The Malaysian Government decision to despatch Foreign Minister, Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to Lima on a special mission to help secure the release of Malaysian Ambassador to Peru, Ahmad Mokhtar Selat is most apt and commendable.
This not only underlines the country’s concern for the early and safe release of Ahmad Mokhtar, but ensures that President Fujimoro and the Peruvian Government is fully informed about these concerns and be aware of their international responsibility to ensure the early and safe release of foreigners who have been held hostage by the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement at the Japanese embassy residence in Lima since December 17.
While the resolution of the Peru hostage crisis must finally rest in the hands of President Fujimoro and the Peruvian Government, they cannot be oblivious of their international obligations for the safety and lives of foreign nationals.
In this connection, the reaction of Fujimoro in withdrawing its top diplomat in Uruguay to show his protest at the release of the Uruguay Ambassador as one of the hostages by the Tupac Amaru rebels in return for the release of two Tupac Amaru rebels in Uruguay must have raised international “eye-brows” and concerns as to what extent the Peruvian Government would go to protect the safety and lives of foreign hostages.
While Malaysians are opposed to terrorism and do not want to interfere in the domestic affairs of Peru, what the Japanese Ambassador to Peru, Morihisa Aoki, wrote in his Christmas greeting to friends just before he and more than 500 of his guests were taken hostage is pertinent.
Aoki said Peru’s “tense social situation had reached breaking point”. Aoki wrote: “The last year was a year of trials for the Fujimoro Government. The economy faltered, and while poverty and unemployment, the biggest issues in this country, showed no signs of improvement, there was political disharmony within the administration.”
(26/12/96)