Malaysia takes Suu Kyi to task over ‘genocide’

AUNG San Suu Kyi must step in to prevent the “genocide” of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Malaysia’s prime minister said yesterday, as he mocked the Nobel laureate for her inaction.

Addressing a 5 000-strong rally in Kuala Lumpur, Najib Razak said the Myanmar government must stop the bloody crackdown in its far west that has sent thousands of Rohingya fleeing, many with stories of rape, torture and murder.

“What’s the use of Aung San Suu Kyi having a Nobel prize? We want to tell Aung San Suu Kyi, enough is enough … We must and will defend Muslims and Islam,” Najib said.

“We want the OIC [Organisation of Islamic Cooperation] to act.

“Please do something. The UN do something. The world cannot sit and watch genocide taking place,” he said.

More than 10 000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh in recent weeks, the United Nations said on Wednesday, escaping a bloody army crackdown in the north of Rakhine state.

Royingya arriving in Bangladesh have told the media horrifying stories of gang rape, torture and murder at the hands of Myanmar’s security forces.

Myanmar has denied allegations of abuse, but has also banned foreign journalists and independent investigators from the area.

Muslim-majority Malaysia has recently upped its criticism of Myanmar for its handling of the crisis.

Last month, it summoned the Myanmar ambassador, while about 500 Malaysians and Rohingya marched to the embassy in the Malaysian capital denouncing the “genocide”.

A senior minister has called on Asean, the ten-country Southeast Asia bloc, to review Myanmar’s membership, while a stronglyworded statement from the foreign ministry on Saturday accused Myanmar of engaging in “ethnic cleansing”.

But analysts said yesterday the issue was a convenient smokescreen for Najib, who is fighting allegations he took part in the looting of billions of dollars of public cash through state fund 1MDB. He and the fund deny the accusations. James Chin, director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania, said Najib “is there [at the rally] to boost his standing as an Islamic leader”, with a general election looming.

Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia politics expert with Turkey’s Ipek University said if Najib’s government really cared for the Rohingya, they would “reexamine their own treatment of the community within Malaysia”. — AFP