Letter by Dr Nicholas Lee
Dear MP Lim Kit Siang,
I have never written to you but I do so now in the hopes of bring to light a small matter.
As you may have read in the newspapers, Christchurch, the second largest city in New Zealand has suffered a damaging earthquake. Within a single day of that report, the world raced to provide aid to the stricken city. Offers of aid came from neighbouring nations such as Australia and Singapore. Form further a field, assistance came from Japan, Taiwan, United States, the United Kingdom and South Korea. Even Thailand made a small gesture to provide some financial aid to the earthquake victims.
As for Malaysia, we took an entire day to respond. And our dear PM only went so far as to offer condolences and to monitor our own citizens (students). Nothing more. This behaviour strikes me as somewhat lackluster for a few reasons.
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Malaysia is closer to New Zealand than say UK, US, or Japan. (All three nations are sending rescuers to the afflicted city). If Malaysia had sent a response team, it would have arrived anywhere from 6hr to 15hr earlier than any of these other nations. The first 24hrs are crucial if you want to rescue trapped people rather than recovering dead bodies.
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Speaking of response team, Malaysia actually has such a team. The Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART). Our boys here are trained for this kind of work. We have the personal and the equipment. We are even one of the closer nations. Why isn’t it a GO for SMART? We send them to Pakistan, but not New Zealand?
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There isn’t much national pride in me anymore, but what remains is irritate that Singapore has already sent their rescue team. Why is it that Singapore can act on the same day, flying over their rescue personal and equipment, while Malaysia is slow to even offer her condolences?
Anyone who knows of these facts would think that Malaysia is not very neighbourly.
And yes, I do realize the death toll in Christchurch has been small so far. And there may not be any need for Malaysia to send its rescue workers. Yet this should not have stopped Malaysia from offering to send rescue workers. At worst, New Zealand could have turned down Malaysia’s offer if they had enough men on the ground. People will remember our actions and will respond in kind.
Thank you for your time,
Dr Nicholas Lee, PhD
Bethesda,
Maryland