Global community must look at new framework – Shafie

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Shafie (left) speaking to Rokas.

KOTA KINABALU (May 27): The global community must look at a new framework that sees a win-win situation for everyone, said Datuk Seri Panglima Mohd Shafie Apdal.

The party president of Warisan and also the leader of the opposition in Sabah expressed his opinion when speaking to Michalis Rokas, Ambassador and head of the European Union delegation to Malaysia.

The ambassador had called on Shafie at his residence in Kota Kinabalu on Thursday while he was on a working visit to Sabah.

Their discussion included topics ranging from economic issues in the country to current global developments.

Shafie pointed out that the Russian-Ukraine war as an indicator of the urgent need for international policies to change by ensuring that all parties benefited.

“War doesn’t solve problems. It kills and causes unnecessary suffering that could have been avoided if all parties work together based on a win-win model,” he said.

A case in point is Palestine where the West’s double standards rising from geopolitics, have led to the prolonged conflict and violence and choked any effort on the Israeli-Palestine peace plan.

“The real victims are the people who suffer and die because of this. Their children have no future.”
Shafie said the global policies on Palestine were divisive and failed to bring about any mutual benefit either to Palestine or the Middle East.

“It is therefore not surprising that some have not joined in condemning Russia for the attack because of these policies that are deemed unfair and only benefiting one party,” he added.

“These double standards will erode the credibility of any global policy and eventually fail to serve any good for mankind.”

Meanwhile, Shafie also stressed his concerns on environmental protection and wildlife conservation, particularly in Sabah.

Forest exploitation due mainly to illegal and uncontrolled logging makes Sabah’s pristine jungles vulnerable to deforestation and he laments on the lack of enforcement from the authorities to prevent this.

He welcomed assistance from the European Union to ensure that the virgin jungles in Sabah remain one of the world’s last bastions of protection for endangered species and wildlife habitats.

“Our pygmy elephants are endemic to the island of Borneo and is mostly found in Sabah but it has already become endangered due to loss of habitat. If we don’t do something serious we may end up losing these gentle animals like how we have lost the rhinos,” he said.