Day: June 11, 2022

MAKKAH, A total of 2,700 Malaysian haj pilgrims have arrived in Madinah, Saudi Arabia via 10 flights, since June 4.

Head of the Malaysian Haj Delegation, Syed Saleh Syed Abdul Rahman, said that all of them had started moving to Makkah in stages, under the management of Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH).

He said that, until last night, a total of 295 pilgrims had arrived safely, and they were the first pilgrims on flight KT01 from Malaysia to Madinah.

It is understood that all pilgrims will be housed in three separate accommodations, namely in the Abraj Al Janadriyah building, Qasr Al Janadriyah and Land Premium.

Meanwhile, most pilgrims met by reporters expressed their gratitude, after having to wait for two years to set foot in the Holy Land, not to mention the warm welcome received back home, as well as in Madinah and Makkah.

One of the pilgrims, Muhammad Haziq Azri, 17, said that this was the first time he had set foot in Makkah with both his parents and his sister.

“Alhamdulillah, I am finally in Makkah; I can’t wait to see the Kaaba. There are no words to express happiness when I get here,” he said.

Another pilgrim, Nazarudin Komari, 40, said the fatigue from the six hours of travelling was gone upon reaching Makkah, especially when the movement of the pilgrims was well organised by TH staff.

He added that he was not only moved by every effort made by TH, but also thankful that all the pilgrims arrived safely to perform the first umrah.

Source: Nam News Network

SINGAPORE, Food insecurity is one of the four common challenges that also necessitates security cooperation, says Malaysia’s Senior Minister of Defence Hishammuddin Hussein.

Speaking on the topic titled “Developing New Forms of Security Cooperation” at a Plenary Session of The 19th Shangri-La Dialogue today, Hishammuddin highlighted that food insecurity threatened societies and exacerbated conflicts.

“Indeed, no country is immune to this. COVID-19 has already seen supply chain disruptions globally where national lockdowns have halted the flow of food supplies and raw goods. Now, the Ukraine-Russia conflict is making the situation much worse,” he pointed out.

Commodity price volatility has surged, with food prices reaching levels not seen since the 2007-08 price spikes, he added.

“But why some of you may wonder am I highlighting food security in the Shangri-La Dialogue – how does it link to security and defence?,” he asked the audience.

“Let’s look back just 10 years ago when people took to the streets of Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Arab world, protesters were not only crying out for freedom and social justice but they were also crying out for bread.

“The cost of pantry staples had jumped because of the skyrocketing price of commodities like wheat, stoking fury, warranted or otherwise, against Governments,” he said.

Stressing further, Hishammuddin said the combination of unhappiness from two years of the pandemic and rising food prices may push “our people over the edge, generating a wave of political instability, with potential riots and protests affecting the security environments in our nations.”

“In Sri Lanka, protests have erupted over shortages of gas and other basic goods. Double-digit inflation in Pakistan also arguably contributed to the recent change of government there.

“Peru has likewise been rocked by anti-government demonstrations sparked by rising fuel prices, which have sadly resulted in a number of deaths. Unrest in certain parts of the world could lead to security threats to us all.

“It’s now obvious that threats are no longer confined to political factors, but also economic considerations,” he said.

However, the minister said he believes that the worst may be yet to come.

“The damage in Ukraine, a major exporter of many basic commodities, as well as harsh sanctions on Russia, is expected to spur further price increases in the coming months.

“The conflict is in Europe, but the implications and damage are global. Like it or not, food security is critical to peace and stability, there are no two ways about it,” he said.

Besides food insecurity, the other three common challenges that necessitate security cooperation highlighted by Hishammuddin include an increase in transboundary crime from border reopenings, an upsurge in online disinformation arising from terror groups and extremists, and the continued threat of biological warfare.

Joining him at the session were Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence of Australia, Richard Marles, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs of Qatar, Dr Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah.

Source: Nam News Network

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia exported 105,048 tonnes of dry rubber, in the first five months of this year, up three percent compared to the same period last year, said a General Directorate of Rubber report yesterday.

