Malaysia's deputy leader yesterday urged Myanmar's junta to let Southeast Asian militaries play a bigger role in providing aid to cyclone victims, a rare plea for foreign intervention in a region where nations generally stay out of each other’s affairs.
The appeal by Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak at an international security conference came after Myanmar’s Deputy Defense Minister Aye Myint used to forum to claim his government acted promptly to provide relief in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which struck on May 2.
Najib said the tragedy is of such a huge scale that it is “something that we cannot take lightly.”
PHOTO: AFP
More than 75,000 people died from the cyclone and some 2.4 million survivors are in need of fresh water, food and medical care.
Myanmar has not allowed foreign militaries to deliver aid directly to cyclone victims, but Najib suggested that militaries of the 10 member ASEAN be allowed to do so.
“Certainly ... we would like to see ASEAN being allowed to play a much bigger role because the situation is very, very serious in Myanmar,” Najib said, sitting on the stage with Aye Myint.
“The only viable organization that can really be effective is the military,” he said, because of its ability to deploy a large number of helicopters and boats.
“At the risk of offending my colleague here I would certainly speak on behalf of ASEAN that we do want to play a bigger role in the context of tragedy in Myanmar,” Najib said.
It was the most direct public appeal so far by a member of ASEAN for Myanmar’s military rulers in to give up their stubborn refusal to allow foreign intervention. ASEAN has generally followed the principle of noninterference in each other’s affairs, and Najib’s plea was unprecedented.
Najib, however, rejected the suggestion that countries should unilaterally go into Myanmar to provide relief if the junta does not provide help for its people quickly.
“You cannot simply override [national sovereignty] no matter how strongly you feel about the need to provide support,” he said.
Several people in the audience spoke up after Najib’s comments to criticize Myanmar, with one questioner calling its actions “a scandal.”
Aye Myint sat stoically through the verbal attack.
He also did not respond to Najib’s plea, saying only that his government is not preventing aid workers from doing their work.
Earlier in a speech, Aye Myint said his government acted promptly in rescuing and providing relief the 2.4 million cyclone survivors.
He said that food, water and medicines had been provided to all victims, and added that the government had now moved to a rehabilitation phase.
Many international aid agencies and foreign governments say little government aid had reached most of the survivors.
Aye Myint said the cyclone killed 77,738 people and left 55,917 missing. At least 19,359 were injured.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was