AS the war in Ukraine escalates, a foreign media claimed that senior Malaysian officials, including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah blundered in their response to the crisis.
South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported today that Malaysia’s evacuation plans suffered several setbacks, with Malaysian high commissioner to Ukraine Fadhilah Daud having to step in and proceed with the evacuation plans.
“Fadhilah is hailed as a hero for having the gumption to proceed with the evacuation plan,” the report stated.
Citing various Government sources, it was said that the problem was caused by Ismail Sabri and Saifuddin’s dismissive attitude towards Western intelligence in January on the imminent Russian invasion.
“These officials had described the intelligence as a ‘Western narrative’, leading the evacuation mission to become a “cluster f**k”, one source mention.
“The situation is partly the consequence of having a minister who is so desperate to not fall for Western narrative, he starts believing the nonsense peddled by the other side,” another source added.
Speaking on the matter, Malaysian security expert Munira Mustaffa said it was “unfortunate” that local authorities had failed to act on credible intelligence from the West.
She added that the US and UK, had in unprecedented fashion, publicised their intelligence on Russia’s invasion plans as part of a last-ditch diplomacy effort to deter the war.
KL appeasing Moscow?
Washington had evacuated most of its embassy staff on Feb 12, while London said on Feb 18 that it was moving its diplomatic mission out of Kyiv.
“There were already plenty of signs and indicators [about the invasion]. Why they were dismissed and ignored must be explained for accountability,” said Munira, who is a non-resident fellow at Washington DC’s Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy.
On related matter, some commentators noticed that Malaysia did not outrightly condemn Russia for its blatant breach of international law, which they claimed was in tandem with Kuala Lumpur’s “appeasement” of Moscow.
They noticed that Ismail Sabri only expressed “sadness” over the invasion on Thursday. However, the Prime Minister stated today that he was “seriously concerned over the escalation of conflict in Ukraine and urged all concerned parties to de-escalate and prevent loss of lives and devastation”.
“At this critical juncture, every effort should be redoubled to seek a peaceful and amicable solution to the conflict through dialogue and negotiation based on international law and the Charter of the United Nations,” Ismail Sabri reported as saying.
This was the same when then-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad defended Russia against accusations that the latter-backed separatists in Ukraine had downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew.
Most of the dead were Dutch nationals and prosecutors in a criminal case launched in the Netherlands clearly identified Russia-backed Ukrainian rebels as the perpetrators of the crime.
The Malaysian Government then, however, defended Russia, saying the criminal case was politicised and an attempt by the West to accuse Moscow of wrongdoing. – Feb 26, 2022
