What worked for me: Anifah
Published on: Friday, September 08, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said he relied on mental strength and resilience to stay focused and calm when facing three unprecedented and tough international crises as Foreign Minister.He said to 4,725 freshies of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) at the Chancellory Hall, Thursday, in conjunction with their orientation week that they could do the same when facing adversity and challenges in their studies and campus."How we in the Ministry face adversity and challenges in our line of work…the same goes with the (UMS) students where you leave the comfort of your home to realise your dreams and face real challenges and hardship in the university as well as life as a student.
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"I believe all of you will able to overcome any difficulties and life experiences by being resilient and perseverance including being mentally strong," he said.He said he often slept about three hours a night as he travelled to different countries that had huge time differences, to attend official meetings.Anifah said resilience is a skill set that people learn to develop over the course of their life and never before has the capacity to develop resilience been more important. "It is something that we can build long before we experience adversity. In fact, it is about learning what does it take for you to find strength in any challenging situation.
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"It is also about applying those skills when they are needed the most and the skill of developing resilience is not only important at individual level but also at broader institutional level as well."I am sure you can recognise that developing resilience at individual and institutional level is extremely challenging at the Foreign Ministry as it is the country's face to the world, Malaysia's first line of defence and consequently most exposed to global developments," he said.
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He said it is imperative that the Ministry's diplomats continue to learn, be equipped with necessary skills set to promote, project and protect Malaysia's interest proactively and effectively at every stage."As such, our diplomats undergo mandatory training in the areas of negotiations, crisis management, resolution drafting and cross-culture awareness as well as elective training in foreign languages that help develop all-rounder diplomats – in addition to giving them skills, mental strength and resilience to weather the responsibilities of a diplomat."We have 106 diplomat offices and do not think our diplomats do not experience hardship while discharging their duties and responsibilities."Some endure no electricity for six months and have to bathe at sea as well as having no food in the country that they have been posted."They also could not communicate with their families in Malaysia and depend on Maggi noodles just like some university students do to save on budget," he said.Most importantly, Anifah said never give up and rise to the challenges with strong heart and mental as they get to see how good they are when facing hard times and eventually be proud of themselves especially when they able to overcome them.He named the twin airplane tragedies involving the losses of Malaysian Airline passenger planes MH370 and MH17 as well as prohibition of Malaysian diplomats and families from leaving Pyongyang, North Korea that tested patience and perseverance of the Malaysia's government in addressing the three unanticipated events.He recalled his mixed emotions as well as the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak who had to set aside all personal feelings and pay serious attention to the job that needs to be done after being informed such unexpected bad news."I was in shock when informed about MH370 that suddenly disappeared in thin air when there are many satellites that could detect the whereabouts of the plane."I have to focus on the job hands on and sought official assistance from other ministries and agencies like Transport Ministry and Prime Minister Department. I called each Foreign Minister in the world to seek permission and allow us to go to their air space and sea zones to look for the missing MH370 that ferried 227 passengers and 12 crew from 15 nations on board while en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing."I still remember very few of us could go home at that time because many stayed in the operations room to find out how it happened," he said, adding that the disappearance of the MH370 flight was a great mystery in aviation history that can be likened to similar cases of missing of planes and vessels at the Bermuda Triangle.Anifah said there were a lot of unanswered questions and speculations and next-of-kin of those on board of the ill-fated plane demanded immediate answers which the authorities do not possess or could not provide at that juncture.He said they were a lot of frustrations, anger and pain especially from the Chinese whose family members were on the ill-fated plane and the ministry diplomats in Beijing were victims of hostile treatment by the distraught Chinese next-of-kin.During these challenging times, he said it is very important for their diplomats to remain courageous, calm and collected as well as mentally strong.Less than five months later, Anifah said, Malaysia faced another tragedy when MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine and carried 283 passengers and 15 crew of 10 nationalities."I was having a 'Teh Tarik' at that time…when I saw my phone rang which displayed a Ukraine telephone number from our ambassador in Ukraine who related to me the bad news."At that time, I did say 'Why Malaysia, Why us? I started to think who were inside the plane? Could they be my friends or relatives? Due to the urgency, I have to set aside my worries and personal feelings over the shocking tragedy. Our Prime Minister (PM) was also in shock upon hearing another bad news."I could imagine the feelings of the Prime Minister from MH370 and to MH17 following the losses of our people. This is when management of crisis has to be applied where he was very calm and prioritise what we should do and who we should call in accessing the particular situation," he said.Anifah said it was a very harrowing moment because no one can confirm what happened and now there is a long and meticulous investigation in which Malaysia was also involved including in the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) technical committee comprising Belgium, Ukraine, Australia and the Netherlands.He said their objective remains, which is to bring the perpetrators of the MH17 tragedy to justice and there are processes to be followed.Nonetheless, he said they continued to work and look for solutions and this caused a lot of stress to the officials at Wisma Putra.The most recent challenge was the prohibition of Malaysian diplomats and their families from leaving Pyongyang, North Korea, following the death of an important Korean national in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)."It was a shocking situation because diplomats have complete immunity and yet they are not allowed to leave the country."They boarded the plane at Pyongyang airport but were escorted by the Korean police to leave the aircraft. We even sought assistance from China and the then US President Obama on how to deal with the North Korean President."North Korea agreed to send a team of three officers to negotiate with us and my team was selected from the best of the best and were tested to the maximum. It was the toughest moment because we do not who will make the decision," he said.Anifah said the experience called for the Malaysian team to be mentally strong and resilient when communicating with the North Korean team officials.Once negotiations were reached, he said Malaysian aircraft with the Malaysian diplomats and their families on board and the North Korea diplomats in their aircraft left simultaneously from their respective international airports.Anifah also welcomed the almost 5,000 new UMS students who have interest to join the diplomatic service.Also present were State Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Jainab Ahmad, UMS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr D Kamarudin D Mudin, Befrienders KK Chairperson Datin Seri Rubiah Abdul Samad and other senior officials.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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