DPM: ACCEPT THEM
Muslim minority should be treated as citizens, Zahid tells Myanmar
MALAYSIA yesterday made a fresh call on Myanmar to end the ongoing Rohingya crisis.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi expressed hope the persecution against the community in Rakhine State would cease as soon as possible.
“I urge our friends in Myanmar to stop this madness and prove to the Asean community that they have a big heart that can accept a Muslim minority, the Rohingya, as their citizens.”
In driving home the message, Zahid, who is also the home minister, quoted Buddha’s teachings from the Dhammapada scripture, specifically verse 270: “One is not called noble who harms living beings. By not harming living beings one is called noble.”
He said this at the closing ceremony of the 2017 International Conference on Rohingya, Plight of the Rohingya: Searching for Solutions, here, yesterday.
Zahid also called on Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who had led Myanmar since her party’s resounding election victory in 2015, to act in accordance with the values she had fought for that led to her being given the prestigious award.
He said Malaysia had played a significant role to help the Rohingya and this was done not because Malaysia was rich.
“It was done out of compassion towards other human beings,” he said.
Malaysia is hosting some 56,000 Rohingya who had fled Rakhine State.
Zahid said the Rohingya people would need short- and long-term solutions to save them from the tragedy they were facing.