The kingdom earned 168 million U.S. dollars in revenue from exports of the commodity, during the Jan-May period this year, down 1.7 percent from 171 million dollars over the same period last year, the report said.

“A tonne of dry rubber averagely cost 1,604 U.S. dollars within the first five months of 2022, about 71 dollars lower than that of the same period last year,” Him Oun, director general of the General Directorate of Rubber, said in the report.

The country exports the commodity mainly to Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and China.

Cambodia has so far planted rubber trees on a total area of 404,044 hectares, in which the trees on 310,193 hectares, or 77 percent, are old enough to be tapped, according to the report

Source: Nam News Network

The first highway bridge connecting China and Russia opened Friday, the first day of the 3-day Shangri-La Summit in Singapore. Construction of the bridge was completed two years back, but it remained unused because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The timing of its opening is significant. Russia and China have come under severe criticism at the summit, and analysts say the bridge is a signal China can help Russia navigate economic sanctions.

The opening comes just one month after a railway bridge linking the two countries was inaugurated. The road bridge in northern China, called the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe Bridge, will carry vehicles across the Amur River. The toll bridge can accommodate 630 freight trucks, 164 buses and 68 other vehicles daily, the Moscow Times reported.

Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev, who attended the inauguration ceremony by video link, made it apparent the bridge has political and diplomatic significance apart from trade.

Hu said China is ready to meet Russia halfway, and the bridge’s opening will help to achieve the goal of mutual connectedness.

Even after the invasion of Ukraine, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to raise their mutual trade from $147 billion in 2021 to $250 billion in 2024.

The two countries also plan to establish a cross-border economic cooperation zone near the bridgehead “to facilitate comprehensive cooperation” and promote the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership, according to CCTV, the official broadcaster in China.

But both the road and railway bridges will be used to a limited extent because China has not fully lifted restrictions it imposed on transportation, among the other business segments.

Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev said that the opening of the road bridge would increase bilateral trade between Russia and China. “Today marks the start of stable daily transport links between our countries,” Yekaterina Kireeva, the Amur region’s senior economic development official, told Interfax, the Russian news agency.

The road and railway bridges were built as part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative. Russia had been reticent about allowing large-scale Chinese investments under the program. But after the Ukraine invasion, Moscow changed its stance and invited Chinese companies to invest in infrastructure.

Source: Voice of America

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is in Kyiv Saturday for a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the country’s reconstruction and progress towards European Union membership she said.

“I will take stock of the joint work needed for reconstruction and of the progress made by Ukraine on its European path,” she said in a Twitter post.

Zelenskyy said Saturday his country would “definitely prevail in this war that Russia has started, speaking from an undisclosed location in Kiyv.

In an address meant for delegates at the Shangri-La Dialogue Asia security summit currently held in Singapore, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is struggling to continue supplying food due to the conflict and that some parts of the world are facing “an acute and severe food crisis and famine” because of Russian blockade.

Zelenskyy ‘didn’t want to hear’ warnings

On Friday, President Joe Biden insisted that U.S. intelligence tried to warn Ukraine about the imminent danger of a Russian invasion but Zelenskyy “didn’t want to hear it.”

Biden made the remarks during a fundraiser in Los Angeles where he was talking about his work to rally and solidify support for Ukraine as the war continues into its fourth month.

“Nothing like this has happened since World War II. I know a lot of people thought I was maybe exaggerating. But I knew we had data to sustain he — meaning Russian President Vladimir Putin — was going to go in, off the border.”

Although Zelenskyy has inspired people with his leadership during the war, his preparation for the invasion — or lack thereof — has remained a controversial issue.

In the weeks before the war began on Feb. 24, Zelenskyy publicly bristled as Biden administration officials repeatedly warned that a Russian invasion was highly likely.

At the time, Zelenskyy was also concerned on the time that the drumbeat of war was unsettling Ukraine’s fragile economy.

Today, Ukrainian officials are increasingly worried support from the West will trail off as its allies suffer “war fatigue.”

