SHAH ALAM: Two Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Airbus A400M airlifters left from Subang last night for an aid mission to quake hit Syria. The aid delivery was finalised after the Foreign Ministry officials flew to Syria earlier this week, to assess the need of the quake hit country. Parts of Syria were also hit by the devastating earthquake which hit southern Turkiye some two weeks ago.
From RMAF
SUBANG, 18 Feb 23 – Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) melalui Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM) telah mengatur gerak dua (2) buah pesawat A400M dari No 8 Skn bagi menyempurnakan misi penghantaran bantuan kemanusiaan ke Syria sepertimana yang telah diarahkan oleh Kerajaan Malaysia. Pesawat berkenaan membawa keseluruhan sebanyak 42 tan barangan bantuan kemanusiaan hasil sumbangan ikhlas rakyat Malaysia kepada penduduk Syria yang terjejas akibat gempa bumi yang melanda negara tersebut.
Hasil sumbangan ikhlas untuk Syria ini telah berjaya dikumpulkan sejak 15 Februari 2023 melalui Tabung Bencana Kementerian Luar Negeri. Antara barang-barangan bantuan kemanusian yang dibawa adalah terdiri daripada makanan siap sedia untuk dimakan (Ready to Eat), barangan keperluan bayi, bekalan ubat-ubatan, empat buah generator, pakaian, selimut,kelengkapan perlindungan diri (personal protective equipment), khemah, karpet dan “indoor separators”.
Proses-proses muatnaik barang-barang bantuan kemanusiaan seberat 42 tan ini kedalam badan pesawat A400M telah bermula seawal jam 7.00 petang yang mana telah dilaksanakan oleh anak kapal No 8 Skn dan anggota Cabang Pergerakan Udara PU Subang. Proses ini telah mengambil masa 2 jam lebih melibatkan kedua-kedua kapal tersebut.
Kedua-dua pesawat tersebut kemudiannya telah selamat berlepas pada jam 10.00 malam dan 10.30 malam tadi dari Pangkalan Udara Subang. Pesawat pertama telah diterbangkan oleh Pegawai Memerintah No 8 Skn, Lt Kol Wan Azrul Wan Azmy TUDM bersama 16 anak kapal lain terdiri daripada juruterbang, pembantu juruterbang, pegawai kejuruteraan, loadmaster dan kru teknikal. Manakala pesawat kedua telah diterbangkan oleh Mej In’Am Ul Hasan Shuhaimy Basha TUDM bersama 16 anak kapal lain.
Penerbangan ke Syria ini akan mengambil masa selama 17 jam 30minit melalui ruang udara beberapa buah negara dan dua persinggahan teknikal. Pesawat A400M ini dijangka mendarat di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Damascus pada waktu tengah hari , 19 Februari 2023
The Foreign Ministry and the National Disaster Management Agency coordinated the relief mission.
— Malaysian Defence
I hope the aid really gets channeled to those in that disaster and not got taken by the Assad Govt.
“those in that disaster”
Some of “those in that disaster” will be in areas controlled by the Syrian government and the only way to distribute aid Will be with Syrian government assistance. By the same token many of those hit will also be in areas controlled by various rebel groups and getting aid where it’s needed can be dicey.
Follow the proper channel, aid would be received by the central authorities/Govt, and would then be sufficiently & humanely distributed to the stricken areas whether it is Govt loyal side or rebels. The key here is “sufficiently & humanely” as aid could easily be siphoned off for their own interests. Not the 1st time we see this could happen. Malaysia Government must ensure this doesn’t.
How would we do that really?
Our foreign office would/should have gotten their legitimate Govt’s assurance that aid would be channeled to the right parties PRIOR to sending them.
By not giving out willy nilly. Our ambassador/embassy must be present and take account on the aid delivered and where it will go to. The problem with many aid or donations from Western nations are lack of accountability, especially weapons aid that might get “lost”, “stolen”, “missing” or “unaccountable” that ended up on the other side, hidden and used in later insurgencies or sold in black markets.
Will there still be leakages? Sure, but if like >50% goes to them and used for their selfserve or nondisaster areas, such acts needs to be called out so that the international community will work a different way to properly channel aid.
“humanely distributed to the stricken areas whether it is Govt loyal side or rebels”
After all the years of killing and all the bad blood/mistrust you expect both sides to really cooperate? To temporarily put aside all differences for the sake of victims of the earthquake?
If you were a Baathist official in a small town and were given a quantity of supplies for distribution; would priority be co enthic Alawites who remained loyal to the regime or to Sunnis who have been trying to topple the regime? There’s also nothing to say that the rebels are willing to cooperate.
“Malaysia Government must ensure this doesn’t”
Have you deployed or been in a disaster zone? Even one in a country in which the government is in full control of its territory or in a country at peace is highly chaotic; yet you’re talking about Syria.
“The key here” is we do our part by channelling aid but anything beyond that is impossible due to prevailing conditions in Syria. We also have an extremely limited presence in the country and cordial but not very close relations with the Syrian government.
“Our foreign office would/should have gotten their legitimate Govt’s assurance that aid would be channeled to the right parties PRIOR to sending them”
Must as well hope for a leprechaun to solve the LCS saga. Once again you are making a mountain over something and how did you know we did not “gotten their legitimate Govt’s assurance” [the legitimate government being Assad’s]? Whether any “assurances” we get is worth anything is a different matter.
Such assurances as you insist on “PRIOR” to delivery is simply not possible to verify. Too many dynamics at play and things far beyond our control.
We did what we can do and hope that aid is channelled to where it’s needed via the Syrian government working with NGOs and the UN. We simply can’t do anything else.
” Our ambassador/embassy must be present and take account on the aid delivered and where it will go to.”
Like various things easy said on paper. The ambassador will be allowed to in areas unsafe? Are we Qatar or Saudi which has lots on influence there? What happens if the Syrians can’t guarantee the safety of the ambassador in certain areas?