THE Government should not trivialise the incident of an Israeli aircraft Boeing 737-400 that entered the Malaysian airspace recently, by saying it was not a coincidence given the latest geopolitical scenario.
“This came about after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would take out Hamas leaders scattered across the world.
“The Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, also just appointed a new director named David Barnea who had vowed to dismantle Iran’s nuclear aspirations and others threatening the nation’s security,” HELP University Faculty of Business, Economics and Accounting and Institute Crime and Criminology senior lecturer R Paneir Selvam told FocusM.
Just after that incident, the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) intercepted 16 Chinese military aircraft for flying “suspiciously” near Beting Patinggi Ali (Luconia Shoals) on Monday.
The Chinese embassy later denied the planes posed any threat, saying the incident involved aircraft in “routine training”.
On May 18, Panier Selvam urged the Government to place Hamas leaders and their families, residing in Malaysia, in safe houses following Netanyahu’s threats.
“And it’s important that their location is kept secret and known only to select few within the security hierarchy,” he was reported saying then.
US-China “proxy war”
Elaborating on the Israeli aircraft incident, Panier Selvam said that the Zionist nation could have used its passenger flight to monitor Malaysia’s security forces and key locations to collect intelligence.
“And this is nothing new as they have done this before on other countries,” he stated.
As for the Chinese incursion, Panier Selvam said that the Government should not take the matter lightly either and urged the authorities to send a strong diplomatic protest to China.
“For starters, we need to reaffirm our stand as a nation party to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). We don’t take the side of any major powers and stand firm on our sovereignty.
“RMAF and the Government has made a clear statement on this, which is good, but we must do more to assert our position,” he opined.
While he believed China was not trying to undermine Malaysia’s sovereign airspace, Panier Selvam said that the Government and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) must make its stand clear and not allow anyone to meddle in its affairs.
“We all know that there is a proxy war between China and the US now. The latter feels threatened by the former’s rise and it wishes to remain as the sole superpower of the world.
“But Malaysia and Asean must make a firm stand and prevent any form of militarisation of this region, like what happened in the Middle East and parts of Africa. Let’s not have another Vietnam on our hands,” Panier Selvam remarked. – June 5, 2021