They fear Russia could take advantage of that to pressure Ukraine into compromise, something Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has resisted, saying Ukraine would pursue its own terms for peace.

“The fatigue is growing, people want some kind of outcome [that is beneficial] for themselves, and we want [another] outcome for ourselves,” he said.

“It is obvious that Russia is determined to wear down the West and is now building its strategy on the assumption that Western countries will get tired and gradually begin to change their militant rhetoric to a more accommodating one,” said Volodymyr Fesenko, political analyst with the Penta Center think tank in an interview with The Associated Press.

Ukraine: More heavy weapons

Meanwhile, the grinding Ukrainian-Russian fight for control of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine continued Friday.

Ukrainian officials have upped their calls for more weaponry, including rocket systems and artillery, from the West.

“This is an artillery war now,” Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, said in an interview with Britain’s Guardian newspaper.

“Everything now depends on what [the West] gives us,” Skibitsky said. “Ukraine has one artillery piece to 10 to 15 Russian artillery pieces. Our Western partners have given us about 10% of what they have.”

Biden said last week the U.S. would provide Ukraine with advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable it to more precisely strike key Russian targets.

Source: Voice of America

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday outlined U.S. plans to assist Asian nations, including Taiwan, against an increasingly aggressive China, while managing tension and preventing conflict in the region.

“Today, the Indo-Pacific is our priority theater of operations,” he told ministers and officials from 42 countries at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security summit being held in Singapore until Sunday. “Today, the Indo-Pacific is at the heart of American grand strategy.”

Austin detailed an American plan to unite Asian nations concerned about China’s aggression through an intricate mechanism of alliances and military exchanges.

This would be similar to the rare unity shown by developed nations working in tandem to implement economic sanctions against Russia, Austin said.

“We do not seek confrontation or conflict. And we do not seek a new Cold War, an Asian NATO, or a region split into hostile blocs,” he clarified, but went on to explain that small countries in Southeast Asia are worried about Chinese military aggression.

The U.S. Coast Guard will also deploy a cutter to Southeast Asia and Oceania next year, he said. This will be the first major U.S. Coast Guard cutter permanently stationed in the region.

The move is significant because of rising threats to Taiwan, including regular visits to the airspace around island by Chinese military aircraft. China believes that Taiwan is part of its territory and has often discussed plans to take it over, if necessary, by force. Taiwan is a democracy with an independent government, flag, currency, and military.

Southeast Asian countries have also been ringing the alarm bells about intensified patrolling by the Chinese navy in the South China Sea. Most of these countries including Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei are engaged in disputes with China over the ownership of the South China Sea.

Austin also sought to assure Taiwan that its concerns about a Chinese invasion would be addressed. The Taiwan issue was the main focus of discussion when he met Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Friday.

Saying that the U.S. would continue to stand by its allies, including Taiwan, he explained, “that’s especially important as the PRC (People’s Republic of China) adopts a more coercive and aggressive approach to its territorial claims.”

In a statement issued on Friday, Taiwan’s foreign ministry thanked the United States for its support. “Taiwan has never been under the jurisdiction of the Chinese government, and the people of Taiwan will not succumb to threats of force from the Chinese government,” said ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou.

There had been an “alarming” increase in the number of unsafe and unprofessional encounters between Chinese planes and vessels with those of the neighboring countries, he said.

A Chinese fighter dangerously intercepted an Australian military surveillance plane in the South China Sea region in May, and Canada’s military has accused Chinese warplanes of harassing its patrol aircraft as they monitor North Korea sanction evasions, Austin pointed out. Canada’s Defense Minister Anita Anand called the encounter “very concerning and unprofessional” during an interview with Reuters on Saturday, but she declined comment when asked whether she had raised the issue with her Chinese counterpart, the news agency reported.

Referring to the Ukraine crisis, Austin said, “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is what happens when oppressors trample the rules that protect us all,” he said, adding, “it’s a preview of a possible world of chaos and turmoil that none of us would want to live in.”

Source: Voice of America