranking diplomat and Asean bloc chief.

Privy Councillor member General Surayud Chulanont will give the opening address at the forum while Arthit Ourairat, president of Rangsit University, will deliver the welcome speech.

Surayud, then Thai prime minister, nominated Surin as a candidate for the position of Asean secretary general which he won.

The keynote speakers will be Musa Hitam, Malaysia’s former deputy prime minister and home affairs minister, Asean deputy secretarygeneral AKP Mochtan, Morocco Ambassador to Thailand Abdelilah El Housni, and Aroon Boonchom, Senior Advisor to Sheikul Islam & Chairman of Bangkok Metropolitan Islamic Committee as well as former director general of the World Trade Organisation Supachai Panitchpakdi.

There will be a video address by Phra Vajiramedhi.

The speakers at a second academic forum, entitled “Dr Surin Pitsuwan’s Ideology Towards Thai Community, Asean and the World”, will be Trairong Suvankiri, a former Democrat MP; Suvat Chiraphant, former ambassador and Surin’s chief of staff in the foreign ministry; and Samai Charoenchang, former Democrat.

Veteran journalist Suthichai Yoon will moderate. Other future events are expected to be organised in the memory of Surin.

Bangladesh says it will start repatriating refugees from an initial group of 2,260 from Thursday despite warnings the Rohingya face almost certain persecution in Myanmar.

Many of the million refugees in the teeming camps have expressed terror at the prospect of returning to Buddhist majority Myanmar, where UN investigators say they were targeted in a military campaign that amounted to genocide.

Bangladesh says only those who volunteer will be returned, but the UN rights chief says many refugees are panicking at the prospect of being sent back against their will.

    Some families listed to return have fled, community leaders and refugees have told AFP, hiding in the hills where more than 720,000 Rohingya sought refuge from a Myanmar military crackdown launched from August last year.

They joined some 300,000 Rohingya already living in squalid camps in Bangladesh’s southeast for years, having fled previous waves of violence in Rakhine state.

Additional police and soldiers were seen patrolling the camps and checking identity cards, stoking anxiety as the deadline for repatriation looms, refugee leaders told AFP.

“Everyone is tense, the situation is very bad,” one community leader Abdur Rahim told AFP in Cox’s Bazar, the border district hosting a small city of refugees perched on hillsides.

“There are a lot of army and police inside the camps. They are checking the ID cards of Rohingya.”

Nur Islam, another leader in a different part of the camps, said the military were more visible in recent days as Bangladeshi officials try and convince refugees they will be safe if they go back.

“They are trying to convince the refugees that repatriation will only occur if the Burmese government has promised they will not harm the Rohingya,” he said, using an alternative name for Myanmar.

A local police chief, Abul Khaer, played down reports of additional security, saying nothing in terms of personnel had changed in recent months.

Bangladesh officials remain optimistic the large-scale refugee returns will start as planned Thursday.

They plan to send 150 people on the opening day.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday urged Dhaka to reconsider.

“With an almost complete lack of accountability – indeed with ongoing violations – returning Rohingya refugees to Myanmar at this point effectively means throwing them back into the cycle of human rights violations that this community has been suffering for decades,” she said in a statement.

She said the violations against the Rohingya “amount to the worst atrocities, including crimes against humanity and possibly even genocide.”

US Vice President Mike Pence told Aung San Suu Kyi the violence against the Rohingya was “without excuse”, adding pressure to Myanmar’s civilian leader who this week had an Amnesty International honour revoked.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization based in the United States, issued a statement Sunday denouncing South Korean boy band BTS for wearing hats with a logo similar to a Nazi symbol and flying Nazi-like flags at a concert in the past.

“The result is that young generations in Korea and around the world are more likely to identify bigotry and intolerance as being ‘cool’ and help erase the lessons of history. The management of this group, not only the front performers, should publicly apologize,” the statement said.

Known as Bodan Shonendan in Japan, BTS has been under fire as one of its seven members once wore a T-shirt with an image of the atomic bombing. The group’s participation in a music show on the TV Asahi network on Friday was canceled because of the controversy.

The boy band, whose members are all in their 20s, have achieved worldwide success with polished dance performances and a diverse range of songs.

Meanwhile AFP reported that the managers of BTS have issued an extensive apology after controversy erupted in the lucrative Japanese market over a T-shirt worn by one of the vocalists showing a nuclear blast.

In a 1,000-word statement released in Korean, English and Japanese, management firm Big Hit Entertainment repeatedly offered its “sincerest apologies”.

It sought to distance the septet from the row, saying it bore responsibility, and went on: “Big Hit does not condone any activities of war or the use of atomic weapons.”

Responding to further accusations the K-pop stars had used Nazi imagery, the company said it opposed all organisations “oriented towards political extremism and totalitarian beliefs including Nazism”.

Known for their boyish good looks, floppy haircuts and meticulously choreographed dance moves, BTS have become one of South Korea’s best-known and most valuable musical exports.

They have sold 380,000 tickets for their current Japanese tour, and their singles sell hundreds of thousands of copies each.

