US warns crackdown in Myanmar could radicalize Rohingya

Rohingya have fled Myanmar in droves for decades, with a new wave of migrations occurring since mid-2012 after communal violence broke out in Rakhine between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya – described by the United Nations as among the most persecuted minority groups worldwide.

Myint Swe, a close confidant of the former junta supremo, was the chief of special operations in Yangon when Than Shwe ordered a crackdown on anti-junta protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007, known as the Saffron Revolution.

The ministry noted that hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas had fled to neighbouring countries in recent years, including 56,000 to Malaysia, making “this matter no longer an internal matter but an worldwide matter”.

Najib Abdul Razak said the strong voice of Malaysians at the Ummah Solidarity Gathering for the Rohingyas at the Titiwangsa Stadium last Sunday (Dec 4) has attracted the attention of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Annan spoke after meeting with top officials and making a three-day trip to Rakhine state, where the army has been conducting aggressive sweeps since October, when unidentified armed men killed nine policemen manning posts along the border with Bangladesh.

The concern towards the oppressed Rohingyas in Myanmar is not about Malaysia interfering in the country’s affairs, but it is based on humanitarian grounds, said Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The Rohingya have long faced persecution and government restrictions on movement that many have likened to apartheid.

A demonstrator is seen with a defaced picture of Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi on his phone during a demonstration against what protesters say is Myanmar’s crackdown on ethnic Rohingya Muslims, outside Myanmar embassy in Bangkok.

Najib led a protest rally Sunday against what he called a genocide of Myanmars Muslim Rohingya minority and urged the worldwide community to help halt the atrocities.

“What’s the use of Aung San Suu Kyi having a Nobel prize?”

The Malaysian government-led protest marks a departure from the long-standing policy of non-interference by ASEAN members in each other’s affairs.

Those arriving in Bangladesh have recounted stories of gang rape, torture, and murder at the hands of Myanmar’s forces.

Advocacy groups like Human Rights Watch, the Arakan Project, and Fortify Rights, a Southeast Asia-based advocacy group, continue to appeal to major global players to exert pressure on Myanmar Government to end this human tragedy.

“The fact that only one particular ethnicity is being driven out is by definition ethnic cleansing”, Malaysia’s foreign ministry said in an unusually strongly-worded statement.

Worldwide pressure must continue and this has to come from countries like Thailand and China which Myanmar depends on.

The high number of Rohingya people in Malaysia (approximately 56,000) under the UNHCR banner, coupled with the hundreds of thousands in other neighbouring countries, makes this matter no longer an internal matter but an global matter.

“They warned me, but I don’t care, because I am here in my capacity as representative of the community and the people of Malaysia”, The Straits Times quoted Najib as saying.