Najib Proves Moderation Concept Accepted By International Community

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's success in achieving agreements on three important issues concerning the MH17 air crash shows that the cocncept of moderation mooted by Prime Minister Najib Razak has been accepted by the international community. Malaysian Media Foundation (myMedia) president Dzulkarnain Taib said the Prime Minister's ability to negotiate with the leader commanding the region where the aircraft had crashed had exceeded the capability of the major powers that failed to achieve this objective. "We notice that the victims of the MH17 crash comprise mostly of the people of Netherlands but this European Union member country nor the United States were unable to achieve this objective. "As the president of myMedia, I congratulate Malaysia's success in resolving the MH17 problems on the issue of getting the black boxes and the handling of bodies to be brought back to Malaysia," he said when contacted by Bernama. Dzulkarnain said the concept of moderation could not be taken lightly as its effectiveness had been proven in getting the leader of the Ukraine separatist group Alexander Borodai to allow the bodies of Malaysian nationals to be brought back and taking custody of the aircraft's black boxes. He said that in fact, The New York Times also praised Malaysia following the succes in getting the agreement from Alexander Borodai. Flight MH17, which carried 298 passengers and crew members from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border, on Thursday. Forty-four of the passengers were Malaysians. The Boeing 777 aircraft was believed to have been shot down by a surface-to-air missile. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Najib has proven Malaysia's clout in diplomacy when the Ukrainian separatists agreed to meet Malaysia's demands over the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH17 crash incident in that country. Hishammuddin said, due to this diplomatic clout, the Ukrainian separatists agreed to release the bodies and hand over the black boxes directly to Malaysia. "I am awed by the prime minister's courage not to be swayed by the geopolitical landscape in that region and to only focus on the objective, which is to bring home the bodies of Malaysian passengers, take hold of the black boxes and bring those responsible to justice. "When the prime minister announced that the separatists had agreed, it was an achievement that had required wise leadership." He said this at a news conference after an Aidilfitri contribution-presentation for the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF), here Tuesday, which was also attended by the prime minister's wife Rosmah Mansor. -- BERNAMA