He said these were the doomed Malaysia Airlines flights MH370 and MH17 as well as the diplomatic tension with North Korea following the assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged brother of the hermit kingdom’s leader Kim Jong Un.
The tests were unprecedented, Anifah said when speaking to new students of Universiti Malaysia Sabah here during a dialogue held as part of their orientation.
“We, as a nation have never faced such challenges before.
“When we first heard of these incidents, we were all shocked. And they happened one after the other.
“All of us, including Prime Minister Najib Razak, spent sleepless nights in the operations room during the saga involving the flights.
“When the news of the lost MH370 broke, I was in Slovenia. I contacted many foreign ministers and even US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin for help.
“I was having teh tarik with friends when the call came from our ambassador in Ukraine, breaking the news to me that flight MH17 had been shot down.
“I remember frantically making calls to our ambassadors abroad and my foreign counterparts asking for confirmation, details and assistance during the incidents.
“First and foremost on my mind at that time was the fate of the Malaysians and other passengers on board,” Anifah said in a bare-all talk to an attentive audience that packed the university’s Chancellor’s Hall.
According to Anifah, the tension with North Korea was no less difficult due to the uncertain nature of diplomatic negotiations with the country.
The staff of the Malaysian embassy in Pyongyang and their family members were not allowed to leave Pyongyang in a tit-for-tat by the Koreans following the high-profile murder that took place at the low-cost carrier airport klia2.
“We were very worried about their safety in Pyongyang. We were shocked when we learned Pyongyang had not allowed them to return home to Malaysia.
“They sent three diplomats to Malaysia and three of our best foreign service officers negotiated with them over the release of the embassy workers and their families.
“Considering the North Koreans’ record, we just weren’t sure what they would do. We didn’t know who had the power to make decisions.
“In the end, we managed to enter a deal with the Koreans to take the Malaysians home. It was the most challenging international crisis for us.”
Anifah said he admired the resilience of Wisma Putra staff in handling the crisis and emphasised that good communication skills were also instrumental in helping Malaysia through all these tests.
“Resilience is very important to us as individuals and as a nation. The mental strength to divorce the problem at hand from our own emotions is what helped us through.
“Great communication skills with the opposite party also assisted us greatly. I really thank our foreign service staff for tackling the highly sensitive challenges very well. They have been well trained.
“I admire them for their resilience and mental strength.”
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