But Koreans bitterly resent Tokyo’s brutal 1910-45 colonisation of the peninsula, which came to an end with Japan’s Second World War defeat after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Historical issues still weigh heavily on the relationship between the neighbours, both of them market democracies and US allies, even while they share widespread business and cultural connections.

Japanese television station TV Asahi last week cancelled a performance by BTS after a photo went viral of band member Jimin wearing the offending shirt.

The garment featured the phrase “PATRIOTISM OURHISTORY LIBERATION KOREA” repeated multiple times alongside an image of an atomic bomb explosion and another of Koreans celebrating their independence.

As the row escalated, images emerged of a concert last year where BTS wore uniforms and waved flags that critics said recalled Nazi symbols, and a 2014 photoshoot in which band leader RM wore a cap bearing an SS Death’s Head logo.

The SS played a key role in the Nazi mass murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust and a prominent Jewish human rights group accused the band of “mocking the past”.

“It goes without saying that this group owes the people of Japan and the victims of Nazism an apology”, said Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles.

“Those designing and promoting this group’s career are too comfortable with denigrating the memory of the past,” he added.

“The result is that young generations in Korea and around the world are more likely to identify bigotry and intolerance as being ‘cool’ and help erase the lessons of history.”

– ‘No braincells’ –

In its statement, published on Facebook late Tuesday, Big Hit Entertainment said the performance in question was of a song by veteran South Korean band Seo Taiji, “Classroom Idea”, which “levies social criticism against rigidly standardised education”.

The display was intended to criticise totalitarianism and was “in no way associated with National Socialism”, it added.

But it “had no intention of causing distress or pain” and was contacting atomic bombs victim associations in Japan and Korea and the the Simon Wiesenthal Centre to explain and apologise, it added.

Big Hit said it had failed to provide “necessary and careful support to our artists”, who were “in no way responsible for any of the issues”.

BTS are the leading lights of the K-pop phenomenon and made history earlier this year by becoming the first K-pop band to top the US album charts, a sign of the genre’s growing global appeal.

South Korean fans and media have rushed to defend their idols.

“You have no braincells,” one fan tweeted regarding the performance accusations. “It’s a song against the education system in Korea.”

And in the conservative JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, Min Kyong-won wrote: “Japan is simply trying to find faults.”

South Korea’s top court last month ordered a Japanese steel giant to compensate victims of wartime forced labour programmes, and Min suggested Japanese networks were “making an example of BTS because of the anti-Korean sentiment in Japan”.

“I did mention the situation in Rakhine state. We asked that efforts be made to correct the wrongdoings,” he told Malaysian media on the sidelines of the Asean summit here on Wednesday.

Dr Mahathir has been critical of Suu Kyi over the plight of the Rohingya and said he has lost faith in her.

On his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday night, Dr Mahathir said they spoke on increasing relations in trade and possible cooperation on technology.

“He raised the possibility of selling airplanes to us. That depends on how much money we have,” he added.

No restaurant has achieved the coveted highest three-star rating. All three two-starred restaurants in the inaugural edition, namely Gaggan, Le Normandie and Mezzaluna have retained their stars, while Suhring has been upgraded from one to two stars.

The little red guide has been extended to cover the best dining venues in the Southern provinces of Phuket and Phang Nga for its 2019 edition. However, Pru restaurant in Phuket is the only one restaurant in the two Southern cities to have been awarded one star. The other 14 restaurants in both cities such as the famous venues of Raya and Chomchan received Bib Gourmand awards for being good value for money.

In addition to Methavalai Sorndaeng and Pru, other new one-starred additions include Le Du, Gaa, Canvas, R.Haan, Saawan, Sorn, Ruen Panya, and Suan Thip.

Dining venues in Bangkok’s neighbouring provinces of Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Sakhon and Samut Prakan are also covered in this new edition.

The funds raised from the collaboration, called (AirAsia)RED, are to be channeled directly to support HIV/AIDS-related programs in ASEAN, where according to UNAIDS’ 2017 data 1.8 million people are HIV positive.

(RED) CEO Deborah Dugan said her organizations is excited about working with AirAsia. “This partnership, (AirAsia)RED, will bring the fight against AIDS to the next level,” she said in a statement.

Meanwhile AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said, “This global partnership aims to give birth to new opportunities for HIV/AIDS sufferers, as well as to boost positive messages and changes in ASEAN. This is only the beginning; wait for our upcoming programs that we are currently preparing together with (RED) and 88rising.”

AirAsia has committed to set aside a portion of its revenues from the ongoing Free Seat promotions and various activities in 2019. It reportedly would donate 20 US cents, sufficient for one day of antiretroviral treatment for HIV positive patients, for every seat sold through airasia.com and the AirAsia app for a 24-hour period starting in the afternoon of Nov. 13.

Additionally, AirAsia and (RED) will collaborate with Asian music label 88rising to launch an ASEAN music and arts festival in 2019 to encourage awareness about HIV/AIDS in the region.

The collaboration was introduced at the RED LIARE (WEAREALLCHAMPIONS) launch at Sepang Aircraft Engineering (SAE), Malaysia, on Monday. Los Angeles rapper Dumbfounded, an 88rising collaborator, performed at the event.