Malaysia's KP1M Postpones Food Flotilla For Myanmar Mission To Jan 31

PETALING JAYA (Selangor, Malaysia), Jan 6 (Bernama) -- The Food Flotilla For Myanmar mission organised by 1Malaysia Putera Club (KP1M) and the Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organisations (Mapim), scheduled to depart on Jan 10, has been postponed to Jan 31 due to diplomatic glitches. KP1M president Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim said the postponement was to respect the law and sovereignty of the Myanmar government, and to get their approval for the mission. "Our struggle is solely humanitarian, which is to deliver aid to Myanmar, specifically the Rohingya community in the Rakhine region. "We fervently hope the Myanmar government can give its approval to the mission. We will go ahead with the mission by proceeding to Teknaf, Bangladesh to give aid to Rohingya refugees from Maungdaw if approval is not obtained by Jan 31," he told a media conference on the mission here on Jan 5. Abdul Azeez said KP1M had sent humanitarian aid to Sittwe in 2012 and had received good cooperation from the Myanmar government and its military. He said the Myanmar government had claimed that the organisers of the mission had not sent a request via the Malaysian government. "Actually, we have sent an application to the Myanmar government on Dec 12 via Wisma Putra. But, until today, we have not received any reply." Abdul Azeez said 14 nations including Netherlands, France, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, United Kingdom and Turkey had confirmed joining the aid mission. The mission, which is expected to take 20 days, would comprise a delegation of 235 including local and international volunteers and media practitioners. --BERNAMA