Criticism opens way to resolve Rohingya issue in Myanmar — Musa Hitam

KUALA LUMPUR: Former deputy prime minister Tun Musa Hitam said the move by prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to strongly criticise the cruelty committed against the Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar has opened a way to find a solution to end the issue.

Musa said the Myanmar government recently invited the foreign ministers of Asean member countries to have a dialogue on the issue.

“This is a small opening, a very small opening for a dialogue in the Asean concept.

“If in the past, based on the principles of non-interference, Asean would not touch at all (on the internal issues other nations), but now it looks like the Myanmar government is inviting discussions with the Asean countries,” he said at a press conference after attending the forum ‘Frankly Speaking a Recension Tun Musa Hitam’ in Gombak, near here yesterday.

However, he was uncertain how Asean could identify solutions to the issue which he described as complicated, but he stressed that the situation could not be allowed to prolong.

On Monday, The Asean Foreign Ministers’ retreat in Yangon where Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, who represented Malaysia, presented several suggestions, including the need for Asean to form an independent specialist body to investigate and determine the situation in Rakhine.

The forum ‘Frankly Speaking a Recension Tun Musa Hitam’, organised by the International Islamic University, Malaysia ( UIAM) was held to analyse the contents in the book ‘ Frankly Speaking’ written by Musa, which was published several months ago.

The forum was moderated by Malaysian National News Agency chairman Datuk Seri Azman Ujang with NST Group Managing Editor Datuk Abdul Jalil Hamid, Sin Chew Daily Senior Editor Tay Tian Yan and UIAM Political Science Department Lecturer Dr Khairil Izamin Ahmad as members of the panel. — Bernama