PUTRAJAYA, June 9 — Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah proposed that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) be included in the Myanmar Task Force to coordinate and deliver humanitarian aid to the country.

He said the membership of the task force need to be strengthened with the involvement of experienced international organisations such as the ICRC to make the team’s work more meaningful and transparent.

According to him, although the Asean Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) was also involved in the team, the organisation itself admitted that they lacked experience in sending aid to places of conflict such as Myanmar.

“The AHA centre has experience in sending aid to disaster areas such as floods and earthquakes, but this is an area of conflict involving shootings and so on,” he told reporters after delivering a keynote address at the celebration ceremony of ICRC’s 50 years in Malaysia, here, today.

Elaborating further, Saifuddin said the Myanmar Task Force was set up following the Consultative Meeting on Asean Humanitarian Assistance to Myanmar chaired by the Asean Chairman’s Special Ambassador to Myanmar, Prak Sokhonn, on May 6.

“There are two processes; the first is to make an assessment of the current status of what is needed and who needs assistance, followed by the delivery of assistance,” he said.

Saifuddin said a special session on the status and situation in Myanmar would also be held this Sunday during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, which will also involve United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to Myanmar Dr Noeleen Heyzer, to discuss the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus (5PC) on the crisis in the country.

The 5PCs are: end violence; hold constructive discussions with all stakeholders; Asean provides humanitarian assistance to Myanmar; the appointment of a special Asean envoy to carry out the negotiations; and for the special envoy to be allowed to visit the country (Myanmar).

Earlier, a total of 765 community organisations in Myanmar as well as international ones issued statements voicing concerns about the Myanmar-junta-led task force to coordinate and deliver the humanitarian aid and urged all stakeholders to get involved.

However, the team assured that it will do its best to ensure that the humanitarian assistance provided by Asean will reach the affected communities.

Meanwhile, in his keynote address, Saifuddin said over the past 50 years, ICRC had conducted numerous trainings, capacity-building courses, and seminars to build capability, create local experts, and increase awareness on international humanitarian law in Malaysia.

He noted that Malaysia appreciates the persistent efforts shown by ICRC in finding novel ways to advocate and strengthen the implementation and promotion of international humanitarian law in this country.

“I am also pleased to learn that Wisma Putra and the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR) have increased engagement with ICRC recently by providing exposure to our junior diplomats on the ICRC’s global operations and on international humanitarian law before they are posted abroad,” he said.

He added that this could prove to be very useful in the future, as Malaysian diplomats might be faced with humanitarian situations abroad or might need to rely on ICRC’s expertise, networking, and resources in challenging situations.

Also present at the event were Tunku Temenggong Kedah Tan Sri Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz Almarhum Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah, who is also the Chairperson of the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS); Deputy Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon; ICRC Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Christine Cipolla; and ICRC Head of Regional Delegation in Kuala Lumpur, Biljana Milosevic. — Bernama