NEW YORK: As the high-profiled Malaysian delegation led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak arrives to address the 69th United Nations (UN) General Assembly session, two issues will invariably, figure prominently in much of the debates.
The two are the atrocities committed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – ISIL) and the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 aircraft in eastern Ukraine on July 17.
The downing of the MH17 aircraft, by default, will also turn attention to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the threat posed by Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine.
A sampling of these two issues was provided by Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop during the UN Security Council (UNSC) ministerial debate on Iraq, chaired by US Secretary of State John Kerry, on Friday. (On that day, too, Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman addressed the UNSC).
Australia has been ‘actively affected’ by the two issues, as one Australian official told Bernama on condition of anonymity. Indeed, Bishop said ISIL’s actions posed a threat, not only to Australia but also, particularly to Southeast Asia and beyond.
According to United States (US) sources, there has been an informal ‘division of labour’ drawn out between the US and Australia: while the US is coordinating with Arab countries and its traditional Western allies to form a coalition to combat the ISIL menace, Australian interlocutors have started meeting counterparts from a number of Southeast Asian countries, particularly the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia to work out a strategy to counter the ISIL threat.
Bishop recalled that just a few days back, Australia had busted a plot to carry out beheadings by an Australia-based, ISIL-inspired group. The US and Australian media have been reporting that at least two Filipinos, 50 Indonesians, 20 Malaysians and 200 Australians are in Syria to join forces with the Isil.
Citing intelligence reports, former Philippine president Fidel V Ramos recently claimed that about 100 Filipinos were currently training in Iraq to fight as jihadists.
The Philippines has called for a joint global effort to combat the ISIL. Already, there have been two Filipino casualties who were killed fighting for ISIL.
But another subject that is going to dominate the debate and preoccupy the international community is the situation in Ukraine and the downing of Flight MH17 which drew worldwide condemnation.
There is outrage felt in the Netherlands and Australia over the downing of the MH17 flight which had a large number of passengers from the two countries, besides Malaysians.
With winter approaching, Anifah told Bernama Saturday night on the sidelines of a press briefing that it would become increasingly difficult to retrieve the remains of the Malaysian passengers. It was necessary to do this before weather conditions worsen.
“It would be totally unacceptable for the families and loved ones of the victims to experience the unimaginable pain of losing their loved ones, only to learn that the perpetrators might not be held to account, due to our inaction,” he said earlier at the Security Council meeting on Ukraine.
Feeling that its position would be untenable in view of the onslaught expect from some UN members over the MH17 downing, Russia has been talking about an ‘information war’.
Russia’s UN Ambassador, Vitali Churkin has called on the UN to conduct an ‘objective investigation’ into the MH17 downing.
He alleged that his country was being blamed, without any evidence, for the downing of the plane. — Bernama