MAPIM plans 'Food Flotilla to Myanmar' on Jan 7

The Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organisation (MAPIM) plans to launch a humanitarian aid for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar early next year.

Its chairman Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid is confident that the January 7 mission named 'Food Flotilla to Myanmar' could be successful based on the feedback received so far.

The mission follows a failed one earlier in 2012 which faced a setback due to problem in getting a suitable ship.

Mohd Azmi said his confidence is based on the 'signs' it received from the United Nations (UN) which has acknowledged its plan, other than statements of commitment from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and many country leaders that he has contacted.

"Now Mapim is building its network at the ASEAN level, engaging with NGOs who are interested to focus on this issue, including from Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Philippines.

"This is seen as a symbolic, because it can be quite difficult to get a large ship, but at least we want to break this block, so that when they (the Myanmar government) can give way, hopefully more aids can be delivered," he said after a public forum titled 'Tangisan Rohingya: Tiada Siapa Yang Peduli?' (Crying Rohingya: No One Cares?) at the Universiti Malaya (UM) here, today.

Apart from food aid, MAPIM also plans to include medical items and camps for the homeless Rohingyas to take shelter while being refugees in their own country.

At the moment, Mohd Azmi said, the project is being fine-tuned including on details of the participants to be on board and the kinds and volumes of aid to be sent there.

Besides Mohd Azmi, the forum organised by the Centre For Civilisational Dialogue UM also features Rohingya Association of Malaysia deputy president Abd Ghani Abd Rahman and Astro AWANI senior editor Azlinariah Abdullah as panelists.