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UN wants RI to lead Myanmar relief efforts
With the United States and other Western countries denied access to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar, the UN is asking Indonesia to take the lead in the region to help the reclusive country cope with the disaster
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With the United States and other Western countries denied access to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar, the UN is asking Indonesia to take the lead in the region to help the reclusive country cope with the disaster.
Indonesia could draw on its experience with the 2004 tsunami in Aceh to help Myanmar handle the disaster, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) executive director Noeleen Heyzer said.
"Indonesia did amazing work in responding to the tsunami in Aceh and has become a leader in effective natural disaster response. Therefore, I would like ESCAP to facilitate a strong Indonesian role in Myanmar," she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
About 150,000 people were killed when an earthquake-caused tsunami struck Aceh and Nias in December 2004.
The cyclone that swept through Myanmar last weekend has left more than 100,000 dead, according to local and foreign observers in the military-run country.
Heyzer, who is also a UN under-secretary-general, said Myanmar needed considerable advice on coordinating a response the way Indonesia did for the tsunami.
"The tsunami was a dreadful disaster, but there was no further disaster from the spread of disease. People had water and food, and a good health system and sanitation. And there was a coordinated response of foreign aid from across the world," she said.
Heyzer said she was seeking to bring Indonesia and ASEAN on board to work together with ESCAP in a regional cooperation framework to push the Myanmar junta to allow in more foreign aid.
"I am preparing to go to Myanmar to show my sympathy at this time and hopefully to talk with leaders there. I think it's time to bring in friends to provide the quickest and the most effective response for the people of Myanmar in this particular situation," she said.
Indonesia sent Myanmar relief aid Thursday worth US$1 million. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent a letter to Myanmar military junta leader Sr. Gen. Tan Shwe to convey his and Indonesia's condolences and sympathy over the cyclone.
Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said Yudhoyono's letter shared Indonesia's experiences in handling the tsunami.
Presidential advisor on foreign policy Ali Alatas told the Post the letter also discussed Indonesia's experiences in managing foreign aid.
A military and international relations expert with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Kusnanto Anggoro, similarly urged Indonesia to use its good relationship with Myanmar to persuade the country to receive immediate international aid to avoid making the humanitarian disaster worse.
"This is a golden opportunity for Indonesia to play a greater role in Myanmar by forming a bridge between the West and the military junta, and to show them how Indonesia received foreign aid without compromising its sovereignty," he told the Post.
As of Friday, the military junta was still rejecting relief aid from the United States and European countries and was refusing to grant visas to Western humanitarian workers.
The United States and France have threatened to use force to intervene in the reclusive country for humanitarian reasons.
