KUALA LUMPUR: The Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah yesterday called on all parties regardless of their background to provide sufficient assistance in whatever ways they can to ensure human security around the world.
Stating that the assistance was no longer the responsibility of governments, organisations or corporations but rather every individual, he said every human being around the world should have the feeling of ‘freedom of fear’ or ‘freedom of want’.
“I take this to mean that it enables a person to be untroubled by an imminent threat or loss of loss of life, liberty of livelihood. Simply put, human security enables people to feel confident about the present or the future,” he said in his speech at the International Humanitarian Conference 2011 organised by Mercy Malaysia here, yesterday.
Raja Nazrin also stressed that human security today was not all about freedom from warfare but it was also about being able to bounce back steadily from natural disasters.
“The sources of mankind’s insecurity, however, have multiplied. If nothing else, the string of natural catasrophes, changing weather patterns and pandemics that have taken a huge toll on human life over the last decade should give us pause as to what our sense of security ought to be based,” he said.
He also reminded that money was not only the end-all solution to ease humanitarian crisis, but it is also depended on well-thought-out and researched planning, organisation and execution.
“Who can forget, in the wake of devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohuku region of Japan in March this year and the patient, olderly and disciplined response of its residents? Instead of complaints, Japan’s communities and individuals took it upon themselves to contribute towards recovery efforts. — Bernama